(José Niño, Headline USA) President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to nursing home owner Joseph Schwartz in November, erasing his federal prison sentence just three months into a three year term for orchestrating a $39 million payroll tax scheme. The pardon left grieving families unable to collect multimillion dollar judgments awarded after their loved ones died in Schwartz’s facilities, ProPublica reported.
Schwartz had pleaded guilty last April to failure to pay IRS taxes withheld from employees and failing to file a financial report for his employees’ benefit plan. Federal prosecutors said they believed Schwartz still controlled more than $50 million in assets, though not a single asset appeared in his name.
The New York Times reported that Schwartz spent more than $1 million on lobbyists to press the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress on his behalf. Far right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer also championed his cause, publishing posts on X that falsely claimed Schwartz was not responsible for the tax violations and that he had paid back “every dime.” She accused the sentencing judge of antisemitism against Schwartz, who is Jewish, though she offered no evidence. Loomer said she heard about the case in a group chat with members of an orthodox Jewish outreach movement who asked her to look into it.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A 2-TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM IN AMERICA AND ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A DEI ACTIVIST JUDGE EXERCISING JUDICIAL TYRANNY IN AMERICA
Joseph Schwartz, a revered rabbi and well known member of the Jewish community in New Jersey who is battling heart issues and diabetes,… pic.twitter.com/FcioR6Js3L
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) April 29, 2025
The White House claimed that Schwartz “relied on a third-party entity” to manage tax filings, that no funds were used for personal enrichment, and that the sentence was “an example of over prosecution.” But those claims are contradicted by the court record and Schwartz’s own guilty plea, in which he acknowledged responsibility for the unpaid payroll taxes. While he repaid $5 million, that covered only a fraction of what he owed.
Among those left without recourse was the family of Doris Coulson. The retired cardiac nurse had been admitted to Hillview Post Acute and Rehabilitation Center in Little Rock, Arkansas in January 2016 after Parkinson’s disease left her at risk of choking when she swallowed. Her medical records were marked “NPO,” meaning nothing by mouth.
In September 2016, a nursing assistant found Coulson unresponsive and hanging off the side of her bed, her skin ashy and her breathing shallow. She died several days later. The chief cause of death was aspiration pneumonia.
“The doctors said they found scrambled eggs in her lungs,” said her daughter Melissa Coulson.
The family sued Skyline Healthcare and Schwartz, alleging that cost cutting at Hillview left Coulson without necessary care. Schwartz did not contest the case, and a judge in 2020 awarded nearly $19 million in damages. The family has never collected. Schwartz had relinquished all property in Arkansas by that time.
Another family sued after Zelma Grissom, a mother of six, died of sepsis from bedsores at the same facility. Her son LeVester Ivy recalled that one day a wound care nurse showed the family a severe pressure sore that had developed after Grissom had not been turned regularly.
“She started getting infection after infection,” Ivy recalled.
A judge ordered Schwartz to pay Grissom’s family $15.7 million. Schwartz has not paid the judgment.
U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton said at sentencing that she could not understand why prosecutors had agreed to such a lenient sentence. She noted that it remained unclear where much of the money had gone and that “Not a single asset is in your name. Not one.”
Trump’s pardon wiped away Schwartz’s federal prison sentence and likely any IRS effort to recover the remaining stolen taxes. But it did not affect a separate Arkansas state conviction for Medicaid fraud and tax evasion.
The Arkansas Advocate reported that Schwartz owed the state nine months in prison and $1.8 million in restitution. A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said last week that after making some payments, Schwartz owed about $1.2 million, which must be fully repaid by April 2027.
Schwartz reported to an Arkansas prison on December 29, creating an opportunity for lawyers representing families with judgments against him to serve him with court papers and compel him to answer questions under oath about his finances. But the window proved too brief. The Arkansas parole board released Schwartz after just three weeks.
Melissa Coulson said Trump’s pardon reinforced her belief that justice is not applied equally.
“Apparently he’s got money somewhere,” Coulson said. Her lawyer hopes to find it.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
