The Securities and Exchange Commission moved to dismiss its civil fraud case against Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corporation, following his pardon by President Trump on March 28, 2025. Milton was convicted in October 2022 of securities fraud for misleading investors about Nikola’s …
Trevor MiltonSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Donald TrumpNikola Corporationcorruptionregulatory-capturepay-to-playsecurities-fraudelite-impunity
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to release Epstein-related banking records covering at least $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions between 2003 and 2019. The Treasury files include suspicious activity reports detailing over 4,700 wire …
Ron WydenScott BessentTreasury DepartmentSenate Finance CommitteeJeffrey Epsteinobstruction-of-justiceinstitutional-captureelite-impunityfinancial-corruption
Ten days before his inauguration, Donald Trump was sentenced in the New York hush money case to an “unconditional discharge”—meaning he faces zero jail time, no fine, no probation, and no restrictions whatsoever despite being convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. …
Donald TrumpJuan MerchanNew York State Courtselite-impunitytwo-tier-justicecorruptionrule-of-law
Reports emerged that multiple U.S. Senators sold significant amounts of stock after attending classified briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic, but before the public understood the severity of the crisis and before markets crashed. On January 24, 2020, the Senate Committees on Health and Foreign …
Richard BurrKelly LoefflerTucker Carlsoncongressional corruptioninsider tradingrepublican partycovid-19stock act+2 more
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL), once considered one of the Republican Party’s rising stars, announced his resignation from Congress effective March 31, 2015, amid mounting allegations of misusing federal funds and campaign finance violations. The 33-year-old congressman, known for his camera-ready …
Aaron Schockcongressional corruptioncampaign finance violationsrepublican partyillinoiswire fraud+1 more
MF Global Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the eighth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at that time. The firm, led by former U.S. Senator and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, reported that up to $1.6 billion in customer segregated funds were missing. The collapse came …
Jon Corzinefinancial corruptionwall streetregulatory capturedemocratic partycustomer fraud+1 more
The Office of Alien Property Custodian seizes the assets of Union Banking Corporation (UBC) in New York on October 20, 1942, under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Among the bank’s directors is Prescott Bush, father and grandfather of two future presidents, whose firm Brown Brothers Harriman …
President James A. Garfield launches an investigation in April 1881 into the Star Route scandal, a massive postal fraud scheme that has defrauded the Post Office of $4 million through rigged bidding on rural mail delivery contracts. The scandal involves a ring of contractors, brokers, and appointed …
James A. GarfieldThomas J. BradyStephen W. DorseyChester A. ArthurBradley Barlowsystematic-corruptiongilded-agepostal-fraudelite-impunity
Over 100 armed white men—members of paramilitary “rifle clubs” called the Red Shirts—attack approximately 30 Black National Guard servicemen at the Hamburg, South Carolina armory on July 8, 1876, killing seven men (six of them Black) in what becomes the first of a series of planned civil …
Red ShirtsBenjamin TillmanWade Hampton IIIMatthew ButlerBlack National Guard Militiaracial-terrorismreconstruction-sabotagewhite-supremacydemocratic-erosionelite-impunity
The House of Representatives votes to impeach Secretary of War William W. Belknap on March 2, 1876—just minutes after he races to the White House, hands President Grant his resignation, and bursts into tears. Belknap becomes the first cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be impeached for his role in …
William W. BelknapUlysses S. GrantCaleb MarshHiester ClymerU.S. House of Representativessystematic-corruptionexecutive-branch-corruptioninstitutional-captureelite-impunity
An estimated 150-300 Black citizens and two white citizens are killed during the Vicksburg massacre, a coordinated campaign of white supremacist violence that begins on December 7, 1874, and continues until around January 5, 1875, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The massacre follows the forced …
White LeaguePeter CrosbyAndrew J. GilmerUlysses S. Grantwhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-racismelite-impunity
The White League stages an armed insurrection against Louisiana’s Reconstruction government on September 14, 1874, in New Orleans. Five thousand White League members—Confederate veterans organized as “the military arm of the Democratic Party”—overwhelm 3,500 state police and …
White LeagueJames LongstreetWilliam Pitt KelloggUlysses S. GrantJohn McEnerywhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-captureelite-impunity
On August 30, 1874, the White League—a paramilitary organization of Confederate veterans described as “the military arm of the Democratic Party”—completes a weeklong campaign of terror in Red River Parish, Louisiana, by assassinating six white Republican officeholders and five to twenty …
White LeagueDick ColemanThomas FloydMarshall TwitchellLouisiana Board of Tradewhite-supremacyreconstruction-sabotagepolitical-violenceinstitutional-captureelite-impunity
Congress officially repeals the congressional portion of the Salary Grab Act on January 20, 1874, sustaining only the salary increases for the President and Supreme Court Justices. The repeal comes after months of intense public fury over the March 1873 legislation that doubled congressional …
U.S. CongressUlysses S. GrantElihu Washburnesystematic-corruptionlegislative-corruptiongilded-ageelite-impunity
General James Wilkinson, the highest-ranking federal official ever tried for treason and espionage, commands two unsuccessful military invasion campaigns in the St. Lawrence River valley theater in Canada during the War of 1812 while simultaneously accepting kickbacks from contractors and receiving …
General James WilkinsonSpanish EmpireU.S. Army contractorsPresident James Madisonmilitary-corruptionespionagecontractor-fraudaccountability-evasionelite-impunity