Background

Joseph Schwartz is the former owner of Skyline Healthcare, a national nursing home chain that he ran from a small office above a New Jersey pizzeria. Skyline operated more than 100 facilities in 11 states through a web of more than 190 limited liability companies. The chain was the subject of an NBC News investigation. Its rapid rise and collapse between 2017 and 2019 led to more than a dozen facility shutdowns. Schwartz was convicted in New Jersey on federal charges of willful failure to pay over employment taxes and failure to file the Annual 5500 Report (required disclosure for employee benefit plans).

The Case

Schwartz pleaded guilty to failing to pay the IRS employment taxes withheld from his employees and to failing to file annual financial reports with the federal Labor Department. Prosecutors described a $38 million payroll tax fraud: he willfully withheld trust fund taxes from employees but pocketed the money instead of turning it over to the government. The U.S. Attorney stated that Schwartz “defrauded the United States” and “will now be held accountable for his criminal tax violations.” He was sentenced in April 2025 to 36 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a $100,000 fine, and $5,000,000 in restitution.

Skyline’s collapse threw residents, vendors, employees, and state regulators into chaos. State and local authorities had documented abuse and neglect at Skyline facilities. Arkansas issued Skyline facilities more than $200,000 in civil fines for neglect, preventable falls, failure to bathe residents, and the presence of maggots in a resident’s medical equipment. In Tennessee, after Skyline took over Ashton Place in Memphis, a resident was found in feces and later discovered at a hospital to have maggots and gangrene in his leg; the resulting state investigation led federal regulators to shut down three Skyline nursing homes in the state. Medicare decertified at least one Skyline facility in Tennessee after a resident was discovered in feces with maggot-infested wounds and later died. In South Dakota, where Skyline operated 19 facilities, a company administrator warned state authorities that dwindling food and supplies put residents’ safety at risk; regulators in several states eventually seized Skyline homes and placed them into receivership. After Skyline’s collapse, a New Jersey facility run by a former Skyline executive was reported to have severe problems during the Covid pandemic, including dozens of resident deaths; federal funding for that facility was later terminated. Schwartz also faced felony Medicaid and tax charges in Arkansas related to eight nursing homes there; state filings alleged he received tens of millions in gross income from Arkansas facilities in 2018 and 2019 but failed to file an Arkansas tax return. Employee health insurance benefits were not funded, forcing workers to pay out of pocket or forgo care; former employees filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Schwartz and his companies willfully pocketed insurance premiums deducted from paychecks—that suit remained pending as of 2026. Skyline’s collapse has been cited as an example of why the federal government should scrutinize rapid nursing home ownership changes; the White House later announced stricter disclosure requirements for new nursing home owners. Schwartz’s conduct harmed employees whose withheld taxes and benefits were never properly paid, residents and families who suffered from documented neglect and facility instability, and taxpayers who bore the cost of his fraud and the resulting regulatory and enforcement response.

The Pardon

On November 14, 2025, President Trump granted Schwartz a full pardon. The grant drew scrutiny over how clemency was obtained. According to The Washington Post, Schwartz paid lobbyists nearly $1 million to seek a pardon; the White House denied that lobbying played any role in the decision.

The New York Times, drawing on lobbying filings, court records, correspondence, and interviews, reported that Schwartz paid multiple advocates. His campaign included about $960,000 to the firm J.M. Burkman & Associates—run by right-wing operatives Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, who claimed ties to Laura Loomer, a social media figure close to the president—in the weeks after his guilty plea; Schwartz later stopped paying them and told other inmates they had not delivered. He then paid at least $100,000 to the lawyer and lobbyist Josh Nass, who had connections in pro-Israel and evangelical circles. Nass enlisted evangelical figures to argue Schwartz’s case as a matter of religious liberty and faith; Schwartz’s family also retained lawyers with ties to the White House clemency process, including Brittany K. Barnett (who had helped secure Alice Marie Johnson’s commutation; Johnson later became the president’s clemency adviser) and Laurin H. Mills (who is close to White House counsel David Warrington). Petitions emphasized that Schwartz had paid his full federal restitution, had health problems, and was a person of faith. Schwartz reportedly shared his strategy with other inmates at the federal prison camp in Otisville, N.Y.; after his release, other inmates sought similar paid representation, with some offering large success fees. The White House press secretary said that anyone spending money to lobby for pardons was “foolishly wasting their money” and that the president did not know the lobbyists; a White House official said no one there had spoken with Burkman or Wohl about Schwartz and that Warrington had not facilitated the pardon. Which effort, if any, actually influenced the outcome is unclear.

Former employees and victims’ advocates condemned the pardon; one former Skyline employee told the Times that colleagues had expressed disbelief and concern about the precedent for affluent offenders paying for freedom.

Sources

• DOJ Pardon Warrant
• DOJ Clemency Grants
• Owner of failed nursing home chain accused of $38 million tax fraud scheme pleads guilty (NBC News)
• The case of a felon who paid lobbyists nearly $1 million to seek a Trump pardon (Washington Post)
• Schwartz, Trump and the pardon industry (New York Times)