A pardon lobbyist, $500,000 demand and alleged ‘enforcer’ result in extortion cost in New York | EUROtoday

Federal authorities in New York have arrested and charged a lobbyist — one who labored on behalf of an ex-nursing dwelling operator pardoned not too long ago by President Donald Trump — with trying to pressure a former consumer and his son to pay him $500,000, in keeping with paperwork.

Joshua Nass, 34, of Charleston, South Carolina, appeared Saturday earlier than a Justice of the Peace choose in Brooklyn on an tried extortion cost unsealed the day before today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York mentioned. Nass, who was being launched on $5 million bond, might resist 20 years in jail if convicted.

Court paperwork allege that beginning in January Nass recruited and agreed to pay what the federal government calls a confidential witness to pressure the previous consumer and intimidate his son into paying the quantity that Nass claimed was owed for the consumer’s providers. The father and son are named in court docket paperwork solely as “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2.”

“Rather than honestly representing his client, Joshua Nass allegedly chose to shake him down by hiring an enforcer to extort payment,” James Barnacle Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a news release. “The FBI prioritizes crushing violent crimes offenses and extortion schemes.”

A federal lobbying disclosure type filed with the U.S. House and Senate dated Jan. 15, signed digitally by Nass and protecting the ultimate three months of 2025 listed Joseph Schwartz as a consumer. The type mentioned the agency that Nass based generated an estimated $100,000 in revenue for lobbying actions for the reporting interval, with “federal presidential pardon advocacy” amongst his lobbying points.

Trump had pardoned in November a person named Joseph Schwartz who had pleaded responsible in federal court docket in 2024 for his function in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme involving nursing properties he owned throughout the nation. Schwartz operated New Jersey-based Skyline Management Group.

Reached by telephone, John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, mentioned Saturday he had no remark about whether or not the allegations in opposition to Nass are associated to actions involving Schwartz.

Nass was arrested exterior of his New York lodge on Friday, the identical day he had anticipated to satisfy with the confidential witness, the U.S. Attorney’s Office mentioned.

Nass’ lawyer didn’t reply instantly to electronic mail and textual content messages searching for touch upon the case.

According to a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nass agreed in December to supply lobbying providers to the consumer, who signed an settlement to pay Nass $600,000 in alternate for the providers. The son helped make a $100,000 cost however mentioned he couldn’t then pay the total quantity and requested for “a payment plan,” which Nass considered as an “insult,” the letter mentioned.

Nass, who can be a licensed lawyer in New York, had instructed the witness to go to the son’s New York-area dwelling to compel cost, however the son shut the door on him after being instructed Nass had despatched him, court docket paperwork allege.

Between January and March, Nass and the witness mentioned methods the witness might extort the cost, together with assaulting the son or forcing him right into a automotive with masked males and threatening him, in keeping with the federal government’s information launch. Nass mentioned he didn’t need the witness to behave “like a human being with” the son, an FBI agent’s signed affidavit mentioned.