A decision by the Department of Justice to retry a case against a Florida nursing home owner whose sentence was commuted by President Trump has attracted new congressional scrutiny.
The Justice Department seeks to retry Philip Esformes in a Medicare fraud case that led to his 2019 conviction and a 20-year sentence.
Mr. Trump pardoned Mr. Esformes, a prominent philanthropist, in 2020. But Justice Department officials, in an unusual move, are seeking to retry him on six criminals that left the jury deadlocked. Those charges are related to health care fraud conspiracy.
Rep. Andy Biggs said the move is unconstitutional and wants Attorney General Merrick Garland to appear before a House committee to explain his prosecutors’ actions. Lawyers for Mr. Esformes have accused the DOJ of acting out of anger against Mr. Trump.
“As your threat to retry Mr. Esformes continues to loom, he remains burdened by your selective, vindictive, and unconstitutional prosecution and I remain concerned about the dangerous precedent your decision sets regarding the President’s Constitutional pardon power,” Mr. Biggs wrote to Mr. Garland.
The Washington Times reached out to the Justice Department for comment but did not hear back.
Jessica Jackson, a human rights attorney who often represents Democratic causes, agreed with Mr. Biggs.
“It’s absolutely a gross violation of the Constitution,” she said. “It’s unprecedented for the DOJ to retry somebody who’s already got a commutation for a sentence that was given based on all of the crimes alleged against him.”
Mr. Biggs accused Mr. Garland of allowing a dangerous precedent that would “severely diminish presidential grants of clemency.” He said the attorney general should expect to be called before his committee to testify about their concerns.
Prosecutors in the case had already been criticized by a magistrate judge for misconduct that involved disregarding attorney-client privileges and attempting to obscure evidence.
Mr. Esformes was initially charged along with two others by the Justice Department in 2016. He appealed his convictions related to fraud, money laundering and illegal kickbacks, claiming the DOJ should dismiss the indictment on prosecutorial misconduct, among other issues.
A federal court rejected Mr. Esformes’ appeal in January, leaving in place $44 million in fines and forfeiture orders that were not included in Mr. Trump’s clemency order.
In April, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from Mr. Esformes, opening the door for federal prosecutors to retry the case on the deadlocked charges.
The original charges against Mr. Esformes were extensive and accused him of $1.3 billion in health care fraud involving money laundering, bribery and kickbacks.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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