How a $30 Million Pardon Scheme Failed Before It Got to Trump

The audacious plan crystallized over a lobster dinner in Puerto Rico. That’s where a self-styled connector for the MAGA era says he and a child actor-turned-crypto enthusiast hatched an idea to secure a presidential pardon for Bitcoin booster Roger Ver and make millions for themselves in the process.

The men, Matt Argall and Brock Pierce, had only tenuous ties to the entrepreneur known as Bitcoin Jesus, but they knew he was angling for a grant of clemency from President Donald Trump, who had just been elected to a second term. Most importantly, the pair suspected Ver was a ...