granted

Joseph Schwartz Nursing Home Fraud Case

Recipient

Joseph Schwartz

Pardon Date

Nov 14, 2025

Granted By

President Donald Trump

Original Offense

Tax fraud, failure to pay withholding taxes, Medicaid fraud

healthcare fraudtax fraudfederallobbyingnursing home

Case Timeline

Skyline Healthcare Expansion (2010s)

Joseph Schwartz, a rabbi and former insurance salesman, rapidly built Skyline Healthcare into a massive nursing home chain, operating from a New Jersey office “above a pizzeria.”

At its peak:

95 facilities across 11 states
Approximately 7,000 patients in care
Approximately 15,000 employees

Skyline Healthcare Collapse (2018)

Skyline Healthcare collapsed spectacularly, leaving:

Thousands of nursing home patients at risk
Employees uncertain about jobs and benefits
Facilities facing closure across multiple states
State governments scrambling to ensure care continuity

Federal Investigation

Federal prosecutors investigated Schwartz for:

Failing to pay approximately $38 million in employee withholding taxes
Not remitting payroll taxes to the IRS
Failing to file required IRS forms about employee benefit plans
Defrauding Medicaid programs

Federal Indictment (District of New Jersey)

Schwartz was charged with:

Failure to pay withholding taxes
Failure to file required IRS forms
Tax fraud

Arkansas State Charges

Separately, Arkansas filed state charges against Schwartz for:

Medicaid fraud
Financial crimes related to nursing home operations

Federal Guilty Plea (2024)

Schwartz pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud charges.

Federal Sentencing (2024)

Sentence: 36 months (3 years) in federal prison
Restitution: $5 million ordered

Schwartz began serving his federal sentence in 2024.

Arkansas Guilty Plea (May 2025)

Schwartz pleaded guilty in Arkansas state court to felony charges related to Medicaid fraud.

Fines/Restitution: $1.8 million
State prison sentence imposed

$960,000 Lobbying Campaign (2024-2025)

The Washington Post reported that Schwartz paid right-wing lobbyists $960,000 to secure a presidential pardon:

Multiple lobbying firms were retained
Nearly $1 million spent seeking clemency
Campaign raised questions about pay-for-pardon dynamics

Federal Pardon (November 14, 2025)

After serving approximately 90 days of his 3-year federal sentence, President Trump granted Schwartz a full pardon for his federal conviction.

White House Justification:

Denied lobbying influenced the decision
Called the $960,000 lobbying spend “a foolish waste of money”
Cited Schwartz’s age (65) and “deteriorating health”
Characterized the three-year sentence as “exceptionally harmful to a 65-year-old man already in deteriorating health”

State Conviction Remains (November 2025)

Important: Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes. The Arkansas state conviction was not affected by Trump’s pardon.

Schwartz Seeks to Delay State Prison (December 2025)

Following his federal pardon, Schwartz:

Sought to delay reporting to Arkansas state prison
A judge denied the delay request
Was ordered to report for his Arkansas sentence

Currently Serving State Sentence (December 2025-Present)

Schwartz is currently incarcerated at the Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern, Arkansas, serving his state sentence.

Background

Joseph Schwartz (age 65 at time of pardon) is a rabbi and former insurance salesman from New York who became a nursing home operator. He built Skyline Healthcare through aggressive acquisition of nursing home facilities across multiple states.

The Skyline Healthcare collapse became one of the largest nursing home fraud cases in U.S. history, putting thousands of vulnerable elderly patients at risk.

Scale of Harm

Patients at Risk

The Skyline collapse endangered approximately 7,000 nursing home patients across 11 states, as facilities faced closure threats and uncertain futures.

Employees Harmed

Approximately 15,000 employees were affected by the collapse, facing uncertainty about their jobs and benefits due to Schwartz’s failure to pay withholding taxes.

Federal Tax Fraud

Schwartz failed to remit approximately $38 million in employee withholding taxes to the IRS.

Medicaid Fraud

Schwartz defrauded Medicaid programs, stealing from taxpayer-funded healthcare programs for the elderly.

Analysis

This pardon is notable for several reasons:

Documented paid lobbying - Schwartz paid $960,000 to lobbyists seeking the pardon, one of the clearest examples of paid pardon advocacy
White House denial - The administration claimed the lobbying was “a foolish waste of money” while granting the pardon anyway
Harm to vulnerable victims - The fraud endangered 7,000 nursing home patients and 15,000 employees
State conviction unaffected - Despite the federal pardon, Schwartz is currently serving a state prison sentence in Arkansas
Pattern of healthcare fraud pardons - Schwartz joined other healthcare-related pardon recipients like Robert Harshbarger Jr.
Age and health justification - The White House cited Schwartz’s age (65) and “deteriorating health” despite the severity of his crimes