Make Schwartz Pay (Editorial)

Back before he was convicted of fraud, Joseph Schwartz (inset) operated out of offices above retail space on Marlboro Road in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey (Google Maps)

Former nursing home magnate Joseph Schwartz cheated the federal and Arkansas governments out of millions of dollars, yet now he’s free.

Schwartz popped up on Arkansas Business’ radar in 2018, when our Mark Friedman wrote about the financial troubles experienced by nursing homes in Arkansas owned by Schwartz, then of New Jersey.

In 2022, Friedman detailed the Medicaid fraud counts Schwartz faced, as well as charges that he failed to pay taxes. Friedman also noted the $10 million judgment awarded against the nursing home operator by a federal court jury in Little Rock that stemmed from the death of an Augusta woman in 2018 in one of his facilities. And then there was Schwartz’s indictment in federal court in New Jersey on 22 criminal counts that included benefit plan fraud and failing to pay $29.5 million in payroll and unemployment taxes.

Schwartz’s sorry record continued. In 2023, a Pulaski County Circuit Court jury awarded $15.7 million to the family of a Little Rock woman who died in one of his facilities.

Schwartz eventually pleaded guilty in 2024 to federal charges that he defrauded the government of $38 million. But on Nov. 14 President Donald Trump granted Schwartz a full pardon, a pardon that came, as the Washington Post reported, after Schwartz paid $1 million to lobbyists who sought a federal pardon on his behalf. A White House official said that “any one spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting funds.”

But federal pardons don’t apply to state charges, and last May Schwartz pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and tax evasion charges in Arkansas. The plea resulted from a deal with Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin requiring Schwartz to reimburse the state $1.8 million over the next two years and serve a one-year prison sentence.

So Schwartz, now 66, in December duly reported to state prison. And 22 days later, on Jan. 20, Schwartz was freed after being paroled by the state. A Griffin spokesman said Schwartz still owes about $1.4 million to the state and that the attorney general’s office would seek to ensure he fulfills the agreement.

At this point, options for justice are limited. At the very least, Griffin must hold Schwartz to paying back the money he owes Arkansas taxpayers.