Paul Daugerdas' 15 Year Sentence is Commuted with Only Around 9 Years' Incarceration Served (12/20/24)

I learned today that, on December 12, 2024, President Biden commuted the sentence of Paul Daugerdas who, as described in the DOJ press release for his sentencing “was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to serve 15 years in prison for orchestrating a massive fraudulent tax shelter scheme in which he and his co-conspirators designed, marketed and implemented fraudulent tax shelters used by wealthy individuals to evade over $1.6 billion in taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).” I have written often on the Daugerdas saga here (in relevance order, but can be sorted by reverse chronological). The documents indicating the commutation are here (White House) and here (DOJ).

Some key points:

1. A commutation merely lessens the sentence and does not alter the finding of guilt or any other attribute of the sentence (e.g., restitution or disqualifications). (See LII Wex here.) The commutation does not suggest that there was a wrongful conviction or wrongful sentence because commutation can be based on other factors (such as health or perhaps even political sway (although I have no indication that politics entered this pardon)). Daugerdas’ commutation was among 1,499 commutations at the same time without explanation for Daugerdas’ and most other commutations.

2. It appears that Daugerdas served about 9 years, so the commutation cut about 6 years off his nominal 15 year sentence and probably about 5 years if he qualified for good time credit.

3. I could not find in rather quick internet searches whether the DOJ Pardon Attorney had recommended a pardon for Daugerdas. The Pardon Attorney offers a search feature on its website, here, but according to that site it is current only as of December 2, 2024 at 1:22PM (as of the time of this blog). Some information may be posted later. According to the documents indicating the commutation, only the following information is given: PAUL DAUGERDAS 62444-054. Presumably, the Pardon Attorney search would have a C prefix (that’s a best guess). 

4. I would infer that, if the Pardon Attorney recommended the commutation, there would be some good basis for the recommendation.

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