{"id":121775,"date":"2025-06-04T15:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T23:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/04\/trump-pardons-tax-evasion-convictions-of-reality-tv-stars-and-a-businessman-whose-mother-attended-a-million-dollar-political-fundraiser\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T15:02:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T23:02:48","slug":"trump-pardons-tax-evasion-convictions-of-reality-tv-stars-and-a-businessman-whose-mother-attended-a-million-dollar-political-fundraiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/04\/trump-pardons-tax-evasion-convictions-of-reality-tv-stars-and-a-businessman-whose-mother-attended-a-million-dollar-political-fundraiser\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Pardons Tax Evasion Convictions Of Reality TV Stars And A Businessman Whose Mother Attended A Million-Dollar Political Fundraiser"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Photo by MANDEL NGAN\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently, President Donald Trump issued two controversial pardons involving tax evasion due to the recipients\u2019 connections or their fundraising ability.<\/p>\n

On April 23, 2025, Trump pardoned Paul Walscak, who was recently sentenced<\/a> to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release for tax evasion.<\/p>\n

According to the IRS, Walczak controlled a network of interconnected health care companies operating under various names. For more than a decade, Walczak and his companies were not compliant with his tax obligations. From 2016 through 2019, Walczak\u2019s companies withheld over $7.4 million of taxes from his employees\u2019 paychecks, but did not pay those taxes over to the IRS. Instead, Walczak used the money to purchase a yacht and other luxury items. As a result, the IRS took aggressive collection efforts. They also assessed the unpaid taxes against Walczak personally, which is commonly known as the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty.<\/p>\n

But Walczak\u2019s mother Elizabeth Fago was a major Trump supporter during his election campaign. According to the New York Times<\/a>, Fago raised millions for Trump and other Republicans. She went to a $1 million per person fundraiser dinner where attendees would have face-to-face access to Trump. A few weeks after attending the dinner, Walczak received a full pardon.<\/p>\n

On May 28, 2025, Trump pardoned former reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley. In 2019, they were indicted<\/a> for bank fraud and tax evasion. They were accused of obtaining bank loans using false financial statements.<\/p>\n

They were also accused of failing to timely file tax returns and paying taxes from 2009 until 2016. They took steps to hinder the collection of back taxes by hiding income and lying to third-parties about their tax returns. Their tax preparer is also accused of lying to FBI and IRS criminal investigation agents<\/p>\n

The Chrisleys responded by blaming everything on a former employee who stole from them, forged documents, and provided fake documents to investigators.<\/p>\n

Following a three-week trial, a federal jury found the Chrisleys guilty<\/a> of tax evasion and conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million of fraudulent loans. Before the pardon was issued, Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced<\/a> to 12 and seven years in federal prison, respectively.<\/p>\n

One of the Chrisleys\u2019 daughters, Savannah, was instrumental in obtaining the pardon as she met with Trump to advocate for her parents\u2019 release. She spoke at the Republican National Convention. She says<\/a> that she challenged a broken system and the weaponization of the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Her advocacy paid off. A White House official said<\/a> that \u201cthe President is always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance, especially those who have been unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted by an unjust justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or for some reason, Trump could have been skeptical of criminal convictions<\/a> involving fraudulent loan documents.<\/p>\n

Whether these pardons were appropriate will depend on whom you talk or listen to. Regardless, a pardon wastes the time and money spent to investigate and prosecute a case.<\/p>\n

Will the IRS Criminal Investigation Division want to investigate a case if they know that their target is likely to be pardoned by the president? According to the division\u2019s 2024 annual report<\/a>, 1,373 criminal investigations were conducted and 674 prosecutions were recommended. This is down from 2018<\/a> where there were 1,714 criminal tax investigations and 1,050 prosecutions.<\/p>\n

While these two pardons stories are anecdotal, anyone being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division will see them. Those who are well-heeled or well connected will try to get an audience with Trump hoping that he will sell pardon indulgences before their sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

\n

Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at <\/em><\/strong>stevenchungatl@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (<\/em><\/strong>@stevenchung<\/em><\/strong><\/a>) and connect with him on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Trump Pardons Tax Evasion Convictions Of Reality TV Stars And A Businessman Whose Mother Attended A Million-Dollar Political Fundraiser<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by MANDEL NGAN\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently, President Donald Trump issued two controversial pardons involving tax evasion due to the recipients\u2019 connections or their fundraising ability.<\/p>\n

On April 23, 2025, Trump pardoned Paul Walscak, who was recently sentenced<\/a> to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release for tax evasion.<\/p>\n

According to the IRS, Walczak controlled a network of interconnected health care companies operating under various names. For more than a decade, Walczak and his companies were not compliant with his tax obligations. From 2016 through 2019, Walczak\u2019s companies withheld over $7.4 million of taxes from his employees\u2019 paychecks, but did not pay those taxes over to the IRS. Instead, Walczak used the money to purchase a yacht and other luxury items. As a result, the IRS took aggressive collection efforts. They also assessed the unpaid taxes against Walczak personally, which is commonly known as the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty.<\/p>\n

But Walczak\u2019s mother Elizabeth Fago was a major Trump supporter during his election campaign. According to the New York Times<\/a>, Fago raised millions for Trump and other Republicans. She went to a $1 million per person fundraiser dinner where attendees would have face-to-face access to Trump. A few weeks after attending the dinner, Walczak received a full pardon.<\/p>\n

On May 28, 2025, Trump pardoned former reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley. In 2019, they were indicted<\/a> for bank fraud and tax evasion. They were accused of obtaining bank loans using false financial statements.<\/p>\n

They were also accused of failing to timely file tax returns and paying taxes from 2009 until 2016. They took steps to hinder the collection of back taxes by hiding income and lying to third-parties about their tax returns. Their tax preparer is also accused of lying to FBI and IRS criminal investigation agents<\/p>\n

The Chrisleys responded by blaming everything on a former employee who stole from them, forged documents, and provided fake documents to investigators.<\/p>\n

Following a three-week trial, a federal jury found the Chrisleys guilty<\/a> of tax evasion and conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million of fraudulent loans. Before the pardon was issued, Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced<\/a> to 12 and seven years in federal prison, respectively.<\/p>\n

One of the Chrisleys\u2019 daughters, Savannah, was instrumental in obtaining the pardon as she met with Trump to advocate for her parents\u2019 release. She spoke at the Republican National Convention. She says<\/a> that she challenged a broken system and the weaponization of the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Her advocacy paid off. A White House official said<\/a> that \u201cthe President is always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance, especially those who have been unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted by an unjust justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or for some reason, Trump could have been skeptical of criminal convictions<\/a> involving fraudulent loan documents.<\/p>\n

Whether these pardons were appropriate will depend on whom you talk or listen to. Regardless, a pardon wastes the time and money spent to investigate and prosecute a case.<\/p>\n

Will the IRS Criminal Investigation Division want to investigate a case if they know that their target is likely to be pardoned by the president? According to the division\u2019s 2024 annual report<\/a>, 1,373 criminal investigations were conducted and 674 prosecutions were recommended. This is down from 2018<\/a> where there were 1,714 criminal tax investigations and 1,050 prosecutions.<\/p>\n

While these two pardons stories are anecdotal, anyone being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division will see them. Those who are well-heeled or well connected will try to get an audience with Trump hoping that he will sell pardon indulgences before their sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

\n

Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at <\/em><\/strong>[email\u00a0protected]<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (<\/em><\/strong>@stevenchung<\/em><\/strong><\/a>) and connect with him on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by MANDEL NGAN\/AFP via Getty Images) Recently, President Donald Trump issued two controversial pardons involving tax evasion due to the recipients\u2019 connections or their fundraising ability. On April 23, 2025, Trump pardoned Paul Walscak, who was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release for tax evasion. According to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":121767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2206343614-scaled-99YYxB.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}