President Donald Trump granted a pardon to a convicted tax fraudster following his mother’s participation in a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to a New York Times report.
Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive, pleaded guilty to tax evasion shortly after the 2024 election. His pardon application, filed near Inauguration Day, emphasized the political influence of his mother, Elizabeth Fago, a prolific Republican donor who raised millions for Trump and other GOP candidates.
The application alleged Walczak’s prosecution was driven more by retaliation against his mother’s activism than his admitted misuse of employee tax funds to finance a lavish lifestyle.
The pardon was approved three weeks after Fago attended a high-dollar Mar-a-Lago gala in Palm Beach, Florida, where donors were guaranteed direct access to Trump. It spared Walczak from paying $4.4 million in restitution and serving an 18-month prison sentence imposed just days prior. A judge had emphasized during sentencing that wealth should not serve as a “get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Fago, 74, hosted multiple Trump campaign fundraisers and attended VIP inauguration events with family members. She also attempted to leverage Ashley Biden’s stolen diary—discovered in a Florida rental home—to aid Trump’s 2020 campaign. Though she tried to pass the diary to Trump allies, campaign lawyers alerted the FBI instead.
The diary later reached Project Veritas, a conservative group known for undercover stings, via Fago’s daughter Stephanie and two individuals who later pleaded guilty in the scheme.
A Justice Department investigation into the diary incident, launched under Trump’s first term and continued under Biden, closed in February 2025 after Trump’s return to office. No charges were filed against Fago, her daughter, or Project Veritas.
Fago and her family secured VIP access to Trump’s inaugural “Victory Rally” in Washington ahead of the pardon. Critics have accused Trump of leveraging presidential clemency for political and financial gain, a pattern underscored by this case.
