Like everything else related to Trump 2.0, the torrent of shocking, awful news on this topic is overwhelming and numbing. That’s Steve Bannon’s “Flood the Zone” strategy in action.
I covered a little of this in December, but the flood hasn’t crested so we’re back to it.
But I’m gonna slice this bulimia buffet of family blogging sandwiches into manageable portions for easier digestion, but prepare to be pissed off.
But we’ll start with my personal favorite tale of depravity piled on depravity then move on to a hopeful note because one of the most shameless and flagrant firms is drawing all kinds of bad publicity, and then we’ll look at the scope of the problem then we’ll have a handy table compiling some of the super villains who’ve taken the ride on Trump’s pay-for-pardons conveyor belt.
All the Best People
This pithy tale from the DOJ really gives the flavor of Trump 2.0 “society” in which 34-year-old pardon lawyer Joshua Nass allegedly attempted extortion over a claimed $500K fee, allegedly sending an alleged enforcer to allegedly threaten the alleged son of alleged client Joseph Schwartz.
Another Trump Pardon:
Nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz was convicted of a $39 million fraud, but President Donald Trump pardoned him just three months into a three-year prison term.
A Troubling Pattern: Schwartz is one of several nursing home operators convicted of crimes who were granted clemency by Trump.
Devastated Families: The families of some patients in Schwartz’s nursing homes have been awarded millions of dollars from lawsuits. But they haven’t been able to collect from him.
More about Trump clemency recipient Joseph Schwartz from ProPublica:
Coulson’s death and the circumstances surrounding it led her family to file a lawsuit against Skyline and its owner, the New Jersey businessman Joseph Schwartz, alleging that cost-cutting at Hillview left Coulson without the care she needed. It was one of several lawsuits tied to patient outcomes as Schwartz’s empire expanded and then unraveled, with much of the chain collapsing by 2018.
Schwartz didn’t contest the case, and a judge in 2020 awarded nearly $19 million in damages. Coulson’s family has never been able to collect. Schwartz had by that time relinquished all of his property in Arkansas, so there was nothing left in the state for the family’s lawyer to try to seize, nor was there enough information about assets he may hold in other states.
Coulson’s civil action was one of several efforts to hold Schwartz accountable for what happened at his nursing homes. In perhaps the most sweeping move, federal prosecutors in New Jersey charged Schwartz with orchestrating a $39 million payroll tax scheme connected to his nursing home empire.
He pleaded guilty last April to failure to pay the IRS taxes withheld from employees and failing to file a financial report for his employees’ benefit plan. A federal judge sentenced him to three years in prison.
But Schwartz served just three months.
So yea, it’s hard to have sympathy for the alleged victim in this alleged case per NBC New York:
According to a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nass agreed in December to provide lobbying services to the client, who signed an agreement to pay Nass $600,000 in exchange for the services. The son helped make a $100,000 payment but said he could not then pay the full amount and asked for “a payment plan,” which Nass viewed as an “insult,” the letter said.
Nass, who is also a licensed attorney in New York, had told the witness to go to the son’s New York-area home to compel payment, but the son shut the door on him after being told Nass had sent him, court documents allege.
Between January and March, Nass and the witness discussed ways the witness could extort the payment, including assaulting the son or forcing him into a car with masked men and threatening him, according to the government’s news release. Nass said he did not want the witness to behave “like a human being with” the son, an FBI agent’s signed affidavit said.
Nothing caps off a story of alleged scumbags allegedly ripping each other off like multiple snitches stealing scenes.