Criminals are dropping serious cash to grease the wheels of Trump’s pardon machine, according to a new report.
New disclosures reveal federal lobbyists raked in over $2.1 million last year from legally troubled individuals desperately seeking presidential clemency — and that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg, Notus reported Friday.
At least $815,000 flowed during the final quarter of 2025 alone, according to Lobbying Disclosure Act filings. Some of that money went straight to lobbyists whom Trump had already pardoned for their own crimes.
Joseph Schwartz, a nursing home executive sentenced to three years for his role in a $38 million tax-fraud scheme, dropped nearly $1.1 million on lobbyists last year and scored a pardon in November. He paid Josh Nass of Merkava Strategies $100,000 in the fourth quarter alone for “federal presidential pardon advocacy.”
Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, felons who pleaded guilty in 2022 to telecommunications fraud for a robocall scheme designed to suppress minority voter turnout. are now hauling in big bucks from pardon-seeking clients. That includes rapper Boosie Badazz, who paid them $600,000 last quarter — but walked away empty-handed and got 10 days in prison instead for a gun charge.
The pardon-for-profit scheme has exploded into a lucrative enterprise.
Roger Stone, Trump’s 2020 pardon recipient, bagged $600,000 from “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver to lobby on tax issues. Even disgraced ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, already pardoned by Trump, jumped into the game to help Commonwealth Edison ex-CEO Anne Pramaggiore fight her conviction.
When asked about the cash carousel, a White House official insisted earlier this week that Trump is “the final decision maker” and that, “Anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is wasting their money.”
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