Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Thursday, April 02, 2026

"... 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. In November, President Donald Trump granted him a full pardon, negating his criminal conviction " part of a series of clemency decisions in the president's second term that have benefited well-connected defendants, including political allies with access to the White House and individuals like Schwartz who had spent heavily on lobbyists."

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Trump has granted clemency to several figures in major health care fraud cases. In 2020, he commuted the 20-year federal prison sentence of Philip Esformes, a Florida nursing home magnate convicted in a scheme that prosecutors said involved about $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims. The White House cited allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, echoing claims from Esformes' defense that prosecutors improperly invaded attorney-client privilege by reviewing documents seized in an FBI raid. Although appeals courts did not overturn the conviction based on this argument, Esformes had support from two former U.S. attorneys general.

That same year, Trump commuted the sentence of Judith Negron, convicted in a $200 million Medicare fraud case. Trump's clemency grant said the "ends of justice" did not require her to serve another two decades in prison.

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Pedo47 created a "fraud task force" with Jethro Dull and so far all they've done is pardon all the fraudsters serving time in fed lockup for ripping off Americans.

Such a pathetic clownshow.

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#1 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-04-02 05:04 PM | Reply

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