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Last November, David Gentile reported to the federal prison camp in Otisville, New York, to begin a seven-year sentence for a $1.6 billion fraud.
He told the other inmates not to get used to having him around. Within days, he expected to be gone, because a Catholic priest was pressing his case directly to President Trump.
He was right. Less than two weeks into the sentence, Trump commuted it. Gentile walked out a free man — his conviction left standing, but his prison term erased and the threat of forfeiting more than $15.5 million wiped clean.
