Tiffany Muller, president of anti-corruption group End Citizens United, today submitted a formal request to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, calling for a federal investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s recent pardon of former nursing home executive Paul Walczak constitutes an illegal bribery-for-pardon scheme in violation of the Federal Bribery Statute. Click here to read the complaint.

As detailed in the complaint, Walczak—who was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution after pleading guilty to federal tax crimes—received a full and unconditional pardon just weeks after his mother attended a $1 million-per-person fundraising dinner last month at the President’s private Mar-a-Lago club.

“Trump’s pardon of Paul Walczak, the latest in a string of pardons for tax-evading criminals, demonstrates the brazen pay-to-play politics in Trump’s White House,” said ECU President Tiffany Muller. “This pardon sends a disturbing message to the wealthy and well-connected that as long as you can afford to put millions in Trump’s pocket, you can get away with breaking our laws. We urge the DOJ and OGE to hold Trump accountable for his corrupt self-enrichment schemes and for letting criminals off the hook without any punishment.”

The complaint states, in part: “Federal law strictly prohibits a public official from accepting anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of any official act. An official act includes any decision or action in a matter before any public official. A pardon is an official act vested to the President by the Constitution.”

The complaint goes on to expose a trail of escalating favors from Mr. Walczak’s family to Donald Trump and his campaigns spanning several years. Before the recent exclusive Mar-a-Lago dinner, his mother has reportedly raised millions for Trump and other Republicans, hosted multiple high-dollar fundraisers for the Trump campaigns, and played a central role in the scheme to publicize the diary of President Biden’s youngest daughter, Ashley.

Since launching 10 years ago, ECU has been at the forefront of the fight against dark money and corruption in Washington, filing dozens of complaints against candidates for violating federal campaign finance and anti-corruption laws. Earlier this year, the organization released a damning report exposing 100 instances of corruption, self-dealing, and chaos that defined the first 100 days of Trump’s second term in office.