Joseph Schwartz

Joseph Schwartz was the majority owner and president of Skyline Healthcare LLC, which at its peak operated more than 100 nursing homes across 11 states, caring for more than 7,000 elderly residents. The federal charges against Schwartz stemmed from his operation of nursing home facilities in New Jersey: he willfully failed to remit to the IRS approximately $38–39 million in employment taxes that had been withheld from his employees' paychecks, and he failed to file the Annual Form 5500 Report required by the Department of Labor disclosing the financial status of his employees' 401(k) benefit plan. Separately, Schwartz was convicted in Arkansas state court of Medicaid fraud and tax evasion for submitting false cost reports that inflated Skyline's expenses and overbilled the Arkansas Medicaid program by approximately $2 million. His federal pardon on November 14, 2025 — granted after he spent roughly three months in federal prison — did not cover the Arkansas state conviction. A New York Times investigation later revealed Schwartz had paid nearly $1 million to lobbyists and operatives with ties to Trump allies, including Laura Loomer, "pardon czar" Alice Marie Johnson, and White House counsel David Warrington, to secure the pardon.