Trump Pardons Tax Criminal Who Stole Millions From Employees

Don’t let President Donald Trump’s latest bid to pander to Black people by pardoning NBA YoungBoy and commuting the federal sentence of Larry Hoover distract you from the fact that his latest batch of executive pardons, like virtually all of his pardons, really, have been self-serving and have largely benefited MAGA loyalists who are taking get-out-of-jail-free cards in exchange for becoming proffessional butt sniffers.

For example, Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax crimes last year, just days after the 2024 election, was awaiting sentencing earlier this year for withholding money from his employees’ paychecks and using it to buy luxury items, including a yacht, instead of applying it to their Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes, according to The New York Times. Walczak was expected to be ordered to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution and spend 18 months in prison, but he submitted his pardon application to the White House right around Trump’s Inauguration Day, and, unsurprisingly, it was granted.

So, our 34-time felon president, who is no stranger to finance-related crimes, bailed Walczak out after a judge reportedly told him there “is not a get-out-of-jail-free card” for the rich, which, apparently, is untrue so long as the president is a corrupt billionaire manchild with an ego that requires constant, round-the-clock feeding.

It also probably didn’t hurt that Walczak’s mother, Elizabeth Fago, is a Trump lover and Biden hater who has raised millions for the MAGA cause.

From the New York Times:

Ms. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Mr. Trump’s campaigns and those of other Republicans, the application said. It also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 2020 campaign by publicizing the addiction diary of his daughter Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny.

Mr. Walczak’s pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother’s efforts for Mr. Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees’ taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Still, weeks went by and no pardon was forthcoming, even as Mr. Trump issued clemency grants to hundreds of other allies.

Then, Ms. Fago was invited to a $1-million-per-person fund-raising dinner last month that promised face-to-face access to Mr. Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Less than three weeks after she attended the dinner, Mr. Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon.

Maybe it’s time we start referring to Trump as the “commander-in-quid-pro-quo.”

Anyway, while we’re here, let’s get into the details about the crimes Walczak — who was initially charged with 13 counts of tax crimes in 2023, but only pleaded guilty to two — and why he deserved to pay evey sent and spend every day behind bars that he was expected to be sentenced to.

More from the Times:

Mr. Walczak, 55, joined his mother’s nursing home business after dropping out of college, eventually becoming chief executive. After she sold the company in 2007, they invested $18 million in a new nursing home venture based in South Florida, where they lived a luxurious lifestyle.

By 2011, prosecutors said, Mr. Walczak had stopped paying employment taxes.

Between 2016 and 2019, they said, he withheld more than $10 million from the paychecks of the nurses, doctors and others who worked at his facilities under the pretext of using it for their Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes. Instead, he used some of the money to buy a $2 million yacht and to pay for travel and purchases at high-end retailers, including Bergdorf Goodman and Cartier, prosecutors said.

See social media’s response to NBA YoungBoy’s pardon below.