Donald Trump pardoned a former nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, weeks after his socialite mother attended a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago where attendees had to pay $1 million each, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Paul Walczak, who was convicted of not paying more than $10.9 million in taxes to fund his lavish lifestyle, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution last month. He submitted an application for a pardon around Election Day, having pleaded guilty in November 2024. He had not had any success with his application, even as Trump pardoned other MAGA supporters.
Then, Walczak’s mother, Elizabeth Fago, was invited to a “candlelight” fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago. According to the invitation, Trump appeared as a guest speaker at the event. The event was hosted by MAGA Inc., a super PAC that can raise unlimited funds for Trump.
Less than three weeks after the dinner, Trump pardoned Walczak.
Walczak noted in his initial pardon application that his mother has raised millions of dollars for Trump and other Republicans, arguing that his prosecution was related more to Fago’s politics than to his tax evasion. The application also argued that Donald Trump Jr. and other allies supported Walczak’s pardon, and even outlined how Fago was part of the effort to publicize Joe Biden’s daughter’s diary in order to help Trump’s electoral chances, according to the Times.
Fago, who hosted at least three Trump campaign fundraisers, also attended VIP events at Trump’s 2017 and 2025 inaugurations. In 2020, Trump attempted to appoint her to the National Cancer Advisory Board. According to prosecutors, her son, Walczak, withheld $10.9 million from the paychecks of his employees at nursing homes in South Florida for Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes. He used the money to buy a $2 million yacht, travel, and shop at upscale stores.
A White House official told The New York Times that Walczak was “targeted by the Biden administration over his family’s conservative politics.”
Walczak’s pardon is merely the latest example of the Trump administration pardoning or ending cases against his supporters.
On Monday, Trump pardoned a MAGA former sheriff who was convicted for bribery after giving civilians police badges in exchange for thousands of dollars. He has also pardoned loyalist Michele Fiore, a loyalist Las Vegas city councilor who was convicted of wire fraud after using funds to honor a deceased police officer on plastic surgery, as well about 1,500 defendants who took part in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including violent offenders.
