Lawyer who sought Trump pardon for his consumer is accused of plotting ‘violent’ extortion, feds say | EUROtoday

A lobbyist and lawyer who helped safe a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for a former nursing dwelling operator was arrested Friday in New York, with federal authorities charging him with trying to extort $500,000 from a former consumer.

Joshua Nass, 34, was taken into custody by FBI brokers and is charged with tried extortion, prosecutors stated. If convicted, Nass may withstand 20 years in jail. He was scheduled to make an preliminary court docket look Saturday.

Officials haven’t confirmed whether or not the alleged extortion try is straight related to the pardon effort, although court docket filings counsel that the targets have been Joseph Schwartz, who was pardoned final 12 months, and one among his sons.

Authorities say Nass tried to power a former consumer to pay $500,000, claiming it was owed for lobbying providers. Court paperwork — which solely determine the consumer and his son as “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2” — state that Nass had agreed to supply lobbying assist in change for $600,000. The consumer’s son made an preliminary fee of $100,000, however when the remaining cash was not paid, prosecutors say Nass resorted to threats and intimidation to attempt to acquire the stability.

“As alleged, Nass plotted the violent extortion of one of his own clients and hired an individual to ‘do anything and everything’ to force the client’s son to pay for services,” in response to Joseph Nocella, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

“Rather than honestly representing his client, Joshua Nass allegedly chose to shake him down by hiring an enforcer to extort payment,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle stated in a press release Saturday.

Nass is accused of recruiting one other individual to behave as an “enforcer” and strain the consumer’s son into paying. Nass allegedly gave the individual telephone numbers and residential addresses and instructed him to go to the son’s dwelling to demand the cash, in response to the FBI. The son reportedly refused and shut the door when the individual confirmed up.

Between January 2026 and March 2026, Nass repeatedly contacted one other individual to plan methods to strain a former consumer and his son into paying him cash he claimed they owed. Nass and this individual mentioned bodily attacking the son or forcing him right into a automobile with masked males to scare the household into paying, prosecutors say.

At one level, Nass allegedly instructed the person who if the son refused to pay, he couldn’t act like a “human being” towards him.

Nass additionally allegedly promised to pay the individual no less than $15,000 for serving to with the scheme, giving $5,000 up entrance and the remainder as soon as the son paid Nass, authorities stated.

A federal lobbying disclosure kind filed in January exhibits that Nass listed Joseph Schwartz as a consumer for the ultimate three months of 2025.

Nass digitally signed the shape, which reported that his agency earned an estimated $100,000 throughout that interval for lobbying work, together with efforts described as “federal presidential pardon advocacy.”

The disclosure aligns with the truth that Trump pardoned Schwartz in November 2025.

Schwartz had pleaded responsible in federal court docket in 2024 for his position in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme tied to nursing houses he owned nationwide. Schwartz ran the New Jersey-based Skyline Management Group, which was on the middle of the fraud investigation.

Nass was arrested exterior a New York lodge the identical day he was scheduled to satisfy with the cooperating witness who helped investigators construct the case. His lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark by the Associated Press.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Nass by way of his web site, in addition to the White House, for remark.