Another Trump clemency recipient faces domestic violence-related charges

WASHINGTON — A Florida man who received a commutation of a 20-year fraud sentence from President Donald Trump in 2020 was arrested Sunday on domestic violence-related charges in South Florida.

Philip Esformes was charged with two felony counts that could result in jail time and fines if he were convicted, according to a public records database maintained by Miami-Dade County.

Esformes is at least the seventh person granted clemency by Trump who has been charged with new crimes after receiving a second chance, according to a New York Times analysis.

Esformes is also the third known recipient of a clemency grant from Trump to be charged with a domestic violence-related offense.

Late Saturday, Esformes verbally threatened a woman whom her relatives described as his wife, as well as a second family member, and further intimidated them by breaking items on a table filled with glassware, according to the woman’s relatives.

Esformes tried to prevent the woman from calling police by smashing her cellphone, the relatives said. The woman ran out of the house and called for help, they said. No one appears to have been injured.

Records accessible on the website of the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department show that he was booked in Sunday on charges of tampering with a victim or witness and criminal mischief involving property damage of $1,000 or more. The website indicates that the two charges relate to domestic violence but provides no other details.

Corrections officials in Miami-Dade County indicated that he was still in custody Monday morning.

Esformes owned more than 30 Miami-area nursing homes and assisted-living centers in 2016, when he was charged in connection with a two-decade scheme that involved an estimated $1.3 billion worth of fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019.

His prison term ended suddenly in December 2020 — when Trump, during his final days in office, commuted what remained of Esformes’ sentence. In a statement announcing the commutation, the White House claimed that in prison, Esformes had been “in declining health” and “had been devoted to prayer and repentance.”

Esformes’ commutation was not recommended by the Justice Department. It was supported by influential figures and groups in Trump’s world, including a Jewish nonprofit group called the Aleph Institute that advances prisoners’ rights.

The Aleph Institute did not respond to requests for comment.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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