Federal authorities in New York arrested and charged lobbyist Joshua Nass with attempted extortion, prosecutors said, alleging he tried to pressure a former client and intimidate the client’s son into paying $500,000. Nass, 34, appeared Saturday before a magistrate judge in Brooklyn after the charges were unsealed the previous day, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said.
Prosecutors said Nass acted as a lobbyist for an ex-nursing home operator who had been pardoned recently by President Donald Trump. Federal authorities did not comment immediately on whether the allegations involving Nass are related to activities connected to the pardoned man, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office.
According to court documents, Nass recruited and agreed to pay a “confidential witness” beginning in January to force payment from the former client and to intimidate the son. The former client and the son were named in the court materials only as “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2,” and prosecutors said Nass targeted them because of an amount Nass claimed was owed for services provided to the client.
In a news release, James Barnacle Jr., an assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said the case involves what prosecutors described as an extortion scheme rather than legitimate representation. “Rather than honestly representing his client, Joshua Nass allegedly chose to shake him down by hiring an enforcer to extort payment,” Barnacle said, adding that the FBI “prioritizes crushing violent crimes offenses and extortion schemes.”
The U.S. attorney’s office said Nass was arrested outside of his New York hotel on Friday—the same day prosecutors said he expected to meet with the confidential witness. Nass’ attorney did not respond immediately to messages seeking comment on the case.
Prosecutors said the allegations stem from a lobbying services arrangement. The government’s letter said Nass agreed in December to provide lobbying services to the client, who signed an agreement to pay Nass $600,000 in exchange for the services. The letter said the son helped make a $100,000 payment, but the son later asked for “a payment plan,” which prosecutors said Nass viewed as an “insult.”
Court documents also describe communications between Nass and the confidential witness about coercing payment and ways the witness could apply pressure. The government said Nass told the confidential witness to go to the son’s New York-area home to compel payment, and that the son shut the door on Nass after being told Nass had sent him, according to the allegations.
Between January and March, prosecutors said Nass and the confidential witness discussed methods to extort the payment, including assaulting the son or forcing him into a car with masked men and threatening him. The government’s news release and accompanying affidavit described Nass’s response to how the witness would behave around the son, saying Nass told the witness not to act “like a human being with” the son.
Federal prosecutors said the case involves federal extortion charges and carried potential penalties if convicted. The U.S. attorney’s office said Nass was released on $5 million bond and could face up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors also pointed to Nass’s lobbying filings. A federal lobbying disclosure form dated Jan. 15, signed digitally by Nass and covering the final three months of 2025, listed Joseph Schwartz as a client. The form said Nass’s firm generated about $100,000 in income for lobbying activities during the reporting period and listed “federal presidential pardon advocacy” among the firm’s lobbying issues.
The disclosure filing described a connection to the man Trump pardoned in November, according to the AP reporting. The pardoned man, Joseph Schwartz, had pleaded guilty in federal court in 2024 over his role in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme involving nursing homes he owned across the country.