A high-profile push for presidential clemency has surfaced in two different corners of public life, one organized online for a convicted lending executive and the other tied to a contentious Senate contempt fight involving a presidential pardon.
Supporters of Joseph LaForte, the former Par Funding chief who pleaded guilty to racketeering and wire fraud, have launched a website, FreeJoeLaForte.com, urging President Donald Trump to grant clemency. The site calls LaForte’s prosecution a “witch hunt” and displays images of Trump while saying it will fight for a presidential pardon through activism and “exposing the truth.”
The site does not identify its operators. Calls and messages left through its contact pages went unanswered. One call routed to a number associated with John Sirmans of Fanwood, New Jersey, and PDFs on the site list a “Lisa Mac” as a co‑author. LaForte’s lawyer in the criminal case, Joseph Corazzo, said he was unaware of the site and has had no role in seeking clemency.
The website highlights more than a dozen articles by journalist Milton Allimadi of Black Star News, which the site labels a series exposing alleged wrongful persecution of LaForte. Allimadi said he did not know who started FreeJoeLaForte.com and that he was not paid for the coverage, though he acknowledged a modest uptick in donations to his outlet after the link. A change.org petition tied to the campaign lists 40 verified signatures and names its author only as “Truth Seeker.”
LaForte is incarcerated at a federal prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey, and is not due for release until 2035. His wife, Lisa McElhone, received a one‑day federal sentence for her role in the Par Funding scandal, and prosecutors have said LaForte sometimes used the alias “Joe Mack.”
Fauci Contempt Vote Raises Legal Questions About Scope Of Pardon
Separately, Dr. Anthony Fauci faces a possible contempt of Congress referral after invoking the Fifth Amendment more than a hundred times during a Senate hearing. The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted 8‑7 along party lines to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions about his role in the federal COVID‑19 response. Republican Senator Rand Paul brought the resolution.
President Joe Biden issued a retroactive pardon to Fauci as he was leaving office on January 19, 2025. The pardon covers any federal offenses occurring between January 1, 2014, and the date of the pardon in connection with specified roles, including director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of White House COVID‑19 response teams.
Legal experts quoted in reporting warned that a presidential pardon is retrospective and does not shield against future criminal conduct. Northeastern University law professors and commentators, including Libby Adler, Jeremy Paul and Dan Urman, said the pardon does not necessarily eliminate a witness’s right to plead the Fifth, and state prosecutions could still be pursued. A contempt resolution must be approved by the full Senate with a 60‑vote threshold before it can be referred to the Justice Department, and contempt is considered a misdemeanor under the law.
Three state attorneys general from Florida, West Virginia and Louisiana have launched a joint investigation into Fauci, an action that experts say could preserve the risk of state charges and bolster the legal basis for invoking the Fifth Amendment. How courts will resolve the constitutional questions around a broad pardon and compelled congressional testimony remains unsettled, according to the experts cited.
