Trump pardons NJ nursing home boss tied to COVID body-storage scandal

☑️ Scandal-scarred N.J. nursing home owner pardoned by former President Trump

☑️ Joseph Schwartz served three months of a 3-year sentence on tax fraud charges

☑️ A Schwartz-owned nursing home stored 17 COVID-19 victims in makeshift morgues

The owner of a nursing home that stored the bodies of COVID-19 victims in makeshift morgues during the pandemic has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.

During the early days of the pandemic, the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in Sussex County kept 17 bodies of residents who died at the state's largest long-term care facility in a morgue intended for just five bodies. Federal officials later issued a quarter-million dollars in fines stemming from unsafe conditions at Skyline Healthcare facilities across the country.  Skyline once operated 95 facilities in 11 states.

But it was a scheme in which Joseph Schwartz failed to pay employment taxes that landed him in prison.

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$38 million tax-fraud scheme led to prison sentence

Schwartz was sentenced to 36 months in prison in April for his role in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme. He pleaded guilty to failing to pay employment taxes withheld from employees of his company and willfully failing to file an annual financial report.

No reason for the pardon was offered in the official document signed by Trump on Nov. 14, nor was a separate statement issued by the White House Communications Office.

Schwartz’s attorney, Kevin Marino, told NJ.com that the pardon was "well deserved" and that he has returned to his loving family and devoted congregation in Suffern County, New York.

Pardons by Donald Trump in New Jersey

Schwartz is the sixth person from New Jersey Trump has pardoned during his two terms in office so far and the first during his second term. He also pardoned 27 New Jersey residents as part of his blanket pardon for those charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

He pardoned four people towards the end of his first term.

George Gilmore

An Ocean County political operative, Gilmore was pardoned at the end of Trump's first term after a jury found him guilty on payroll tax and loan application charges. Former governors Chris Christie, Jim Florio, Jim McGreevey and Donald DiFrancesco lobbied Trump on Gilmore's behalf. He is currently the Ocean County Republican chairman, a position he held from 1996-2019.

Charles Kushner

Charles Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020. He is the father of Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, and a trusted close advisor. He was also a political enemy of Christie's, who called Kushner's case "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he ever prosecuted as U.S. attorney. When Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities, the wealthy real estate executive hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation. Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have the encounter in a New Jersey motel room recorded with a hidden camera and the recording sent to his own sister. The scheme didn't work. Kushner, in 2005, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. Kushner is currently the U.S. ambassador to France.

Kenneth Kurson

Kurson was charged with cyberstalking related to a nasty divorce in 2015.  Kurson's ex-wife was among those who lobbied on his behalf and wrote a “powerful letter” to prosecutors stating she never wanted an investigation or arrest. Kurson was part of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, ran for Assembly in 2003 while living in Montclair, and was part of the political consulting firm Jamestown Associates in Princeton, which counted Christie and the RNC among its clients. According to CNBC, he was considered a confidant of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He edited the New York Observer when it was owned by Kushner.

Dr. Frederick Nahas

Nahas, of Somers Point, was investigated for billing fraud in the 1990s, according to the order. While the investigation turned up no fraud, he pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing justice in a health care investigation and spent one month in prison in 2003. He currently specializes in vascular surgery at Shore Medical Center. The pardon was supported by U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J. 2nd District.

Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, of Lakewood, was pardoned in January 2021 after being convicted twice of scamming investors out over $230 million. He was sentenced again on Nov. 14 to 37 years in prison for the more recent scheme that cost investors more than $44 million. Weinstein thanked Trump and said he was grateful to be reunited with his wife and seven children after serving eight years of a 24-year sentence. Now he's going back to prison for another crime.

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