Lawyers and Lobbyists Sell Trump Pardon Access for Up to $1 Million

4 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 20

$1 million in cash was offered up front to one lawyer by a jailed man's family, illustrating the frantic market around clemency in Trump's Washington.
Lawyers and lobbyists are pitching themselves as pardon brokers, with one practitioner, Josh Nass, warning that desperate clients are being exploited by operators who promise access and deliver nothing.
Nass said demand surged after he helped secure a pardon for nursing-home owner Joseph Schwartz, who had been serving a three-year sentence for a $38 million tax-fraud case.
A lobbying disclosure showed Schwartz paid Nass $100,000, underscoring how presidential clemency has become a lucrative business for well-connected intermediaries.

A top pardon broker faces extortion charges. How deep does criminality run in this secretive industry?

When presidential clemency becomes a commodity, what does this mean for the future of equal justice?

With billions in restitution erased by pardons, what recourse is left for victims of financial crime?