Trump pardoned a tax cheat. But only after his mom attended president's $1 million dinner
A former nursing home executive who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes has been pardoned by President Donald Trump based on an application apparently focused not just on his offenses, but on the political activity of his mother.
Paul Walczak submitted his application for a pardon days after Trump's inauguration. It noted that his mother, Elizabeth Fago, had raised millions of dollars for the president's campaigns, as well as those of other Republicans, The New York Times reports, citing a person who received the application but was not authorized to share it.
It also claimed that Fago had connections to an effort to damage President Joe Biden 's 2020 campaign by publicizing the diary of his daughter, Ashley Biden.
The application reportedly argued that Walczak's criminal prosecution had resulted from his mother's political advocacy, rather than the crimes to which he pleaded guilty — specifically, using money for employee taxes to fund his lifestyle, including the purchase of a yacht.
Weeks after the application for clemency was submitted, there was no news, while other Trump allies received pardons.
It was then that Fago was invited to a $1 million-per-person fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, which promised face-to-face time with the president. Less than three weeks later, the pardon came through.
Walczak was facing 18 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and would have to pay $4.4 million in restitution, according to a sentence handed down 12 days earlier.
The judge justified ordering the jail time by saying that there 'is not a get-out-of-jail-free card' for the rich.
A White House official echoed the application's argument, telling the Times that Walczak was 'targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics.'
Walczak withheld taxes from employee paychecks, totaling $7.4 million between 2016 and 2019. Over the same period, he also didn't pay $3.4 million of his business's portion of employee Social Security and Medicare taxes, according to the Justice Department.
During this time, $1 million was spent on a yacht, hundreds of thousands of dollars was transferred to personal accounts, and business accounts were used for shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, Cartier, and Saks.
Furthermore, in 2018, he ceased filing personal tax returns, despite continuing to receive a salary and transferring funds from the business accounts to his own personal use. Other transfers were made to a family member and his wife. In total, he owed the IRS $10.9 million.
He was charged in February 2023 with 13 counts of tax crimes, pleading guilty to two counts and agreeing to pay restitution on November 15, 2024, just 10 days after Trump won the presidential election.
According to the Times, Fago had held three fundraisers for Trump campaigns and attended VIP events at both the 2017 and 2025 inaugurations alongside her son, Walczak's half-brother, Joey Fago, and his wife, social media posts show. They also attended a 2020 election night watch party at the White House and that year's Christmas party.
She also reportedly played a role in the saga of Ashley Biden's diary, found at a house in Delray Beach, Florida, that the former president's daughter had been renting in the run-up to the 2020 election. The diary was apparently shown to Trump campaign officials at Fago's home before being flagged to Project Veritas by Stephanie Walczak, her daughter.
In a subsequent probe during the Biden administration, investigators obtained a search warrant related to a Project Veritas official who sought information about 'potential co-conspirators,' including communications with Fago and her daughter, among others.
After Trump re-entered the White House earlier this year, the Justice Department announced it was closing the investigation into the diary. Fago, her daughter, nor anyone at Project Veritas were ever charged.
In seeking clemency for Walczak, the application for a presidential pardon claimed his prosecution arose because he was the son of a prominent Trump supporter and cited the pardon issued to Hunter Biden by his father in the final days of his presidency.
Biden said in a statement at the time that Hunter 'was singled out only because he is my son.'
While waiting for word on the pardon of her own son by Trump, Fago attended the fundraiser dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Although it was billed as having a $1 million price tag, it is unclear whether she donated to MAGA Inc., the political action committee sponsoring the event.
The amount was far larger than any of her previous donations to political causes of Trump's campaigns, and the group has until July to disclose any information on donors.
After his pardon came through, a social media post shows the family celebrating with Walczak wearing a red, Trump-style hat with 'Make Paul Great Again' written across the front.
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