Pugh no different than Trump, but he’s not going to prison

A recent article in The Sun (“The case against Catherine Pugh: Her ‘Healthy Holly’ problem wasn’t sloppy bookkeeping. It was corruption,” Nov. 24) details former Mayor Catherine Pugh rightly being punished by perhaps five years in prison for diverting tax-exempt funds to her personal and political use, and failing to deliver as promised in return for the funds.

Can someone explain to me how what she is being punished for is different from President Donald Trump’s action in diverting funds from his tax-exempt foundation to his personal and political use? In this case, Mr. Trump is getting off with merely paying the money back to charities of his choice, plus an additional $2 million — no conviction, no jail time.

Why should not former Ms. Pugh equally be allowed to merely pay the money diverted to charity and a fine, no prison? Or, alternatively, why should Mr. Trump be criminally prosecuted for seemingly equivalent fraud and tax evasion on an even larger scale?

James Stephen Kelly, Ellicott City