On July 22, 2026, Miles Taylor published an article on his Defiance.org website entitled "Trump is pardoning entire corporations now. (And that's not even the worst of it.)."
The sub-title of the article reads:
The "super pardon" is here. Under Donald Trump, the whole idea of criminal liability is now up for sale, and the implications are staggering.
Taylor highlights two companies that Trump has pardoned.
First, Diesel Freak LLC and it's shop owner Ryan LaLone, convicted of tampering with emissions systems.
Second, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the BitMEX crypto trading platform, convicted of willfully flouting U.S. anti-money laundering laws, along with three other former executives.
Taylor also lists Bank of America, Binance, Capital One, Charles River Laboratories International, GE Healthcare, Globe Life, Paypal, Peloton, Pfizer, Polymarket, and Toyota, "to name a few."
Diesel Freak, LLC, is a diesel repair and electronics modification facility that designs and builds electronic monitoring and modification kits that adjust engine power and fuel efficiency through Wi-Fi connections with trucks on the road. From about 2015 through November 2018, Diesel Freak performed "deletions" of environmental controls, allowing diesel engines for large open-road trucks to work cheaper and without environmental restrictions. Diesel Freak owner Ryan LaLone estimated that 70 percent of his company's business was full emissions control deletions.
On February 23, 2024, Diesel Freak LLC was fined $750,000, the largest fine imposed over the course of the case in which the Court ordered over $1.8 million in total fines. In total, 14 defendants were charged with "systematic violations" of the Clean Air Act.
BitMEX (HDR GLOBAL TRADING LIMITED) failed to implement an AML (anti-money laundering) program that included a KYC (know your customer/client) component that complied with the Bank Secrecy Act, required by U.S law, but chose to flaunt those requirements, requiring only that customers provide an email address to use BITMEX services.
On January 15, 2025, BitMEX was fined $100 million for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
Taylor goes on to talk about the "cottage industry" has sprung up from Trump's pardons, where lobbyists, lawyers, and self-styled clemency advocates are "lining up to bring pardon cases to the president, because they know there's money to be made at the front of that line."
Source:
Taylor, Miles. (June 22, 2026)"Trump is pardoning entire corporations now. (And that's not even the worst of it.)". defiance.org. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
(February 23, 2024). "Final Corporate Defendant Sentenced In Major Clean Air Act Case". justice.gov. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
(July 10, 2024). "Global Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX Pleads Guilty To Bank Secrecy Act Offense". justice.gov. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
(January 15, 2025). "Global Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX Fined $100 Million For Violating Bank Secrecy Act". justice.gov. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
There's more to this story.
On July 3, 2026, Donald Trump posted the following on Truth Social:
It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for "fixing their car." While I know this sounds ridiculous, it is nevertheless a fact, and part of the Weaponization and Stupidity that our Country had to endure during four long years of Sleepy Joe Biden. I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW! President DONALD J. TRUMP
A July 21, 2026 article on The Orange County Register website entitled "Trump extends pardons to companies, echoing a 17th century king" sheds more light on these pardons.
At the top of the page of this article you will see Troy Lake (owner of Elite Diesel Service in Wyoming) and Jeff Daugherty (a political strategist who helped Lake and several others push for clemency) holding and displaying the Trump pardon, rather large, consisting of three pieces of paper, mounted and framed in glass.
On December 9, 2024, Elite Diesel Service Inc. and its owner Troy Lake was sentenced to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by disabling the monitoring components of the emissions control systems on at least 344 of heavy-duty commercial trucks throughout the country from January 2017 through December 2020.
According to the DOJ press release:
Lake was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in custody and a fine of $2,500. Elite Diesel Service was sentenced to a five-year term of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $37,500. Elite was also ordered to make a payment of $12,500 to a program operated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to repair the emissions control systems on vehicles owned by low-income drivers who cannot afford to bring their vehicles into compliance. The total assessment was based upon Elite's demonstration that it was unable to pay a higher amount. Elite also agreed to enter into a corporate compliance and reporting program.
Eight co-conspirators (all listed in the press release, along with their fines) located in seven different states were previously sentenced for their role in the conspiracy.
Source:
(December 9, 2024). "Windsor, Colorado Business Owner and Company Sentenced for Conspiring to Delete Emissions Controls on Hundreds of Heavy Duty Diesel Trucks in Violation of the Clean Air Act". justice.gov. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
On December 16, 2024, Carlos Watson, the founder and former CEO of Ozy Media, Inc., was sentenced to 116 months in prison for conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
According to the DOJ press release:
According to court filings and as proven at trial, between 2018 and 2021, Watson and his co-conspirators orchestrated a scheme to defraud investors out of tens of millions of dollars through fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions about Ozy's financial performance, including revenue, cash on hand and profit, ongoing business relationships with celebrities, acquisition prospects from high- profile technology and media corporations, contract negotiations and other corporate metrics.
Source:
(December 16, 2024). "Carlos Watson, Founder and Former CEO of Ozy Media Inc., Sentenced to 116 Months in Prison for Leading Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme". justice.gov. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
Just before Watson was scheduled to start his 116-month prison term Trump commuted his sentence in early 2025.
On September 19, 2025, an article on The New York Times website entitled "The S.E.C. Drops Efforts to Recoup Funds From Trump Clemency Recipients" reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped civil enforcement cases that could have led to penalties totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, one of which was the case of Carlos Watson.
One of the other cases dropped involved Devon Archer who was convicted and sentenced (on February 28, 2022) to a year and one day in prison for the fraudulent issuance and sale of more than $60 million of tribal bonds. Milton was pardoned by Trump in early 2025.
Yet another case dropped involved Trevor Milton, former CEO of Nikola Corporation, who was convicted and sentenced (on December 18, 2023) on charges of securities and wire fraud. Milton was pardoned by Trump in early 2025.
Commentary:
Looking at the photograph of Troy Lake and Jeff Daugherty holding the framed Trump pardon tells us a lot about who they are. You can judge for yourself.
The Orange County Register article I cited earlier states that Ryan LaLone considers himself to be a friend of the environment, and that he was perplexed when federal agents showed up at his shop.
According to the article LaLone said '"We recycle, we compost, my wife was driving a Tesla on the day we were raided. We love the environment."'
Please explain to me how tampering with hundreds of commercial trucks, which makes them less environmental-friendly, makes you a friend of the environment?
I think that Ryan LaLone, Troy Lake, and the other co-conspirators were all being friends to themselves by making lots of money offering services to help their customers save money on diesel fuel. In all likelihood, like Trump, they all think that human-caused climate change is nothing but a "hoax," which was all the justification they needed to carry out their scheme.
As Trump has shown us all, time and time again, laws are just something that get in the way. If you can break them and get away with it, then what's the harm?
Just because you have beliefs that don't align with science and objective reality doesn't mean you can break the law.
The tampering scheme was illegal. Period.
Of course, now that these people have been pardoned by Trump, they feel vindicated. Now that they've been "blessed" by "Dear Leader," they have confirmation that they must not have done anything wrong. Now, they feel even stronger about the fact that their convictions and sentences were just the "weaponization" of the Biden administration.
You can always count on Trump/MAGA to come up with B.S. labels, excuses, and explanations for anything they don't like, or to justify things they say or do.
In this case the excuses are government "weaponization" and that climate change is a "hoax."
If you don't agree with something coming from the mouth of a liberal and you want to disrespect and vilify them for what was said, then you call it "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
When you don't agree with the results of an election, then you claim that the election was "rigged."
It's part of the Trump/MAGA modus operandi to use these labels to expediently dismiss whatever it is you want to ignore and re-frame.
The problem for Trump/MAGA is that these labels, excuses, and explanations only work within Trump/MAGA. For the majority of us outside of the Trump cult, we see right through them and know that they are all bogus and patently false.
It's hard to know the full extent of the lobbying that goes on behind the scenes with Trump's pardons, but if Miles Taylor's reporting is any indication, it's extensive and it probably involves the exchange of favors and/or money.
Trump's pardons send the message that you can break the law and get away with it.
IT ALL WREAKS OF CORRUPTION.
Donald Trump is rotten to the core.