# Rick Renzi **Richard George Renzi** is a former Republican U.S. Representative from Arizona's 1st district (2003–2009), convicted of using his seat on the House Natural Resources Committee to extort participants in federal land-exchange deals. In 2005 Renzi told proponents of a proposed land swap that he would support their legislation only if they first purchased a Cochise County property owned by his former business partner James Sandlin, who owed Renzi $700,000. When the first group refused, he made the same demand of a copper-mining venture, which agreed. Sandlin received $1 million in earnest money and paid Renzi $200,000, then another $533,000. Separately, Renzi embezzled client insurance premiums from his own agency to fund his 2002 congressional campaign and misled Arizona insurance regulators. Indicted on 35 counts in February 2008, he was **convicted on 17 counts on June 11, 2013** and sentenced to **36 months**, which he served in full (2015–2017). [[Donald Trump]] pardoned him on **January 19, 2021**, announced with the final-day clemency batch. See [[Republican Officeholder Fraud]]. > [!note] Stub — fill out > Needs: the Resolution Copper / Oak Flat connection and its later legislative history; the FBI raid on his wife's business; the Speech or Debate Clause litigation his defense generated; his post-pardon advocacy.