The former owner of a collapsed national nursing home chain who ran more than 100 facilities out of a tiny office above a New Jersey pizzeria has pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with what prosecutors called a $38 million payroll tax fraud scheme.

Joseph Schwartz, whose Skyline Healthcare nursing home chain was the subject of an NBC News investigation, pleaded guilty to failing to pay the IRS employment taxes withheld from his employees and failing to file annual financial reports with the federal Labor Department.

If the court accepts his plea agreement, he will be sentenced to a year in prison and three years’ supervised release, with a requirement to pay $5 million in restitution. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May.

Owner of failed nursing home chain accused of $38 million tax fraud scheme pleads guilty