By Samantha Waldenberg, Kaitlan Collins, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for Oak View Group co-founder Tim Leiweke, who was indicted by the president’s own Justice Department earlier this year, according to a document released online.
A federal grand jury indicted Leiweke, then the CEO of the live entertainment group, in July for “orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas,” according to a press release from the Justice Department announcing the indictment.
“As outlined in the indictment, the Defendant rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding,” assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater said in a statement at the time.
The pardon is dated Tuesday.
Leiweke was represented by Trump ally Trey Gowdy, who had lobbied the Justice Department to drop the case or grant him clemency, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The former executive previously criticized Trump as the world’s “single greatest Con man” and praised former Vice President Mike Pence for “standing up and fighting for the Constitution,” according to since-deleted tweets of his.
CNN has reached out to Leiweke, Gowdy, and the White House for comment.
The pardon is the latest in a series of surprising clemency moves in recent days, with Trump previously announcing the erasure of a major US drug-trafficking conviction for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and a “full and unconditional” pardon for Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, who faced bribery charges.
The news comes just one day after the Oak View Group named a new permanent chief executive officer after Leiweke resigned from the post following his indictment, according to a release.