Latest news with #ElizabethFago
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump pardons tax cheat weeks after his mother attended $1M fundraiser
President Donald Trump has issued a pardon for a man who defrauded millions of dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle after his MAGA donor mom attended a ritzy $1million-per-head Mar-a-Lago gala. Paul Walczak was due hand himself over to authorities to begin his 18 month sentence and pay $4.4million in restitution for his crimes when Trump issued the pardon. In an application to be shown mercy, Walczak claimed that prosecutors targeted him due his his mother, Elizabeth Fago's political activity. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Trump's campaigns and was involved in leaking Joe Biden's daughter Ashley's addiction diary ahead of the 2020 election in an effort to sabotage his chances. Initially, the pardon plea went ignored. Walczak (pictured right) was convicted of 13 counts of tax crimes, stealing more than $10million to fund his lavish lifestyle. But then Fago received an invitation to Trump's exclusive $1million-per-head fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago in April. The invitation promised unprecedented face-to-face access to the president as part of an intimate, candlelit dinner. Less than three weeks later, Trump issued Walczak a full and unconditional pardon, sparing him from paying the hefty restitution fee or turning himself over to authorities to be taken into custody. The White House told the New York Times that Walczak had been 'targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics' - echoing the same sentiment he himself had used in his pardon request. Walczak had joined his mother's nursing home business after dropping out of college, climbing the ranks to become chief executive. She sold the business in 2007 and the pair invested $18million into another healthcare venture in South Florida. But prosecutors said that by 2011, Walczak had stopped paying his own taxes, and then between 2016-2019 he withheld more than $10million from his employees' pay checks. He had insisted this money was being used for his employees' social secutity, Medicare and federal income taxes, when in reality it was funding the lavish lifestyle he had grown accustomed to. This money was used to purchase a $2million yacht, travel the world in luxury and go on shopping trips at Cartier and Bergdorf Goodman. By February 2023, he had been found and charged for his crimes. Walczak pleaded guilty in November 2024 - days after Trump was re-elected to the White House. Then, days after Trump's inauguration, he submitted his pardon request. His family had been in Trump's orbit for years prior. Fago and other relatives had spent the 2020 election night at a White House watch party. After Trump's defeat, they were invited back to the White House a month later to attend a Christmas party. Fago has been pictured alongside the president and attended his 2017 inauguration. Ms. Fago and other family members spent election night 2020 at a White House watch party. After Mr. Trump lost, they were invited back the next month to attend a White House Christmas party. Trump has been on a pardoning spree since returning to the White House. Most recently, he vowed to issue pardons for reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were found guilty of defrauding banks out of $30 million. On Monday he issued a pardon for a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted last year of federal bribery charges, averting prison time for the officer while also blasting Biden's 'corrupt' Justice Department. 'Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL,' Trump posted. 'He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.' Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who served an area about two hours outside Washington, D.C., was convicted by a jury in December 2024 for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointments as auxiliary deputy sheriffs. In March, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Upon returning to the White House, Trump swiftly issued pardons for all January 6 rioters.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump tax cheat pardoned after his mom attended ritzy $1million dinner
President Donald Trump has issued a pardon for a man who defrauded millions of dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle after his MAGA donor mom attended a ritzy $1million-per-head Mar-a-Lago gala. Paul Walczak was due turn himself over to authorities to begin his 18 month sentence and pay $4.4million in restitution for his crimes when Trump issued the pardon. In an application to be shown mercy, Walczak claimed that prosecutors targeted him due his his mother, Elizabeth Fago's political activity. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Trump's campaigns and was involved in leaking Joe Biden 's daughter Ashley's addiction diary ahead of the 2020 election in an effort to sabotage his chances. Initially, the pardon plea went ignored. Walczak was convicted of 13 counts of tax crimes, stealing more than $10million to fund his lavish lifestyle. But then Fago received an invitation to Trump's exclusive $1million-per-head fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago in April. The invitation promised unprecedented face-to-face access to the president as part of an intimate, candlelit dinner. Less than three weeks later, Trump issued Walczak a full and unconditional pardon, sparing him from paying the hefty restitution fee or turning himself over to authorities to be taken into custody. Paul Walczak was inching toward turning himself over to authorities to begin his 18 month sentence and pay $4.4million in restitution for his crimes when Trump issued the pardon The White House told the New York Times that Walczak had been 'targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics' - echoing the same sentiment he himself had used in his pardon request. Walczak had joined his mother's nursing home business after dropping out of college, climbing the ranks to become chief executive. She sold the business in 2007 and the pair invested $18million into another healthcare venture in South Florida. But prosecutors said that by 2011, Walczak had stopped paying his own taxes, and then between 2016-2019 he withheld more than $10million from his employees' pay checks. He had insisted this money was being used for his employees' social secutity, Medicare and federal income taxes, when in reality it was funding the lavish lifestyle he had grown accustomed to. This money was used to purchase a $2million yacht, travel the world in luxury and go on shopping trips at Cartier and Bergdorf Goodman. By February 2023, he had been found and charged for his crimes. Walczak pleaded guilty in November 2024 - days after Trump was re-elected to the White House. Then, days after Trump's inauguration, he submitted his pardon request. His family had been in Trump's orbit for years prior. Fago and other relatives had spent the 2020 election night at a White House watch party. After Trump's defeat, they were invited back to the White House a month later to attend a Christmas party. Fago has been pictured alongside the president and attended his 2017 inauguration. Ms. Fago and other family members spent election night 2020 at a White House watch party. After Mr. Trump lost, they were invited back the next month to attend a White House Christmas party. Trump has been on a pardoning spree since returning to the White House. Most recently, he vowed to issue pardons for reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were found guilty of defrauding banks out of $30 million. On Monday he issued a pardon for a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted last year of federal bribery charges, averting prison time for the officer while also blasting Biden's 'corrupt' Justice Department. 'Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL,' Trump posted. 'He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.' Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who served an area about two hours outside Washington, D.C., was convicted by a jury in December 2024 for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointments as auxiliary deputy sheriffs. In March, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
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.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Pardoned Tax Cheat After Mother Attended $1 Million Dinner
As Paul Walczak awaited sentencing early this year, his best hope for avoiding prison time rested with the newly inaugurated president. Mr. Walczak, a former nursing home executive who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes days after the 2024 election, submitted a pardon application to President Trump around Inauguration Day. The application focused not solely on Mr. Walczak's offenses but also on the political activity of his mother, Elizabeth Fago. 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. It came just in the nick of time for Mr. Walczak, sparing him from having to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution and from reporting to prison for an 18-month sentence that had been handed down just 12 days earlier. A judge had justified the incarceration by declaring that there 'is not a get-out-of-jail-free card' for the rich. The pardon, however, indicated otherwise. The case of Ms. Fago and Mr. Walczak is the latest example of the president's willingness to use his clemency powers to reward allies who advance his political causes, and to punish his enemies. Mr. Walczak's pardon application was described to The New York Times by a person who received it but was not authorized to share. Ms. Fago, Mr. Walczak and his lawyer did not respond to questions. A White House official echoed the framing in Mr. Walczak's application, asserting in a statement to The Times that he was 'targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics.' A $2 Million Yacht 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. He was charged in February 2023 with 13 counts of tax crimes. By the time he pleaded guilty to two of the counts and agreed to pay the restitution on Nov. 15, 2024, Mr. Trump had been elected for a second term in the White House. The family had reason to believe the incoming president might look fondly on a pardon application. Ms. Fago, 74, had helped host at least three fund-raisers for Mr. Trump's campaigns. She and her son Joey Fago (Mr. Walczak's half brother) and his wife attended V.I.P. events at Mr. Trump's 2017 and 2025 inaugurations, according to social media posts, including one in which she was shownposing with Mr. Trump. An 'Unbelievable' Diary During Mr. Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, Ms. Fago tried to help the candidate in other ways. Ashley Biden had left her diary and other belongings in a house where she had been staying in Delray Beach, Fla., when she moved to Philadelphia during the campaign, telling a friend that she planned to return to retrieve the belongings later. A woman who moved in, Aimee Harris, discovered the diary and enlisted Robert Kurlander, a longtime friend and former housemate, to help sell it. Mr. Kurlander contacted Ms. Fago. When she was first told of the diary, she said she thought it would help Mr. Trump's chances of winning the election, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the matter. Mr. Kurlander and Ms. Harris brought Ms. Biden's diary to a September 2020 fund-raiser at Ms. Fago's home in the exclusive Admirals Cove community of Jupiter, Fla. The featured guests were Mr. Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and the younger Mr. Trump's girlfriend at the time, Kimberly Guilfoyle. At the fund-raiser, the diary was shown to Caroline Wren, the campaign finance consultant who helped organize the event. 'So I go back there, I start reading through it, and there was just unbelievable stuff,' Ms. Wren recalled last year on a podcast. 'I contacted the campaign attorneys, and then that campaign attorneys said, 'Be very careful, don't take possession of this.' They wrote up a whole memo and then they contacted the F.B.I. and said, 'You need to come pick this up immediately.'' The F.B.I. did not retrieve the diary. Instead, Mr. Kurlander and Ms. Harris entered negotiations to provide it to Project Veritas, a Trump-allied undercover media group that had been tipped to the diary's existence by Stephanie Walczak, Ms. Fago's daughter. The Justice Department during Mr. Trump's first term opened an investigation into the matter after a representative of the Biden family reported to federal authorities before the 2020 election that several of Ms. Biden's personal items had been stolen in a burglary. Ms. Fago and other family members spent election night 2020 at a White House watch party. After Mr. Trump lost, they were invited back the next month to attend a White House Christmas party. During his final weeks in office, Ms. Fago was among a slew of loyalists tapped by Mr. Trump for appointment to government boards and commissions. She resisted an effort by the Biden administration to rescind her appointment to the National Cancer Advisory Board, according to her son's pardon application, which said that she told a board representative that Mr. Biden did not have the right to remove her. The scrutiny of the diary matter continued when Mr. Biden took office. In November 2021, investigators obtained a search warrant related to a Project Veritas official that sought information about 'potential co-conspirators,' including communications with Ms. Fago, Ms. Walczak, Mr. Kurlander, Ms. Harris and others 'about obtaining, transporting, transferring, disseminating or otherwise disposing of Ashley Biden's stolen property.' Mr. Kurlander and Ms. Harris would later plead guilty, admitting to conspiring to steal, transport and sell the diary to Project Veritas. Ms. Harris was sentenced to one month in prison. Mr. Kurlander is scheduled to be sentenced next month. A New Hope When Mr. Trump won the presidency for a second time, it offered hope to Project Veritas, Ms. Fago and Mr. Walczak. In January, with Mr. Trump preparing to move back into the White House, Ms. Fago and her family traveled to Washington for the inauguration. They got V.I.P. access to the Trump Victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington. On Feb. 5, Mr. Trump's Justice Department said it was closing the investigation into the diary. Ms. Fago and Ms. Walczak were not charged, nor was anyone from Project Veritas. In the meantime, a pardon application was submitted on Mr. Walczak's behalf. It suggested that Donald Trump Jr., as well as Ms. Guilfoyle and other Trump allies, supported his clemency. They all agreed, according to the application, that the only reason Mr. Walczak was prosecuted criminally was that he was the son of a prominent Trump supporter. Ms. Guilfoyle declined to comment. Mr. Trump did not respond to a request for comment. The application cited Mr. Biden's justification for issuing a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter Biden for tax and gun crimes in December. The elder Mr. Biden had claimed in a statement that Hunter 'was singled out only because he is my son.' As Ms. Fago and Mr. Walczak awaited word on the pardon, she was invited to the Mar-a-Lago fund-raiser with Mr. Trump. An invitation billed it as an intimate 'candlelight dinner' with 'very limited' space available to people who paid $1 million each. It was sponsored by MAGA Inc., a political action committee that can accept unlimited donations to support candidates and causes backed by Mr. Trump. The ask was far more than her previous largest federal donation on record — $100,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2002 — and dwarfed the more than $12,000 she had directly donated to Mr. Trump's presidential campaign committees. Two people briefed on the candlelight dinner said that Ms. Fago attended. It is not clear whether she donated to MAGA Inc., or how much. Representatives for MAGA Inc. did not respond to questions. The group has until the end of July to disclose the identities of donors from the first half of this year, which will most likely include those who paid to attend the dinner. In a brief interview, Joey Fago downplayed the significance of his mother's connection to the diary saga. 'There was like hundreds of pardons,' he said. 'I'm sure there's plenty of other people you can write about.' The White House official cited the Biden administration's effort to oust Ms. Fago from the cancer board as evidence of the political motivations that contributed to Mr. Trump's decision to issue the pardon. After Mr. Walczak was pardoned in the tax case, he celebrated with his mother and family while wearing a red Trump-style hat reading 'Make Paul Great Again,' according to a social media post capturing the celebration. In the post, Joey Fago wrote, 'What God has ahead of you, is greater than what is behind you,' along with the hashtag 'MAGA.'
