About two decades ago, a retired pig farmer named John Long invested about half a million dollars in what turned out to be a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Now, in 2026, the woman behind it is free because of the politician Long voted for: President Donald Trump.
To Trump critics, this sounds like a classic case of getting what you voted for. But the farmer, 80, doesn’t necessarily regret voting for Trump, even though he lost his money and believes the woman behind the Ponzi scheme, Marian Morgan, could go on to commit more crimes.
The farmer doesn’t agree with Trump’s decision.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s pardons have cost crime victims a staggering $1.7 billion in restitution while wiping away penalties for wealthy fraudsters and political allies, according to a new congressional review.
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 21, 2026
The full findings are damning: https://t.co/kO0pyGe4Zk
Per The Sunday Times, Morgan was convicted in 2011. In 2013, she was resentenced to 33 years and nine months in prison and ordered to pay victims back. When Trump pardoned her, she had served less than half of her sentence. The pardon also erased all remaining restitution obligations.
The sense of justice that Long experienced when Morgan was convicted now feels like it’s just gone. “We had justice and now it’s kind of like … ‘we’re going to let these criminals go out and do it again,'” he told the publication.
Long believes that Trump exercised “bad judgment” when he made the decision to pardon Morgan.
But at the end of the day, he doesn’t totally blame Trump.
According to Long, the system is to blame. “Our justice system would be a much better system if we took the pardoning power out,” he told the publication. He also added, “No matter who is in that power circle, it is just a corrupt system.”
To be fair, pardoning isn’t unusual. But people have reasons to think the way the Trump administration is going about it is unusual. For example, Trump has pardoned about 1,800 criminals during his second term. Meanwhile, Former President Joe Biden (who Trump loves to compare himself to) pardoned 80.
Liz Oyer, who was serving as head US pardon attorney before getting fired just a few weeks into Trump’s second term, told the publication that what the Trump administration is doing is “not normal.”
“The traditional criteria that the [Department of Justice] applies for recommending clemency have been largely abandoned by this administration, and the rigorous vetting process, which often involves investigations conducted by the FBI, has been abandoned,” she said.
The publication also spoke to another victim of the Ponzi scheme.
Trump has turned one of the most solemn powers of the presidency into a sleazy pay-to-play scheme, selling pardons to the highest-bidding white-collar criminals, international narco-traffickers and dictators who find a Trump connection. We're exposing how this corrupt racket… https://t.co/Jwxnbwlgr3
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) August 25, 2026
Judith Ausmus, 80, also voted for Trump and felt “saddened” when she found out that the person she had voted for decided to pardon Morgan. After falling for the scam years ago, Judith and her family were devastated. “It was tremendously hard times, all the way around, for all of us at that time,” she said.
The article started circulating on Reddit, where Trump critics generally did not feel all that sympathetic. One person summed up the story with, “So the second guy who conned you, pardoned the first guy who conned you.”
They were not exactly shocked to hear that this happened. “You voted for a con man and now he’s protecting other con men,” another person commented.
READ NEXT: Trump Posts Ranking Of U.S. Presidents And The ‘Greatest’ One Is Exactly Who You Think It Is
