Latest news with #Fago
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Issues Not-So-Coincidental Pardon of Massive Tax Cheat
Paul Walzack, a former nursing home executive guilty of tax fraud, got a full and unconditional pardon from President Trump after his mother attended a $1 million-per-person dinner with the president, according to The New York Times. His mother, a major Trump supporter, also happened to be involved in the 2020 plot to publicize Ashley Biden's stolen diary. Walzack was found guilty of stealing over $10 million from the paychecks of the nurses and doctors who worked for him to finance a yacht and other luxury items. He was charged in February 2023 on 13 counts of tax crimes, and eventually pleaded guilty and paid $4.4 million in restitution as Trump won back the White House in November. Walzack initially received no response from the Trump administration regarding a pardon request he submitted around Inauguration Day. But in April his mother, Elizabeth Fago, attended a $1 million entry dinner that included guaranteed face time with the president. The dinner was sponsored by MAGA Inc., a PAC that backs causes and candidates supported by Trump. It's not clear whether Fago donated to MAGA Inc., or how much, but three weeks later her son got his pardon. Walzack and his mother are well established within the MAGAverse. Fago has donated millions of dollars to GOP campaigns. She's hosted at least three Trump fundraisers and went to the VIP portions of both Trump inaugurations, where she cozied up to the president in photos posted on her Instagram. Fago was also deeply involved in a scheme to publicize the diary of Ashley Biden, former President Joe Biden's daughter, after she left it at a beach house in Florida. Aimee Harris, and Robert Kurlander, the individuals who stole the diary, brought it to a fundraiser at Fago's home in 2020 where it was shown to a Trump campaign organizer. Harris was sentenced to a month in prison and Kurlander is awaiting sentencing. This is yet another example of Trump's flippant use of his executive pardon power. Show him some loyalty, and some money, and you could get out of jail too.
New York Times
26-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Pardons Executive Whose Family Sought to Publicize Ashley Biden's Diary
President Trump on Wednesday pardoned a Florida health care executive whose mother played a role in trying to expose the contents of Ashley Biden's diary. The pardon of the executive, Paul Walczak, was signed privately and posted on the Justice Department's website on Friday. It came less than two weeks after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution, for tax crimes that prosecutors said were used to finance a lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of a yacht. Mr. Walczak's mother, Elizabeth Fago, who was also involved in the health care industry in Florida, is a longtime Republican donor and fund-raiser who played a role in a surreptitious effort to help Mr. Trump by undermining Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 presidential election. During the campaign, Ms. Fago was contacted by a man who was in possession of a diary kept by Mr. Biden's daughter, Ashley, as she recovered from addiction, The New York Times previously reported. When first told of the diary, Ms. Fago said she thought it would help Mr. Trump's chances of winning the election if it was made public, two people familiar with the matter later told The Times. The man, Robert Kurlander, circulated the diary at a fund-raiser at Ms. Fago's house in Jupiter, Fla., in September 2020. Ms. Fago's daughter passed along a tip about the diary to Project Veritas, a conservative group that had become a favorite of Mr. Trump's. Project Veritas later paid $40,000 to Mr. Kurlander and an associate, Aimee Harris, for the diary. The Justice Department investigated the theft and handling of the diary, which included scrutiny of Ms. Fago and her daughter. Neither they nor anyone from Project Veritas was charged, but Mr. Kurlander and Ms. Harris were convicted in connection with the scheme. There is no evidence that Mr. Walczak was involved in the effort to acquire the diary, and the charges against him were unrelated to the matter. He had donated a total of about $450 to Mr. Trump's 2020 campaign around the time of the fund-raiser at his mother's home, but it is not clear whether he attended it. Asked about the pardon, he declined to comment and did not respond to a follow-up message inquiring about the diary. Ms. Fago, who has donated more than $16,000 to Mr. Trump's committees and was nominated by him in December 2020 to the National Cancer Advisory Board, did not respond to a request for comment. The pardon of Mr. Walczak comes as Mr. Trump is increasingly using his nearly unfettered clemency powers to reward allies, highlight his grievances about what he sees as the political weaponization of the justice system and swipe at perceived enemies, including the Bidens. Last month, Mr. Trump granted clemency to Devon Archer and Jason Galanis. The men are former business partners of Mr. Biden's son Hunter, and earned fans on the political right by testifying to Republican-controlled congressional committees about the overlap between the younger Mr. Biden's business dealings and the elder Mr. Biden's public service. Raymond R. Granger, a lawyer who represented Mr. Walczak in his criminal tax case, confirmed that he had drafted the pardon application with assistance from two lawyers with whom he worked on the case, Richard Levitt and Dennis Kainen. In a statement, Mr. Granger said 'Paul and his family are truly grateful to the president, and Paul looks forward to returning his focus to his lifelong passion for improving the country's health care system.' The clemency grant for Mr. Walczak came on the same day as Mr. Trump issued a pardon to Michele Fiore, a Nevada Republican politician who was convicted last year in connection with a scheme to use charitable donations for personal expenses, including plastic surgery, rent and her daughter's wedding. A White House official said, without providing evidence, that Mr. Walczak and Ms. Fiore had been the victims of biased prosecutions under the Biden Justice Department.
