A Sheboygan man convicted in January of 2006 of running a pyramid scheme, scamming investors out of millions of dollars, has had his sentence commuted by President Biden. Biden announced on Thursday that he’d pardoned 39 people, and commuted the sentences of another 1,500 Americans, a record for one day. Among those whose sentences were commuted was a man convicted in 2006 of taking over $14 million from several hundred people in a coin scheme.
According to Associated Press records, Leslie John Hamilton, who was 54-years-old at the time and also known as John Halvorson, was found guilty on 28 counts of mail and wire fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison. His victims were convinced that they were investing in rare coins; however Hamilton diverted that money from the new investors to pay off previous ones – in effect, a pyramid scheme.
Hamilton, or Halvorson, was among eight Wisconsinites receiving grace from the President yesterday, two of those in the form of pardons and six sentences commuted.
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