Joel Greenberg, associate of Matt Gaetz, agrees to plead guilty and cooperate with federal investigators
Matt Gaetz #MattGaetz
Joel Greenberg, the disgraced Florida tax collector and associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz, admitted to paying an underage girl to have sex with him as well as other men, and he agreed to cooperate with federal investigators, according to court documents filed by prosecutors on Friday.
Greenberg, 37, is expected to plead guilty to six federal charges, according to the Associated Press. A “change of plea hearing” in Orlando’s U.S. District Court is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday. The former tax collector initially pleaded not guilty to several charges in a criminal case, including the sex trafficking of a minor, stalking, wire fraud, and identity theft, which is said to involve sex-trafficking allegations levied against Gaetz.
The papers filed on Friday did not implicate Gaetz by name, according to the New York Times. It remains unclear whether Greenberg will testify against Gaetz in any proceedings.
“Congressman Gaetz doesn’t seem to be named nor referenced in Mr. Greenberg’s plea. Congressman Gaetz has never had sex with a minor and has never paid for sex. Mr. Greenberg was first indicted for falsely accusing someone else of sex with a minor. That person was innocent. So is Congressman Gaetz,” a spokesperson for Gaetz told the Washington Examiner.
JOEL GREENBERG, ALLY OF MATT GAETZ, HIT WITH NEW CHARGES
In late March, it was reported that Gaetz, a sophomore congressman from Florida, was under investigation by federal authorities in connection to Greenberg’s myriad charges, particularly those pertaining to sex trafficking.
The New York Times reported that the Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid her to travel with him. Gaetz called the report “totally false” and told Axios that his lawyers told him he “was not a target but a subject of an investigation regarding sexual conduct with women.”
Gaetz, 38, countered the report on Twitter and in statements to Axios and Fox News with a claim that his family was being extorted for $25 million and that the people pushing stories about an investigation into his relationships with women are the people extorting him and his family.
During an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Gaetz named David McGee, an attorney with Beggs & Lane, as the former DOJ official who was trying to extort him and his family. The Pensacola law firm called the claims “false and defamatory.”
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Also in March, Greenberg was hit with 21 charges, bringing the total of alleged offenses to 31, after he was said to have diverted $432,700 in taxpayer funds to purchase cryptocurrency and signed sports memorabilia from NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Other charges allege that the Florida man used the Seminole County tax collector’s office to furnish a bank account in his name to write himself checks. He was also accused of obtaining government loans on false premises and threatening a political rival who worked at a local school.