Joseph Schwartz
By Andrew DeMillo, Arkansas Advocate
A nursing home owner who was pardoned by President Donald Trump has been paroled in Arkansas, less than a month after he was ordered to a state prison.
Joseph Schwartz was granted parole by the Arkansas Post Prison Transfer Board, according to an email sent Thursday by a notification system that tells the public about an offender’s change in status.
Schwartz had been ordered last month to prison to serve out his sentence on state Medicaid fraud and tax evasion charges.
Schwartz pleaded guilty in April to federal charges tied to a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme involving Skyline Health Care, a nursing home chain that once operated dozens of facilities nationwide, including the former Batesville Health and Rehab.
Schwartz, of New York, was three months into a three-year federal sentence for tax fraud when Trump pardoned him in November.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a petition last month seeking that Schwartz serve out the rest of his state sentence.
“We will review the Post Prison Transfer Board’s decision and will continue to ensure that Joseph Schwartz meets all requirements of his plea agreements,” Jeff LeMaster, a spokesperson for Griffin’s office, said.
An attorney for Schwartz did not immediately return a call Thursday afternoon.
Schwartz pleaded guilty in 2024 in federal court for his role in a $38 million tax fraud scheme involving nursing homes he owned across the country.
An Arkansas judge last month rejected Schwartz’s argument that the three months he served in federal prison made him immediately eligible for state parole.
The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.
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