Loan shark freed by Trump back in jail after a series of arrests

Jonathan Braun, a loan shark released by President Donald Trump in 2021, was sent back to a federal prison in 2021 after a series of arrests that, according to prosecutors, violated the terms of his release. Braun, 41, was detained without bail on Friday after US district judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn, New York, ruled that Braun was a danger to the community. Earlier in the day, he was arrested by federal swamps in nearby Nassau County. Since August, he has been arrested four times – recently last Saturday – by Nassau County police on charges of the state, including the assault of a minor, smaller and sexual assault. In the most recent incident, Braun is accused of beating one person in the face and then hurling two people-including a 3-year-old on the ground. “I am concerned about the nature of the offenses, people are injured,” Matsumoto said during Friday’s hearing with seven separate offenses over the past seven months. Braun pleaded not guilty to violating the terms of his release under supervision. He stands for as long as five years in federal prison, says John Marzulli, a spokesman for prosecutors. Trump granted Braun to Braun during the weakened hours of his first term. Braun was released from prison after serving about two and a half years of a decade -long sentence for drug trafficking. At the time, he faced separate investigations by our and New York authorities in his lending business, where he had the allegations that he had ripped off small businesses and threatened them by force. A federal defender, Kathryn Wozencroft, who was appointed as his lawyer for Friday’s trial, refused to comment. Braun told Matsumoto that he wanted to represent himself. “Why would I let anyone I met 20 minutes ago to defend me?” Braun said in court. Marc Fernich, who represented him in the federal drug case, refused to comment and said Braun is no longer a client. © 2025 Bloomberg MP This article was generated from an automatic news agency feed without edits to text.