NEW YORK — Federal authorities in New York have arrested and charged a lobbyist — one who had worked on behalf of an ex-nursing home operator pardoned recently by President Donald Trump — with attempting to force a former client and his son to pay him $500,000, according to documents.
Joshua Nass, 34, of Charleston, South Carolina, was scheduled to appear Saturday before a magistrate judge on an attempted extortion charge unsealed Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said. Nass could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Court documents allege that starting in January Nass recruited and agreed to pay what the government calls a confidential witness to force the former client and intimidate his son into paying the amount that Nass claimed was owed for the client’s services. The father and son are named in court documents only as “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2.”
“Rather than honestly representing his client, Joshua Nass allegedly chose to shake him down by hiring an enforcer to extort payment,” James Barnacle Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a news release. “The FBI prioritizes crushing violent crimes offenses and extortion schemes.”
A federal lobbying disclosure form filed with the U.S. Hous