DOJ Dismissal of $47 Million Trump Donor Fraud Case Approved

A California federal judge has allowed prosecutors to drop a $47 million fraud case against fast-food executive Andrew Wiederhorn, a Trump donor, after acting Los Angeles US Attorney Bill Essayli argued dismissal would align with new enforcement priorities.

Judge R. Gary Klausner’s one-paragraph order released publicly Friday also withdraws the indictment of two of Wiederhorn’s co-defendants and to FAT Brands Inc., the fast-food franchisor he founded.

Klausner ordered prosecutors to explain the decision to drop the case before granting the motion. Essayli’s Aug. 5 explanation pointed to two memos, including one from criminal division head Matthew Galeotti in May that cautions against white-collar enforcement excessively burdening businesses.

Allegations that Wiederhorn and FAT Brands Inc. helped conceal $47 million from the IRS aren’t within the scope of the criminal division’s May memo, or a February memo from AG Pam Bondi directing focus on areas such as immigration enforcement, Essayli’s filing said.

His reference to Galeotti’s memo sparked pushback from the Justice Department in Washington, where an official said the criminal division’s policies don’t apply to US Attorneys’ offices, and decisions made by US Attorneys apply only to their offices.

Galeotti’s policy lists 10 white-collar enforcement areas the division would be prioritizing—the first of which mentions fraud that harms the public fisc. Neither prosecutors’ filing nor the judge’s order evaluated the ways the memo’s priorities exclude prosecution of Wiederhorn for allegedly defrauding the IRS.

Bloomberg Law reported that prior to Galeotti’s memo, Essayli met with Wiederhorn’s defense lawyers without line prosecutors and was considering dismissal.

The case is USA v. Wiederhorn, C.D. Cal., No. 2:24-cr-00295, 8/7/25.