LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The ringleader of a scheme to take control of Las Vegas homeowners associations from 2003 to 2009 is among the 1,499 people who had their sentences commuted by President Joe Biden on Thursday.
Leon Benzer, 57, was serving a 188-month prison sentence for one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and two counts of tax evasion. He is listed as assigned to RRM Phoenix — a residential reentry office in Maricopa County.
When he was sentenced in Nevada in August 2015, Benzer was ordered to pay about $13.3 million in restitution for his role in the $58.1 million scheme to fraudulently gain control of condominium HOAs in the Las Vegas area to secure construction and other contracts for himself and others. The Justice Department said 42 individuals were convicted of crimes in connection with the scheme.
No Nevada residents were listed among the 39 people who received pardons from Biden on Thursday.
“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances. As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses,” according to a Biden statement provided by the White House.
“That is why, today, I am pardoning 39 people who have shown successful rehabilitation and have shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer. I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices. These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance,” Biden said.
He indicated he would take more steps in the week ahead as clemency petitions are reviewed.
Benzer was the last to be sentenced in “Operation Mastermind,” the name give to a multi-agency investigation that started in 2007.
Four targets of the investigation committed suicide before trials began.
According to an Aug. 17, 2018, report by 8 News Now Investigator George Knapp and Matt Adams, “Friday, federal Judge James Mahan heard a sobbing Benzer apologize for his misdeeds and heard an emotional plea on video from Benzer’s struggling wife and children, but prosecutors reminded the court of the thousands of homeowners who were victimized, many of them frail, elderly, and now destitute.” The crimes were first reported by the 8 News Now I-Team.
The report described the HOA takeover scheme as the largest political corruption case in Southern Nevada.
