In March, we learned that Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, was under investigation for trafficking and abusing a 17-year-old girl. From there, the information got even more sordid and disgusting. Gaetz and his criminal conspirator and “wingman” Joel Greenberg were Venmo-ing money to women and girls and trafficking them into Florida to have sex in hotels. Greenberg was largely organizing the trafficking operation, but he also paid the women and girls and Gaetz used him as a middleman. Yesterday, Greenberg pleaded guilty to multiple charges. It’s being said that the guilty plea was part of a larger deal where Greenberg will likely testify against Gaetz. But in his guilty plea, Greenberg didn’t mention Gaetz.
Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector and close confidant of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, formally pleaded guilty on Monday morning to six federal charges in a court hearing, admitting to a federal judge that he had knowingly solicited and paid a minor for sex. Greenberg spoke sparingly throughout the 45-minute hearing and with a tone of dejection, responding “yes” and “I do” as the judge read the details of his plea agreement. He wore a dark jumpsuit and had his hands shackled in front of him.
The guilty plea from Greenberg, a former Seminole County, Florida, tax commissioner, comes after he struck a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid some of the other 33 federal charges he had faced that ranged from identity theft to fraud and bribery allegations. As part of the plea, Greenberg has agreed to give “substantial assistance” to prosecutors as part of their sprawling investigation, including by testifying at trials or in federal grand juries if needed and in turning over all documents he might have that could help the federal inquiry.
Federal investigators are still examining whether Gaetz broke federal sex trafficking, prostitution and public corruption laws and whether he had sex with a minor. Gaetz has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing. Gaetz isn’t mentioned in the 86 pages of plea deal documents released last Friday, which his spokesman, Harlan Hill, pointed to on Friday in a statement responding to the plea agreement.
“Joel Greenberg has now confessed to falsely accusing an innocent man of having sex with a minor,” Hill said in a statement on Monday.
Yeah, I just don’t see how federal investigators don’t already have a mountain of evidence against Gaetz. They have his “wingman” by the short hairs, they have abundant evidence of the trafficking operation (including the public Venmo transactions, hotel bills, etc) and they have numerous victims too, including some under-18 girls who were trafficked. So… why hasn’t Gaetz been arrested yet? Are the feds still in “case building” mode? Is the trafficking operation larger than just Greenberg and Gaetz? And yes, all of the legal experts are in agreement: Greenberg is going to testify against everybody.
After Greenberg’s plea, a plane flew over the Florida courthouse with the banner reading “Tick Tock Matt Gaetz.”
Plane with banner reading “Tick Tock Matt Gaetz” flies over Gaetz associate/wingman Joel Greenberg’s plea hearing.
This morning, Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) former associate pleaded guilty to six charges, including sex trafficking a minor. (AP Photo/John Raoux) pic.twitter.com/KO0GKK8ReS
— The Recount (@therecount) May 17, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, social media.
Tick-tock! I am looking forward to it.
I wish I owned and could fly a small plane just to post public messages to these smarmy fascists. If I win the lottery it’s on the bucket list.
Now THAT made me smile. That is a great idea!
My schadenfreude is greatly diminished by the fact that the crime is child sex trafficking. I always figured Gaetz would go down for accepting bribes and laundering money.
Bribes and money laundering is typical white man fare, but the title of child sex trafficker is forever.
The title of child sex trafficker also means their are children who are victims. That’s where I have a problem.
Those victims exist regardless of our feelings about it, so I’m glad he’s going down for it.
Tick rocks, tick tick….can’t wait for Matt’s alarm to go off!
Please, dear God, let some of these people brought to justice for once.
Pretty sure they’re building an air-tight case against Gaetz with the goal of getting him to turn on whoever else was involved. There are rumors that Greenberg & Gaetz may have tried to involve DeSantis. And remember Gaetz showing nude photos on his phone to members of Congress on the House floor? If it is, indeed, a “sprawling investigation,” then I think they have a number of targets.
We can only hope…
I don’t know what the prosecutors didn’t make Greenberg eat the sheet. The massive reduction in charges gives the defense a clear opportunity to undermine Greenberg’s credibility.
Ha, no.
Greenberg is an admitted liar who got a sweetheart deal. The defense is going to work the hell out of that.
I mean, Greenberg’s a slimeball, but they know what they’re doing. I’ve seen a number of legal experts analyzing how this is being handled & the consensus is it’s very strategic. And bad news for Gaetz. It’s not just Greenberg’s testimony. There are electronic records, evidence of payments, hotel bills, flight logs, etc. The defense can try to undermine him, but I suspect that’ll go over like a fart in church.
Oh man if this could bring DeSantis down too I would be thrilled!
The trifecta: Gaetz, Greenberg and DeSantis.
What’s up with all of the lipless, gummy grins in Florida?
Veneers
I think its matter of making sure all Ts are crossed and i’s are dotted, so to speak. I think they’re coming for him, definitely.
Exactly this.
Have we heard anything on Epstein’s partner GM?
I’m wondering when she’s going to start singing. I’m quite frankly surprised that she’s still alive.
Her trial has been postponed until the fall.
Today please. This criminal needs jail time.
Is his ‘son’ Nestor involved is something I’d like to know. Keeping my hopes up this mess ruins DeSantis also.
I think Nestor’s as weaselly as Gaetz so I’ve no doubt that he is, at the very least, peripherally involved.
I can imagine him being treated to some of what the older ones were enjoying.
I know Greenberg is trying to control the narrative. I wish the media would stop saying “ wingman”in this context. That sounds fun and playful, trafficking in underage girls is not that.
lowercaselois- Excellent point. Words matter and the media does stuff like this so much that I barely notice it most ofthe time. I now catch on to “sex with underage women” vs “rape of minors” etc, but you are right a “wingman” is the person that is by your side while you are chatting up people you are interested in at the bar or whatever, nit the person that helps you traffic children.
Exactly. Wingman is a dude that already has a girlfriend but helps his single buddy chat up chicks in a bar. This is a pimp or more precisely a child sex trafficker
Hey Florida! You already blew it with Epstein, do better this time!
Also, his smile on a pic with high school kids v. his smile on a pic with a “girlfriend”…
“Also, his smile on a pic with high school kids v. his smile on a pic with a “girlfriend”…”
yeah, I also pointed that out the last time we had those two pics in a post. it’s telling, isn’t it?…
Let us not forget..
Rodger Stone.. Admitted provacator
..He ran with these two
.
.
I would *love* if Roger Stone gets some jail time for this. I toasted with sparkling rose when Rush Limbaugh died. I’ll do the same if Stone gets arrested.
Of course sleezy Stone is involved.
I read that his ex-girlfriend. The college student flying back and forth with him to all these parties, that Gaetz had an ‘open’ relationship’ with and the one whose hula-hoop pictures he was showing off in DC. That ex-girlfriend…is also about to make a plea deal with the feds. So it won’t be just Greenberg’s word against Gaetz.
One of the legal experts interviewed about this on CNN said that it’s normal that Gaetz wasn’t mentioned in any of Greenberg’s pleadings. The allegations are complicated and the Feds and Justice Department have to complete their investigations before speaking publicly about Gaetz. The House Committee on Ethics has also begun its own investigation so it will take some time to build an airtight case.
But he’s on a RINO tour with his terrorist friend who is stalking AOC. So I guess that makes him Teflon. I sure hope not, but we’ll see. We will be suffering from the ripple effects of “the former guy” for YEARS to come. This monstrosity Gaetz is just one.
Lizzie Bathory, you just kill me with your “sparkling rose” wine. I love it.
Lol. Feel free to adopt it!
Geatz hasn’t been arrested yet for the same reason Josh H, Ted, Kevin, Ron Johnson, the 2 QA gun women, Mo Brooks, Roger Stone, and Gosar haven’t been held accountable for the role that they played in the attack on Jan 6. There is absolutely no accountability. Republicans have learned that they can do and say whatever they want(including stalking and harassing other people in Congress) and there will be no consequences for their actions. There were also stories about how his father was paying people to stay quiet and that Geatz had retained the services of Roger Stone. Another reason is Ron Desantis is protecting him, since 2 of the people who Greenberg had previously named were aides to Ron.
It also doesn’t help that the press and some reporters(Marc Caputo) keep acting like Geatz is the virtue of truth. They keep saying things like “…well Matt denies it…” as if he hasn’t spent the last 4 years spreading lies about the election, Biden, Liz, Hilary, Mueller, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Maxine Waters, or anyone who opposed Trump. They question Greenberg’s credibility, while completely ignoring that Matt is still spreading lies about how Trump won 2020. The press hasn’t been diligent in following up on the story either.
I could not disagree more. The press that I’ve seen does not bear out your description.
It’s Gaetz, not Geatz, and the press coverage has been well balanced and well backed up.
The press hasn’t been well balanced. It was reported on Friday that Greenberg was going to make this plea deal on Monday, yet yesterday the press acted like it was something that they had heard for the first time. The press and reporters like Marc Caputo are constantly presenting it as if Matt’s credibility is 100% better than Greenberg’s. Ever since Roger Stone has been on Matt’s PR team, the coverage has dropped off.
I have a bad feeling that he will skate.
K, yes I too have that bad feeling. Also, that Josh Duggar will skate, too.
I don’t know, I don’t think he’ll skate. I’ve been a prosecutor for 16 years and just from my own personal perspective, we would never indict someone as high-profile as Gaetz until we absolutely had ALL of our ducks in a row and the pieces of our case built up with strong supporting and corroborating evidence. It’s a big, high-profile case that will receive national attention so the last thing any prosecutor would want to do is rush into an indictment. There’s little risk of him fleeing the jurisdiction or destroying evidence (since it appears investigators have already gathered the bulk of their evidence), so there’s no real harm in taking the time to nail the case down before officially charging him. I hope that’s what’s happening because this f&cker needs to go down hard!
I appreciate hearing a knowledgeable comment from someone who does this for a living. Thank you. I hope he goes down too.
These guys have no shame.