Rep. Matt Gaetz Investigated for Sex Trafficking, Underage Girl
Rep. Matt Gaetz Is Denying He Had A Sexual Relationship With An Underage Girl After Reports That He’s Under Investigation
Gaetz denied the allegations and claimed they were instead part of a $25 million extortion scheme.
https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/med...dff526c8178d7e
Last updated on March 30, 2021, at 9:15 p.m. ET
Posted on March 30, 2021, at 8:29 p.m. ET
Paul Hennessy / Sipa USA via AP
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump's and a regular face on conservative cable news, is denying allegations of a possible sexual relationship with an underage girl after the New York Times reported Tuesday that the Florida Republican was under federal investigation.
Instead, the outspoken and often controversial legislator claimed he was the victim of "an organized criminal extortion" and that his father had been wearing a wire at the FBI's direction "to catch these criminals."
"No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets [...] of the ongoing extortion investigation," Gaetz wrote in a series of tweets.
The tweets came after the New York Times reported that the 38-year-old lawmaker was under investigation over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him. The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal also reported on the investigation Tuesday night. The Times and the Journal reported that the Justice Department was examining whether Gaetz had violated federal sex trafficking laws.
Asked by Fox News Tuesday night about the allegations involving a teen girl, Gaetz denied them.
"The person does not exist. I've not had a relationship with a 17-year-old," he said.
According to the Times, the encounters occurred two years ago, and Gaetz came under scrutiny during the end of the Trump administration as part of another investigation into a Florida official, Joel Greenberg, who has been indicted on charges that included sex-trafficking a child and financially supporting people in exchange for sex.
Gaetz appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight Tuesday evening and said he and his family became aware of a federal probe on March 16, when his father was allegedly contacted via text from someone who asked for millions of dollars to make the investigation "go away." The person claimed photos showed Gaetz with child prostitutes, which Gaetz said did not exist.
Gaetz said the FBI asked his father to wear a wire as part of the investigation into the alleged extortion, which he claimed involved a former Department of Justice official who now works at a prominent law firm in Pensacola, Florida.
The attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.
The congressman said his father was supposed to wear a wire for a meeting with the former DOJ official Wednesday for a "down payment" on what he called a "bribe," but that the meeting was canceled because of the New York Times report.
"I know there was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away," Gaetz said. "They were promising that [President] Joe Biden would pardon me. I don't need a pardon."
Gaetz told the Times that his attorneys were in contact with the Justice Department and that he understood that the investigation "has to do with women."
"I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward," he said.
He also told Axios that he was "absolutely" confident that none of his previous relationships involved underage girls.
In tweets, he demanded that the Department of Justice "release the tapes" involving the alleged extortion investigation.
Gaetz has been a frequent guest on Fox News, where he has repeatedly pushed false claims of massive voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. As a member of Congress, he's mocked mask mandates to curb the pandemic. Moments after a violent mob stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, he claimed the rioters were not Trump supporters but "masquerading as Trump supporters."
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to questions from BuzzFeed News.
BUZZFEED
Salvador Hernandez is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.
Contact Salvador Hernandez at salvador.hernandez@buzzfeed.com.
Gaetz associate pleads guilty to 6 federal crimes, including sex trafficking a teen
https://i.imgur.com/qwgkWxD.png
politico.com
Gaetz associate pleads guilty to 6 federal crimes, including sex trafficking a teen
Marc Caputo
8-10 minutes
Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County, Fla., tax collector, pleaded guilty to six criminal counts in a case that sparked a federal investigation into whether Gaetz paid girls for sex. | Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP
ORLANDO, Fla. — A former friend and ally of Rep. Matt Gaetz formally pleaded guilty Monday to multiple federal charges, including sex trafficking a minor, ID theft, stalking and fraud, bringing his broad crime spree to an end and officially marking a new chapter in the investigation of the embattled congressman.
Joel Greenberg, who had served as a locally elected tax collector in Central Florida’s Seminole County, had to resign his post last year after he was hit with the first of three indictments that eventually totaled 33 federal charges, but prosecutors agreed to pare those back in order to secure his cooperation.
Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing ever since word leaked in March that federal investigators were looking into whether the Florida congressman had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Gaetz has not been charged with any crime.
“Joel Greenberg has now confessed to falsely accusing an innocent man of having sex with a minor,” said Harlan Hill, a Gaetz spokesperson.
The Republican lawmaker previously had said that it’s Greenberg who has admitted to the crime, is trying to escape a lengthy prison sentence and has also pleaded guilty to falsely accusing a political rival of being a pedophile.
The 84-page plea agreement Greenberg formally signed off on in U.S. District Court does not mention Gaetz or any one else by name. But it states that the victim of the sex trafficking had sex with “other men” while she was 17. Aside from Gaetz, sources close to the investigation say prosecutors are also examining a former employee of Greenberg’s in Seminole County office, a co-conspirator of Greenberg’s who allegedly was involved in defrauding a coronavirus relief fund and at least one associate of Gaetz’s. The unindicted co-conspirator is mentioned but not named in one of the federal charging documents against Greenberg.
But it’s Gaetz who prosecutors with the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section are looking into. The division of the Justice Department is dedicated to prosecuting corrupt public officials.
David Oscar Markus, a veteran federal defense attorney not connected to Greenberg’s case, said that while it’s clear from news reports that authorities are investigating whether Gaetz is involved in sex trafficking of a minor, the plea agreement has very few details about it, which he suspects is due to a lack of clear and irrefutable evidence from Greenberg directly implicating Gaetz in the crime. Gaetz, for example, is not mentioned by name Greenberg’s plea agreement.
Also, while Greenberg appeared to get a break from prosecutors by only pleading to six of 33 charges, he’s still facing the mandatory minimum prison sentence of 12 years.
“He’s looking at so much time that the only reason you would plead guilty to something like this because A, you have absolutely no defense or B, you’re looking for the reduction in sentence of the century,” Marcus said.
In a sign that Greenberg’s cooperation is likely not enough to make a case against Gaetz, federal prosecutors are in talks for an immunity deal with his former girlfriend that seeks her cooperation. She has not spoken personally to investigators and her lawyer, Tim Jansen, has refused comment about what she would have to say, if anything, about any alleged crimes of the congressman.
The victim’s testimony would also be crucial and one source familiar with the investigation previously said that she’s “100 percent” talking to prosecutors, but the nature of that testimony is unclear.
What makes Greenberg’s case so unusual is the scope of crimes he committed and pleaded guilty to, making him one of the most corrupt Florida politicians of all time. In all, there are five different categories of crimes Greenberg pleaded guilty to that are found in different sections of federal law: sex-trafficking a minor, stalking, identity theft, fraud of federal taxpayers and ripping off local taxpayers in a cryptocurrency scheme.
The plea agreement was so long that the federal magistrate judge on Monday had to pause at times to flip through the pages repeatedly to find the right section of the agreement, with the sound of shuffling papers filling amplified in the microphones in the hushed courtroom, which had a socially distanced crowd due to coronavirus social-distancing rules.
Greenberg, a blue surgical mask on his face, answered in clipped responses to the questions in admitting his guilt: yes, no, I do. The hearing took about 45 minutes.
Greenberg first met the sex-trafficking victim on a website for “sugar babies” seeking “sugar daddies,” according to the plea agreement, confirming an earlier POLITICO report concerning the website, SeekingArrangement. According to the plea, Greenberg paid her explicitly for sex at least seven times after meeting her on April 24, 2017.
On Sept. 4 of that year, Greenberg illegally accessed her driver license records after she told him she was underage. Three sources tell POLITICO that the victim had falsely advertised herself as 19 years old on the SeekingArrangement website. Under the federal statute, a person who pays for sex with anyone under 18 cannot raise the defense that he believed she was of age, even if she produced a fake ID, according to attorneys familiar with the law.
Greenberg, who paid a total of $70,000 for sex with different women he met through the website, insisted they take the drug MDMA with him and would pay them extra for it, the plea agreement says.
Greenberg told others that the victim was underage and said no one had sexual relations with her after the date he accessed her ID. But during that four month and 11-day period, others are suspected of having sex with her when she was a minor — a small window of time for prosecutors to find illegal activity from Gaetz or others.
After his arrest, Greenberg tried to get the victim to lie, the plea says.
“Greenberg contacted the Minor, directly and through one of the Minor's friends, for the purpose of asking the Minor to lie and say that the reason why Greenberg looked the Minor up in the [driver license] system was because the Minor had asked him to do that, which, as Greenberg knew, was not true,” the plea said. “Greenberg also asked the Minor for help in making sure that their stories would line up, because he knew that his commercial sex acts with her were illegal.”
The political rival whom Greenberg falsely accused of being a pedophile, a teacher named Brian Beute, held a press conference before the plea hearing on the Orlando federal courthouse steps where he thanked the federal government and an investigator with the local sheriff’s department. But he faulted local prosecutors and state officials for not acting sooner to investigate and charge Greenberg for a host of other improprieties and crimes that became clear almost as soon as he assumed office in early 2017.
“The state of Florida’s oversight system was either complicit with or failed to monitor the Seminole County tax collector’s office. Why? Who is responsible for this failure,” said Beute, who Greenberg falsely accused immediately after Beute announced his bid in 2019 to take out his fellow Republican.
Under the terms of his plea, Greenberg will be required to register as a sex offender — a remarkable turn of events just two years after he accused Beute of having sex with girls.
Asked if he thought Greenberg was a liar, Beute demurred, saying he doesn’t know the man. Asked again about Greenberg’s trustworthiness, he didn’t budge much.
“We’re here today,” he said. “Why are we here today?”
Gaetz Snorted Coke With Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job
thedailybeast.com
Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Megan Zalonka, Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job
Jose Pagliery, Roger Sollenberger
10-12 minutes
When Rep. Matt Gaetz attended a 2019 GOP fundraiser in Orlando, his date that night was someone he knew well: a paid escort and amateur Instagram model who led a cocaine-fueled party after the event, according to two witnesses.
The Florida congressman’s one-time wingman, Joel Greenberg, will identify that escort to investigators as one of more than 15 young women Gaetz paid for sex, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
But what distinguishes this woman, Megan Zalonka, is that she turned her relationship with Greenberg into a taxpayer-funded no-show job that earned her an estimated $7,000 to $17,500, according to three sources and corresponding government records obtained by The Daily Beast.
On Oct. 26, 2019, Gaetz attended the “Trump Defender Gala” fundraiser as the featured speaker at the Westgate Lake Resort in Orlando. Two witnesses present recalled friends reconvening at Gaetz’s hotel room for an after-party, where Zalonka prepared lines of cocaine on the bathroom counter. One of those witnesses distinctly remembers Zalonka pulling the drugs out of her makeup bag, rolling a bill of cash, and joining Gaetz in snorting the cocaine.
While The Daily Beast could not confirm that Gaetz and Zalonka had sex that night, two sources said the pair had an ongoing financial relationship in exchange for sex. "She was just one of the many pieces of arm candy he had,” said one source familiar with the encounters between Gaetz and Zalonka.
The congressman—who has declared that he “never paid for sex”—wrote off the stay at the hotel as a campaign expense, with his donors picking up the tab.
The U.S. Secret Service, which initiated the Greenberg investigation over allegations that Greenberg used county resources to mine Bitcoin, would not comment on the ongoing probe. Federal prosecutors with the Middle District of Florida would not say if investigators have questioned Zalonka. Greenberg’s attorney declined comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
Gaetz’s office did not respond to a request for comment. However, his hired public relations firm, Logan Circle Group, did issue this statement: “Congressman Gaetz won’t be commenting on whether he dated or didn’t date specific women. The privacy of women living private lives should be protected.” Harlan Hill, the president of that firm, did not address questions about cocaine, the party, or the fundraiser.
After repeated calls and messages to Zalonka over the last five weeks, her attorney told The Daily Beast on Thursday night that she “is not speaking to any media outlet.” Mark J. O’Brien, a criminal defense lawyer, said the allegations were not “accurate” but would not elaborate further. He did not respond to a list of detailed questions about the fundraiser party, Zalonka’s county contract, or her relationships with Greenberg and the congressman.
Federal investigators are exploring Greenberg’s alleged role as the congressman’s go-to contact for arranging paid sexual encounters, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the probe. Greenberg is slated to plead guilty on Monday to six felonies and is expected to cooperate as a witness against his former friend.
Zalonka, who is an amateur fashion model and the communications director for the American Medical Marijuana Physicians Association, received $4,000 on Venmo from Greenberg during his first year in office in 2017—mostly in $500 installments. And Greenberg, who is married, listed various explanations for why he paid Zalonka. In the memo fields of his Venmo payments, he paid her $500 for “Stuff,” another $500 for “Orher stuff” [sic], and $1,000 for “Pool.” On a single day in November, he paid her $500 for “Food” and another $500 for “Appetizers.”
But Zalonka’s interactions with Greenberg in 2017 morphed into a business relationship with the air of legitimacy. In December of that year, she was in close communication with him as she created her own company, MZ Strategy Group LLC, according to emails between Greenberg and Zalonka that were viewed by The Daily Beast. The next month, Greenberg awarded her a county contract, agreeing to pay her $3,500 a month for “management of digital content” and “production of social media engagements.”
Zalonka’s firm received $3,500 installments in Seminole County taxpayer funds in January and April 2018, according to an analysis of Greenberg's government spending obtained via a public records request. Those payments would later be flagged as a “questioned or unaccounted for purchase” by county-contracted auditors with the Florida forensic accounting firm MSL. Even the tax office’s own chief financial officer, who processed the payments, noted in her reports: “do not know what it was for.”
Auditors flagged other $3,500 installments in February, March, and May of that year, in the form of suspicious cash advances directly to Greenberg—but Greenberg never specified the purpose of those withdrawals. The charges appear to have ceased after that point.
“Totally a no-show job... There's no work product, no evidence work was done. It's just unbelievable.”
— Daniel O’Keefe, accountant
Four people familiar with Zalonka’s arrangement said it was a “no-show” contract. Zalonka never worked at the office, and it was unclear what service she provided, they said. Accountant Daniel J. O'Keefe, who led the forensic audit of Greenberg’s alleged self-dealing, said tax collector employees told him the woman behind the company was a mystery. O’Keefe added that he found no proof Zalonka ever provided the services itemized in her contract with Greenberg.
“I have no idea what they were doing. And employees wouldn't know what they were doing. Totally a no-show job,” O’Keefe said. “There's no work product, no evidence work was done. It's just unbelievable.”
Zalonka also features prominently in a tranche of Greenberg’s Venmo transactions, which include his payments to more than 40 women. Those women received hundreds of dollars at a time for memo items such as “salad,” “lemons,” and “ass,” according to financial records. The Daily Beast spoke to 12 of those women, who all said the payments were at least in part because Greenberg intended to have sex with them.
Three young women paid by Greenberg, who spoke to The Daily Beast under condition of anonymity, placed Zalonka in the room during a 2018 encounter at the Duval Hotel in Tallahassee.
One of the women—all of them 19-year-old students attending nearby Florida State University at the time—said Greenberg and a number of “well-connected Republican men” bought them drinks at the hotel bar, knowing how old the students were, then led them to a room furnished with “a huge pile of coke.” The men wanted to have sex with the teens and implied that Zalonka, who was in the room, would join in, one of the women recalled. When the teens refused, Greenberg, Zalonka, and another man went into a connected room to have sex, according to one of the former students and screenshots of a conversation between the three women reviewed by The Daily Beast.
Zalonka had signed her marketing contract weeks before the encounter, and financial records show that Greenberg paid for a flight to Tallahassee with Seminole County taxpayer money around that time.
Zalonka’s interactions with Greenberg’s circle extended to Gaetz as well. In mid-2018, Zalonka became a spokesperson for the American Medical Marijuana Physicians Association (AMMPA), a cannabis legalization group with close ties to Gaetz. The congressman was feted as a guest of honor at two of its conferences in 2018, and attended the previous year’s annual conference in October. The 2017 conference, which Greenberg also attended, featured Republican operative and Trump loyalist Roger Stone, who appeared at a Gaetz fundraiser after the congressman’s keynote speech. That day, Oct. 5, Greenberg used Venmo to send Zalonka $500 around midday—for “Rent.”
Other AMMPA officials have close ties to Gaetz and Greenberg. In Gaetz’s book, Firebrand, published last September, the congressman singles out executive director Savara Hastings and her boyfriend, AMMPA chairman Jason Pirozzolo, as some of his “best friends.” Gaetz also says he has spent New Years Eve with the couple in the Florida Keys, and he has posted Instagram pictures featuring Hastings in Pirozzolo’s private plane as far back as 2014.
Investigators with the Justice Department’s Public Integrity division are now examining Gaetz’s interactions with young women and cannabis industry contacts, CNN reported, as part of a probe into whether Gaetz was provided with sex from escorts in exchange for political favors. The sprawling criminal inquiry that originated with Greenberg has since morphed into an investigation into Gaetz’s role in an alleged prostitution ring that includes potential sex crimes with a 17-year-old girl.
The probe could soon have a valuable new asset if Greenberg finalizes a cooperation agreement that could turn him into a government witness against Gaetz and others. While Greenberg was out on release during his final months of the Trump administration, he wrote a confession letter that said he saw acts “occur first hand” involving Gaetz and the underage teen.
However, Gaetz has not been charged with a crime, and the government has not publicly acknowledged a case against him. Gaetz has also denied all charges, and told The Daily Beast on March 31 that the last time he had sex with a 17-year-old, he was 17 himself.
In August 2020, the month federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment against Greenberg to include the sex trafficking charges, Zalonka received a grand jury subpoena, according to news reports, as well as a person with knowledge of the subpoena. In a Facebook post the next month, AMMPA canceled its annual October conference for the first time, citing concerns related to COVID. The group hasn’t posted since.
Gaetz, however, continued to engage with Zalonka online. As recently as March 11, he commented “Smiling ninjas!” on an Instagram photo of Zalonka. After The Daily Beast published its first report about Greenberg’s mysterious Venmo transactions, Zalonka made her Instagram private. In recent weeks, her account appears to have vanished entirely.