New Presidential Pardons: Few White Collar Crimes

According to the Yahoo News (AP) here, President Bush pardoned 17 people this past week. Few were for white collar related offenses. There were a good number related to:

• firearms("firearms to out-of-state residents and falsifying firearms records, "unlawful transfer of a firearm," "possession and transfer of an illegal weapon")
• alcohol ("liquor law violations and conspiracy to violate the liquor laws,"possessing an unregistered still, carrying on the business of a distiller without the required bond, and manufacturing mash on other than lawfully qualified premises")
• drugs ("possession with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana; importing marijuana," "possession with intent to distribute cocaine"

The white collar offenses being pardoned included "conspiracy to impede the functions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., commit embezzlement as a bank officer, make false entries in the records of an FDIC-insured bank, and commit bank fraud" and "conspiracy to defraud the United States by making false claims."