To hear him tell it, legendary sports bettor Bill Walters is mighty pleased by President Trump’s last-minute commutation of the remainder of the 60-month sentence he received for insider trading. It’s a bad beat that Walters continues to dispute even after Trump’s noisy circus wagon has rolled into the sunset.

"I am thankful to the President and extremely grateful for the longstanding support of friends and family, especially my wife, Susan,'' Walters said in a press statement. "I have tried to lead a life marked by concern for others and I hope those qualities, along with the government misconduct that led to my wrongful conviction, convinced the White House to grant me clemency. I also hope this sends a strong message to law enforcement to refrain from illegal misconduct in pursuing their targets. I look forward to vindication as I pursue my civil damages case in federal court."

In a lawsuit filed in October, Walters accused five senior federal officials, including former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, of covering up and misleading the federal court about what it described as illegal leaks of false information to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Walters’ appeal of his criminal conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected in October 2019.

Raising stinging allegations in a civil suit may provide some satisfaction, but Walters remains a long way from vindication in a case that saw him convicted of all 10 felony charges, including of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, stemming the insider trading of Dean Foods Company stock that netted him $32 million and avoid losses of another $11 million. He served more than half his sentence in a Florida federal corrections facility before he was transferred to home confinement in California due to the coronavirus pandemic. With the deadly COVID-19 epidemic still raging, he was expected to serve the remainder of his sentence in style and comfort.

Then came the commutation, announced on the last day of Trump’s chaos-riddled presidency. A sentence commutation is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it’s not a pardon – not even close. The commutation forgave the penalty for Walters’ crimes, but didn’t absolve him of the crimes themselves. He’s still a felon who will have to reapply to have his constitutional rights restored.

That can’t be what he wanted.

For more than a year I’ve heard well-sourced rumors inside the Nevada Republican Party that Walters was using the full range of his political and business contacts in an effort to get Trump to grant a pardon in a case prosecuted by Bharara, one of the president’s greatest critics. It’s hardly a secret that Walters has maintained a close relationship with GOP Chairman Michael McDonald. It’s so close, in fact, that when McDonald declared bankruptcy in 2009 and was on the verge of losing his home, Walters bought it in a short sale.

In late October, frothing Forever Trumper attorney L. Lin Wood appeared to give the pardon idea a boost when he tweeted his full-throated support for Walters’ lawsuit. At the time Wood represented disgraced Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, himself no fan of Walters. By the end of the year, Wynn had parted company with Wood after kicking him out of his house.

In the waning days of the Trump administration, The New York Times reported that Walters had paid former Trump attorney John Dowd “tens of thousands of dollars” in an effort to secure a pardon. Dowd denied he had promised Walters he would trade on his access to Trump to guarantee success.

As part of Walters’ consolation prize, his commutation was supported by a cross-section of former politicians and professional golfers ranging from retired U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, ex-Gov. Jim Gibbons, and former House member Shelley Berkley to PGA veterans Peter Jacobsen and Phil Mickelson, who benefited from but was not charged in Walters’ insider trading case. In the wake of the news, Mickelson denies trying to assist former gambling pal Walters, and other golfers may take mulligans, too, but who needs duffers when you have a former Senate majority leader and Nevada governor vouching for your character?

If Walters is disappointed, or suspects his attempt at a pardon was somehow derailed despite all his friends and supporters, he kept it out of his press statement.

One Southern Nevada businessman who has something to shout about is BT Supplies West CEO Stephen Odzer, whose conspiracy and bank fraud conviction was conditionally pardoned by Trump. The Odzer company in 2020 was rebranded as Lifeguard Industrial and Home Supplies. Hockey fans will recognize the Lifeguard brand on the Henderson community hockey arena associated with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Among those supporting Trump donor Odzer’s pardon were former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Nevada Republican influencers Wayne Allyn Root and Sig Rogich. Root is a leader in the state GOP’s conspiracy-driven Forever Trump movement, and Rogich is the longtime Nevada political consultant who in 2019 was listed as Lifeguard’s president. For Odzer, who pleaded guilty in 2005 of defrauding three New York banks of more than $16 million, the presidential pardon comes with the condition that he pay the remainder of his court-ordered restitution. That’s a small price for having a multimillion-dollar bank fraud conviction erased from his life’s ledger.

All his loyal friends and good deeds haven’t prevented Odzer’s name from surfacing in a fraud civil suit against Philadelphia-based Par Funding, a sketchy financial investment lender co-founded by a twice-convicted felon.

But nevermind all that. Odzer was a big winner in the last-minute pardon sweepstakes, and Walters can say he improved his position.

After all the ugly business we’ve witnessed during the previous four years in Washington, it’s also possible to conclude that Trump thinks insider trading is just smart business and bank fraud isn’t a crime at all. 

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR. His newest book—a biography of iconic Nevada civil rights and political leader, Joe Neal— “Westside Slugger: Joe Neal’s Lifelong Fight for Social Justice” is published by University of Nevada Press and is available at Amazon.com. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith