Trump Gave Them a Second Chance. They Could Not Stay Out of Trouble.

A California woman facing trial on fraud charges is one of six people who received clemency during the Trump administration only to be accused of another crime.

In December 2019, Adriana Camberos began serving a 26-month sentence in federal prison for her role in a scheme to sell millions of counterfeit bottles of the caffeinated drink 5-hour Energy that had been filled with a fake concoction and sold to unsuspecting consumers.

Ms. Camberos, a Southern California businesswoman, insisted she was innocent. Her family quickly navigated a back channel to President Donald J. Trump — the one man who had the power to free her with the stroke of his pen — as he was embarking on an unusual clemency spree.

Adam Katz, a lawyer with links to Mr. Trump’s world, agreed to take on Ms. Camberos’s case after a chance meeting with one of her relatives. Before Ms. Camberos finished her second month in prison, Mr. Katz filed a petition to request a commutation with the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Justice Department, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

That office is tasked with vetting petitions and recommending deserving applicants to the president. But the office itself had become less important than winning Mr. Trump’s favor directly, fueling a market to buy access to his advisers. While Ms. Camberos’s family does not appear to have had high-level political ties, they and their allies took several steps that seemed designed to bolster her standing with Mr. Trump’s inner circle.

Mr. Katz brought the case to Stefan C. Passantino, a lawyer who had been a deputy White House counsel and stayed in touch with people around the president. The White House also heard that the newly elected Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, already among Mr. Trump’s favorites and one of Mr. Passantino’s clients, was in favor of seeing Ms. Camberos get relief, according to a person familiar with the process. A spokesman for Ms. Greene did not respond to a request for comment.

And one month after Ms. Camberos’s clemency petition was filed, her brother Andres Camberos made his first federal political donation to a Republican — $50,000 to Mr. Trump’s 2020 re-election effort.

In the final days of Mr. Trump’s term in 2021, without a recommendation from the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the president commuted the sentence of Ms. Camberos, then known as Adriana Shayota, springing her from prison about a year early.

She did not stay out of trouble for long.

Soon after her commutation, she and her brother Andres embarked on a new fraud, federal prosecutors in California said. The siblings were charged last year in a complicated scheme: They bought consumer goods from manufacturers at a steep discount, purportedly to sell them in Mexico — a legal practice. Instead, prosecutors said, the siblings sold the goods in the United States at higher prices and then committed bank and mail fraud to cover their tracks.

They have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go on trial next month.

Executive clemency is among the most unilateral unchecked powers of the Oval Office. Presidents are allowed to decide how and to whom to issue commutations, which reduce or eliminate prison sentences, and pardons, which wipe away conviction records.

According to an analysis in a law journal focused on criminal justice, only 25 of the nearly 240 clemency grants issued by Mr. Trump were vetted and recommended by the pardon attorney’s office. The analysis concluded that most other modern presidents skirted the Justice Department clemency process less often, with a few notable exceptions that sometimes prompted outrage or investigations.

As Mr. Trump campaigns for another term as president, he is again dangling the prospect of executive clemency for supporters and cases that align with his politics. He has promised to commute the life sentence of Ross W. Ulbricht, founder of an online drug marketplace. Mr. Ulbricht’s cause has been championed by the cryptocurrency industry, which Mr. Trump has cultivated.

In addition, Mr. Trump has pledged to pardon people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by his supporters, egged on by his claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Federal prosecutors also have indicted Mr. Trump in connection with the effort to overturn the election, creating the prospect that he could pardon himself if he retakes the Oval Office next year.

Ms. Camberos is among six people granted clemency by Mr. Trump and known to have been charged with new crimes after they received a second chance, according to a Times review of the former president’s clemency grants.

• Stephen K. Bannon, a Trump political adviser who was pardoned for charges related to fund-raising fraud, is in prison for defying a congressional subpoena to testify to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Mr. Bannon, who published an essay this week predicting victory for Mr. Trump, is also set to stand trial in December — just six weeks after his release date — on New York state fraud charges that echo the federal case wiped away by the pardon.
• Kodak Black, a rapper whose legal name is Bill Kapri, had his 46-month sentence for gun charges commuted with help from a Trump-connected lawyer. He has since faced drug charges in Florida. He has pleaded not guilty.
• Eliyahu Weinstein had two-thirds of his 24-year sentence for investment fraud commuted, but he was charged two and a half years later with bilking dozens of associates out of $35 million in a new scheme. He has pleaded not guilty and is set to stand trial in November.
• Jaime A. Davidson was freed from a life sentence for his role in a robbery that led to the death of a police officer, despite having his clemency petition rejected twice by the Office of the Pardon Attorney during the Obama administration. Mr. Davidson was arrested last year in Florida and served three months in prison for misdemeanor battery for assaulting his wife, though he is appealing the conviction.
• Jonathan Braun, whose prison sentence for running a vast marijuana ring was commuted, was arrested last month on charges of assaulting his wife and punching his 75-year-old father-in-law in the head. He has pleaded not guilty.

Other recipients of Mr. Trump’s clemency grants have been investigated but not charged, The Times found. And at least three additional people have been convicted of crimes that predated their clemency grants. Some of those cases, and others, have fueled criticism that prosecutors are seeking to undo the effects of Mr. Trump’s pardons and commutations.

To be sure, some criminal justice experts and supporters of prisoners’ rights say the Justice Department’s process takes too long and gives too much deference to federal prosecutors, who tend to frown on having their convictions undermined.

But even some Trump aides were concerned that his White House’s ad hoc process lacked sufficient vetting and relied too much on insider ties, according to former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump’s campaign, did not respond to questions about whether Mr. Trump stands by his clemencies, the process through which they were granted or how he intends to use the power if he wins back the presidency.

Supporters of Mr. Trump’s clemency recipients contend that they make easy targets for prosecutors who are upset by his unorthodox use of the power and his frequent complaints about the unfairness of law enforcement toward him and his supporters.

Barry Wachsler — a friend who helped finance a clemency push for Mr. Weinstein — called the pending charges against him “a witch hunt.”

“The government is upset that he got commuted, so they’re after him,” said Mr. Wachsler.

But one man said in an interview that he lost most of his life savings in the alleged fraud — court filings show he was owed more than $1.5 million by one person who has pleaded guilty in the scheme. The man, who requested anonymity to discuss the continuing case, said he sent a message to Mr. Trump through his campaign website to point out the impact of Mr. Weinstein’s commutation. He said he did not receive a response.

Nick Muzin, a lobbyist who was paid at least $75,000 to advocate on behalf of Mr. Weinstein for commutation and played a critical role in securing it, told a Times reporter this month that those who supported the commutation “felt misled.”

Federal investigators looking into the Camberos siblings have asked at least one witness in the case about the $50,000 donation from Mr. Camberos to Mr. Trump, according to a person familiar with the investigation. It is not known why it may be of interest to prosecutors.

Ms. Camberos, 53, had argued in her clemency petition that her ex-husband masterminded the 5-hour Energy scheme without her knowledge. (No one was known to have been harmed by the counterfeit drink.) Lawyers representing her and her brother rejected suggestions that Ms. Camberos had a proclivity toward criminality.

“For those who know what Adriana has been through, the notion that she is a recidivist is implausible,” the lawyers said in a statement, adding that the siblings “very much look forward to being vindicated at trial.”

Geoffrey Potter, a lawyer for the company that manufactures 5-hour Energy, disagreed. He negotiated a civil settlement with Ms. Camberos and her now ex-husband Joseph Shayota in 2013.

“She’s a grifter with a long history of counterfeiting and fraudulently diverting consumer products,” he said. “Her recidivism is not a surprise to me, and shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research.