Lawyer who sought Trump pardon for his client is accused of plotting ‘violent’ extortion, feds say
A lobbyist and attorney who helped secure a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for a former nursing home operator was arrested Friday in New York, with federal authorities charging him with attempting to extort $500,000 from a former client.
Joshua Nass, 34, was taken into custody by FBI agents and is charged with attempted extortion, prosecutors said. If convicted, Nass could face up to 20 years in prison. He was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Saturday.
Officials have not confirmed whether the alleged extortion attempt is directly connected to the pardon effort, though court filings suggest that the targets were Joseph Schwartz, who was pardoned last year, and one of his sons.
Authorities say Nass tried to force a former client to pay $500,000, claiming it was owed for lobbying services. Court documents — which only identify the client and his son as “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2” — state that Nass had agreed to provide lobbying help in exchange for $600,000. The client’s son made an initial payment of $100,000, but when the remaining money was not paid, prosecutors say Nass resorted to threats and intimidation to try to collect the balance.
“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,” according 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 said in a statement Saturday.
Nass is accused of recruiting another person to act as an “enforcer” and pressure the client’s son into paying. Nass allegedly gave the person phone numbers and home addresses and told him to visit the son’s home to demand the money, according to the FBI. The son reportedly refused and shut the door when the person showed up.
Between January 2026 and March 2026, Nass repeatedly contacted another person to plan ways to pressure a former client and his son into paying him money he claimed they owed. Nass and this person discussed physically attacking the son or forcing him into a car with masked men to scare the family into paying, prosecutors say.
At one point, Nass allegedly told the person that if the son refused to pay, he could not act like a “human being” toward him.
Nass also allegedly promised to pay the person at least $15,000 for helping with the scheme, giving $5,000 up front and the rest once the son paid Nass, authorities said.
A federal lobbying disclosure form filed in January shows that Nass listed Joseph Schwartz as a client for the final three months of 2025.
Nass digitally signed the form, which reported that his firm earned an estimated $100,000 during that period for lobbying work, including efforts described as “federal presidential pardon advocacy.”
The disclosure aligns with the fact that Trump pardoned Schwartz in November 2025.
Schwartz had pleaded guilty in federal court in 2024 for his role in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme tied to nursing homes he owned nationwide. Schwartz ran the New Jersey-based Skyline Management Group, which was at the center of the fraud investigation.
