The case of a felon who paid lobbyists nearly $1 million to seek a Trump pardon

Nursing home magnate Joseph Schwartz was sentenced in April to three years for defrauding the government of $38 million. Seven months later, Trump pardoned him, but the White House denies a lobbying tie.

November 23, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EST


Lobbyists Jack Burkman, left, and Jacob Wohl at a news conference in Arlington in 2019. (Dayna Smith/For the Washington Post)

By Michael Kranish and Aaron Schaffer

In April, Alina Habba, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, extolled her office’s role in the sentencing of a former nursing home magnate to three years in prison for defrauding the government of $38 million. The man, Joseph Schwartz, was alleged to have overseen a “collapsed nursing home empire” and “willfully” failed to pay employment taxes, Habba’s announcement said.

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