More than three dozen federal inmates initially processed in Michigan were among the nearly 1,500 who had their sentences commuted Thursday by President Joe Biden, including several charged with involvement in drug rings and health care fraud schemes and, in one case, a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors said cost thousands of investors millions.
Early Thursday, the White House announced that Biden had pardoned 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes and was commuting sentences for some 1,500 more, all of whom had been serving the remainder of their sentences at home in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. A pardon involves an official wiping away a conviction and freeing a prisoner; a commutation leaves the conviction in place but reduces or eliminates the the need for further prison time.
The Biden administration said Thursday’s actions represented “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.” Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025, as President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated.
Biden said many of those who had their sentences commuted were “serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies and practices.” He added that as part of their confinement at home, they “have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance.”
Biden earlier this month also issued a blanket pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, who was facing federal gun and tax charges and had been targeted for investigation by Republicans on Capitol Hill.
While none of the federally charged criminals who were pardoned Thursday were listed as having residences in Michigan, a Free Press review of the inmate registration numbers of the approximately 1,500 who received clemency indicated that at least 39 had their cases initially processed in federal courts in the state.
Among them were:
∎Gregory McKnight, 64, of Swartz Creek, who 13 years ago pleaded guilty to wire fraud as part of a $72 million Ponzi scheme, a term used for soliciting investments and promising high returns and then failing to invest the funds and pay off investors. Prosecutors said McKnight between 2005 and 2007 solicited funds from some 3,000 investors worldwide, promising a return as high as 15% a month. McKnight was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison and pay nearly $49 million in restitution. According to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), he was scheduled to end his sentence next December.
∎Babubhai Patel, 62, of Canton, who owned a string of pharmacies and was convicted in 2012 as being part of a ring in which prosecutors said kickbacks were paid to doctors in exchange for them writing prescriptions for expensive medications that could be billed to insurers or writing medically unnecessary prescriptions for controlled substances that were never distributed to patients but sold to others. Patel was sentenced to 17 years in prison and was set to end his sentence in February of next year.
∎Millicent Traylor, 54, a Detroit doctor who was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison in 2018 as part of what prosecutors described as a wider $8.9 million scheme to make fraudulent Medicare claims for home health care and services that, the Justice Department said, “were not medically necessary, were not actually provided, or were provided by an unlicensed physician.” Traylor was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and five counts of health care fraud. She was scheduled to end her sentence in May 2026.
∎Sylvester Boston Jr., 43, of Detroit who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2018 in what federal authorities called a large-scale Ecstasy distribution and manufacturing ring running out of a computer shop on Detroit’s west side. At the time of their arrest, authorities said Boston and his father, who was also charged, drew law enforcement attention by opening phone lines and ordering drugs and paraphernalia in famous comedians’ names, including Tim Allen and Tracy Morgan. Boston Jr. said later he was pressured to take a plea deal by his lawyer and was not involved in selling illegal drugs. His sentence was set to end in March of next year.
Many of the others for whom Justice Department records could be immediately found were involved in drug trafficking.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Staff writer Paul Egan contributed to this story.
