PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- President Donald Trump granted clemency to 143 people in his final night in office. Former chief strategist Steve Bannon and rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black were among the most notable figures on the list, which also included four people with ties to the Philadelphia region.
In the middle of the president's final night in the White House, the Trump administration announced 73 pardons and 70 commuted sentences. He did not pardon himself, family members or attorney Rudy Giuliani.
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Bannon, who was charged with defrauding donors of a border wall online fundraising campaign and pleaded not guilty, was described as "an important leader in the conservative movement" and someone who is "known for his political acumen" in a statement announcing the clemency. Bannon now joins other supporters of the president who were granted pardons in the final days of the Trump presidency, including Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn.
Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, who were pardoned, had been convicted in Florida of weapons charges. Wayne offered support for the president during the 2020 campaign.
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Joe Exotic, of "Tiger King" fame, did not get clemency.
Among those with local ties on the list was Dr. Salomon Melgen, whose sentence was commuted. The Florida doctor was convicted in a $73 million Medicare fraud case in 2018. He is friends with New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez. A separate federal corruption case against them was dropped in 2017.
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Philadelphia radio host Gary Evan Hendler was granted a pardon. Hendler was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances in 1984 and served three years probation. He had been on the Pennsylvania Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
Jersey Shore surgeon Dr. Frederick Nahas, who spent a month in jail in the early 2000s for obstructing justice in a health care billing investigation, also received a pardon. As did Former Ocean County GOP leader George Gilmore, who was convicted for tax and loan fraud and sentenced to a year and a day in prison in January 2020.