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Florida man Stephen Alford, linked to alleged Gaetz plot, charged in $25 million scheme

Florida man Stephen Alford, linked to alleged Gaetz plot, charged in $25 million scheme

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) walks out of the committee room during a hearing with the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information System in the Rayburn House Office Building on May 14, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

A man reportedly at the center of an alleged extortion plot involving Rep. Matt Gaetz and his family has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud a victim out of $25 million, in part by falsely promising he could secure a presidential pardon.

A grand jury charged Florida resident Stephen Alford, 62, with wire fraud in connection with the pardon scheme, carried out between March 16 and April 7, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Alford was also charged with attempting to stop the seizure of his iPhone by the government, said the grand jury indictment, which was signed by a U.S. magistrate judge on Aug. 18.

Alford was arrested earlier Tuesday and made his initial appearance in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida said in a press release. He faces up to 25 years imprisonment on the charged crimes, according to the prosecutors’ office.

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Gaetz, R-Fla., a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, is being investigated by the Department of Justice about whether the 39-year-old congressman had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, The New York Times reported in March.

Gaetz, at the time that report came out, had linked that DOJ probe with the alleged $25 million “organized criminal extortion” scheme against him and his father, Don Gaetz.

Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing. He has not been charged with a crime.

A Times report from April 1, which described Alford as a real estate agent with a prior fraud conviction, said that he and a former Air Force intelligence officer named Robert Kent approached Don Gaetz about providing funding for an attempt to rescue an American hostage in Iran.

They reportedly told Don Gaetz, 73, that securing that hostage, Robert Levinson, could help clinch a pardon for his son in case he was charged with federal crimes.

Don Gaetz then hired a lawyer and contacted the FBI, the Times reported. Kent denied the allegations.

The grand jury indictment did not refer to Matt Gaetz, Don Gaetz, Levinson or Kent by their full names.

Instead, it said that Alford gave “Person A” the phone number of “D.G.” in order to “discuss the purported release of R.L. from captivity in Iran and a purported ‘current federal investigation’ into Family Member A of D.G.”

In a text message, “it was conveyed to D.G. that Person A’s ‘partner will see to it that [Family Member A] receives a Presidential Pardon, thus alleviating all his legal issues,” the indictment alleged.

Alford then wrote a letter, titled “Project Homecoming,” which made claims about an “‘investigation by the FBI for various public corruption and public integrity issues’ related to Family Member A,” as well as a “Presidential Pardon” and the request for $25 million to “‘immediately fund the release’ of R.L.,” according to the indictment.

The letter allegedly instructed that the money was to be “deposited into a trust account of Law Firm A.”

Alford’s letter also falsely asserted that his “‘team has been assured by the President’ that he will ‘strongly consider’ a ‘Presidential Pardon,'” or tell the Justice Department to quash any probe of “Family Member A” if R.L. is released from captivity, the indictment said.

Alford also falsely told D.G., “I will assure you that [Family Member A] will get off his problems” and claimed he could “guarantee” that that family member “would not go to prison.”

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Joel Greenberg, Former Confidant to Matt Gaetz, Pleads Responsible

Joel Greenberg, Former Confidant to Matt Gaetz, Pleads Guilty

Joel Greenberg, Rep. Matt Gaetz’s former confidante, pleaded guilty in federal court in Orlando Monday.

“Do you plead guilty because you are guilty?” said Judge Leslie Hoffman of the United States Magistrate Court.

“Yes,” said Mr. Greenberg, who was wearing dark blue overalls and a white surgical mask and was handcuffed.

Mr Greenberg admitted a number of crimes in a plea agreement filed on Friday. At Monday’s hearing, that agreement was formalized and Mr Greenberg answered questions from a judge before admitting his guilt.

Mr. Gaetz is under investigation to see if he violated sex trafficking laws by paying the same 17-year-old for sex. On Monday, Mr. Gaetz’s name was neither mentioned in court nor mentioned in court documents filed on Friday.

Mr Greenberg faces over 12 years in prison but it was unclear when he will be sentenced. As part of his informed consent, he will have to give significant help to the Justice Department’s prosecution of others in order to convince a judge to give him a lighter sentence. Defense lawyers typically want to postpone the conviction for as long as possible in order to give their clients the maximum possible time to help the government.

Mr. Greenberg, a Republican, was a freshman in politics when he won a 2016 local election to become a tax collector in Seminole County, Florida, north of Orlando.

Shortly after taking office, he began a series of fraud and other crimes, according to court documents, including using taxpayers’ money to pay women for sex and buying sports memorabilia.

He was tried for the first time last June. Mr. Greenberg began working with the government late last year when he discovered that prosecutors had substantial evidence against him and that if tried and lost, he could spend decades in prison.

Mr. Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, had told reporters after a court hearing last month: “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very well today.” But he declined to elaborate on it.

When asked in front of the courtroom on Monday whether Mr. Greenberg will work together against Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Scheller gave a more moderate answer.

“He is bound by the objection agreement – he will keep it,” said Mr. Scheller.

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Matt Gaetz pal Joel Greenberg will plead responsible in intercourse case

Matt Gaetz friend Joel Greenberg will plead guilty in sex case

Joel Greenberg, a friend of Rep. Matt Gaetz, has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal case related to the investigation of the Republican lawmaker and Trump’s ally into sexual trafficking, court records show.

Greenberg is due to appear in federal court in Orlando, Florida Monday morning to change the hearing.

Greenberg, a Florida tax collector, has been charged with underage sex trafficking, stalking, cable fraud, and identity theft, among other charges. He pleaded not guilty to these charges, but his attorney and prosecutor told a judge at a hearing last month that Greenberg was expected to close a plea deal.

Greenberg’s lawyer Fritz Scheller told reporters after the hearing: “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very well today.”

Scheller later said, “You’ve seen the number of stories out there and the focus is on their relationship. Isn’t it obvious to assume he’d be concerned?”

Gaetz, who represents Florida’s first congressional district in the panhandle, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with criminal charges.

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Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gaetz, said in a statement: “The first indictment against Joel Greenberg alleged that he falsely accused another man of having sex with a minor. That man was apparently innocent. So was Congressman Gaetz.”

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‘Just like the Tiger King Obtained Elected Tax Collector’: Contained in the Case That Ensnared Matt Gaetz

‘Like the Tiger King Got Elected Tax Collector’: Inside the Case That Ensnared Matt Gaetz

According to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Gaetz met in Florida in 2017 through the close-knit group of prominent Trump supporters. Mr. Greenberg had no political experience prior to his election. Mr. Gaetz represents a district that is approximately 400 miles away.

Nevertheless, Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Gaetz have seen each other regularly over the past few years. They gathered at Mr. Dorworth’s in January 2019 to celebrate that Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican close to Mr. Gaetz, lifted a ban on smokable medical marijuana. The three men visited Washington together in June, and Mr Greenberg posted photos on social media of the White House lawn, including one of his daughter with Mr Gaetz and Mr Trump.

A few years ago – the exact date is unclear – Mr. Greenberg took Mr. Gaetz to the Lake Mary tax collector’s office for a weekend. The following Monday, an employee found that the alarm was disabled and the driver’s license was scattered across a desk. She checked the surveillance video and saw Mr. Greenberg at this desk with another man. When she asked Mr. Greenberg, he wrote back on text messages checked by The Times: “Yes, I showed Congressman Gaetz what our operation was like. Have i left something on? “

What the men did is unclear.

On a separate episode on a Sunday in September 2018, Mr. Greenberg wrote to a staff member that he had received an “emergency replacement” ID card from Mr. Gaetz by Tuesday, claiming that the Congressman had lost his ID. Mr Gaetz told Politico that he temporarily lost his wallet but found it before he needed the replacement ID.

Days after Mr Greenberg was first charged last year, a woman hit a tree with her car a few hundred meters from his home one morning. According to two people familiar with their relationship, the woman had previously had sex with Mr. Greenberg and received money from him for mobile payment apps. You left his house, people said.

When a neighbor called 911, according to a recording of the call, the woman screamed incoherently in the background. The neighbor said the woman was calling a friend. Moments later, on the end of the caller’s line, an unidentified man could be heard.

“She has a lump on her head,” said the man. “She has a small cut on her head. She is just very shaken. “

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Rep. Matt Gaetz faces Home Ethics probe amid intercourse site visitors investigation

Rep. Matt Gaetz faces House Ethics probe amid sex traffic investigation

The House Ethics Committee said Friday it had opened an investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz, the embattled Republican from Florida who was facing a federal investigation into criminal sex trafficking.

In a statement, the ethics committee said it was aware of the public allegations that Gaetz “may have committed sexual misconduct and / or illegal drug use”.

The panel also found that Gaetz allegedly “shared inappropriate pictures or videos on the floor of the house, misused government identification records, converted campaign funds for personal use and / or accepted bribes, inappropriate tips, or improper gifts that violate house rules , Laws or other standards of conduct. “

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38-year-old Gaetz has vigorously denied the wrongdoing since the Justice Department’s investigation first became known last week. He was not charged with a crime.

“The office will repeat once again that these claims are obviously false and have not been confirmed by a single person willing to leave their name behind,” Gaetz’s office told CNBC in response to the new ethics inquiry.

The Democrat-led Ethics Panel announced Friday that it has opened an investigation into Rep. Tom Reed, RN.Y., citing allegations of possible sexual misconduct.

Last month, Reed apologized to a woman who accused him of rubbing her back and hanging off her bra in a Minneapolis bar in 2017. Reed said he would not seek re-election in 2022.

Reed’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, but instead said in a statement to Politico: “We have already publicly addressed this situation and are working, in line with it, with the House Ethics Committee to bring this matter to a close. “

Ethics Committee press releases, attributed to Chairman Ted Deutch, D-Fla., And senior member Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., Stated that an investigation “does not in itself indicate a violation, or reflecting a judgment in the name. ” of the committee. “

Federal investigators are investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her trips with him, the New York Times reported for the first time last week.

The investigation reportedly emerged from an investigation by Gaetz’s associate Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector on criminal charges including underage sex trafficking, stalking, cable fraud and identity theft.

Greenberg had previously pleaded not guilty, but his attorney and prosecutors on his case told a judge on Thursday that Greenberg is expected to make a plea deal.

NBC reported Wednesday that investigators are investigating whether women were being paid to travel to the Bahamas with Gaetz to have sex, and whether Gaetz and Greenberg were using the internet to look for women who could pay them to have sex .

“I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very well today,” Greenberg’s lawyer Fritz Scheller told reporters on Thursday afternoon.

A Republican congressman, Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, has already asked Gaetz to resign.

Gaetz said this week that he had “absolutely not resigned” from the congress. As a staunch supporter of the former President Donald Trump, Gaetz has signed Marc Mukasey, a defender of the Trump organization, as a representative.

Gaetz has also hired a PR firm, the Logan Circle Group.

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Matt Gaetz hires Marc Mukasey, lawyer for Trump Group

Matt Gaetz hires Marc Mukasey, lawyer for Trump Organization

Marc Mukasey, an attorney for US President Donald Trump, is leaving Manhattan Federal Court after a judge ruled that Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp should submit financial records to investigators on May 22nd in New York City, United States May provide. 2019.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Rep. Matt Gaetz has hired two senior New York lawyers, one of whom is currently representing the Trump Organization in an ongoing criminal investigation, to represent him as the Florida Republican faces a federal investigation into sex trafficking.

The retention of Trump firm’s attorney Marc Mukasey is notable not only for Mukasey’s track record in handling serious criminal cases, but also because Gaetz is among the most ardent defenders of former President Donald Trump.

Mukasey, a former federal attorney who is the son of former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, was also a protégé of Trump’s personal attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Together with Mukasey, Isabelle Kirshner represents Gaetz in the criminal investigation.

Gaetz, who has not been charged, has also hired a public relations firm, the Washington-based Logan Circle Group, to deal with the devastating media outages after news of the federal investigation first appeared in the New York Times last week.

The steps came after an attorney for Gaetz’s friend Joel Greenberg pointed out Thursday that Greenberg was planning to plead guilty in a federal trial in which he was charged with sex trafficking in underage girls, wire fraud, stalking and bribery of a federal official.

This case against Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector, led to an ongoing investigation into 38-year-old Gaetz on suspicion of an illegal sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

Investigators are also looking into whether Gaetz paid women to travel to the Bahamas for sex, according to NBC News, and whether he and Greenberg used the internet to look for women to be paid for sex.

The disclosure that Greenberg expects to reach an agreement on his own case sparked immediate speculation that he would work with federal agencies if they continued investigating Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing.

“I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very well today,” said Greenberg’s lawyer Fritz Scheller on Thursday after appearing in court in the case. “You’ve seen the number of stories out there and the focus is on their relationship. Isn’t it obvious to assume he’d be concerned?”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) listens during a committee hearing on the impeachment proceedings of U.S. President Donald Trump in the Longworth House office building on Capitol Hill on December 11, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Erin Elmore of the Logan Circle Group said in a statement Friday about Gaetz: “Matt has always been a fighter.”

“A fighter for its constituents, a fighter for the country and a fighter for the constitution,” said Elmore.

“He will fight the baseless allegations against him. His legal team, led by Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner, will fight those who try to smear his name with untruths.”

Elmore is a lawyer who appeared in season 3 as a candidate on Trump’s former television show “The Apprentice”.

The Logan Circle Group is led by Harlan Hill, another Trump attorney who was banned from appearing on the conservative Fox News network last fall after tweeting that Vice President “Kamala Harris comes out as such an unbearable lie.” , it’s just true. “

Mukasey declined to comment on his work for Gaetz on CNBC, referring to Elmore’s testimony.

A spokesman for Kirshner declined to comment on her, except to confirm that she and Mukasey had been kept by Gaetz.

Trump hasn’t said much in Gaetz’s defense over the past week, except to deny the story that Gaetz requested a blanket criminal pardon from Trump prior to the end of his term in January, and to indicate that Gaetz “was against the allegations completely denied him. “

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Mukasey is one of several attorneys representing Trump’s company in a criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Cyrus Vance Jr., who is investigating not only the company, but also the former president himself and others affiliated with the firm.

Vance’s office is believed to be investigating possible tax and banking fraud by the Trump organization and whether the company has properly accounted for the hush money payments made in 2016 to two women who had sex with Trump.

The ex-president denies the women’s claims and has said Vance’s probe is a witch hunt.

On Thursday, investigators from Vance’s office collected financial records from Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of the Trump organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.

Jennifer Weisselberg said she’s working with Vance’s probe. The Washington Post reported that a subpoena, issued at Vance’s request, sought documents in their possession relating to the Trump Organization and an ice rink that the company operated in Central Park and managed Weisselberg’s ex-husband, Barry Weisselberg.

Michael Cohen, who served as Trump’s personal attorney for years, also worked with Vance’s investigation.

At the same time, New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a civil investigation to determine whether the Trump Organization has mispriced various real estate assets in the form of lower tax liabilities, insurance rates, and loan terms for financial benefit.

Mukasey represents the Trump organization in James’ investigation.

Isabelle Kirshner attends the Artwalk NY 2015 at the Metropolitan Pavilion on November 17, 2015 in New York City.

Chance yeh | Getty Images

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Matt Gaetz affiliate Joel Greenberg anticipated to strike plea deal in sex-trafficking case

Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg expected to strike plea deal in sex-trafficking case

Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg speaks to the Orlando Sentinel during an interview at his Lake Mary, Florida office. Greenberg was accused of trafficking a minor, persecuting a political opponent, producing forged ID, identity theft, embezzlement and bribery.

Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | AP, file

Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector and employee of GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, is expected to close a plea deal in his criminal case, his attorney and prosecutor said Thursday, NBC News reported.

The case against Greenberg, who had previously pleaded not guilty to having been charged with underage sexual trafficking, stalking, cable fraud and identity theft, among other things, prompted federal investigators to open an investigation into possible sexual trafficking by Gaetz, several outlets reported .

The signal of an upcoming plea came during a status conference on Greenberg’s case in Orlando. The defense attorney and prosecutor didn’t say whether Greenberg should work together on the Gaetz investigation, according to NBC.

“I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very well today,” Greenberg’s lawyer Fritz Scheller told reporters on Thursday afternoon.

Scheller declined to answer when a reporter asked, “Has your client Matt Gaetz introduced underage girls for sexual relations?”

A Gaetz spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on Scheller’s remarks.

The New York Times first reported last month that the Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her travels with him.

NBC reported Wednesday that investigators are investigating whether women were being paid to travel to the Bahamas with Gaetz to have sex, and whether Gaetz and Greenberg were using the internet to look for women who could pay them to have sex .

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Conducts a television news interview outside the Capitol building prior to voting on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 on Thursday, June 25, 2020.

Bill Clark | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

Gaetz has emphatically denied the “terrible” allegations in the Times, declaring on a Monday that he was “absolutely not stepping down from Congress”.

Gaetz has also claimed he was the victim of a multi-million dollar extortion program involving a former DOJ official. Law enforcement sources told NBC that a separate investigation is currently underway into these extortion claims.

A spokesman for Gaetz told CBS News on Wednesday evening that the congressman “never paid for sex and never had sex with an underage girl. What started with headlines about” sex trafficking “has now become a general fishing exercise about vacation consensual relationships with adults. “

On Thursday afternoon, Gaetz announced a statement from his office in which the embattled Republican was defended as a “principled and morally founded leader” and vowed to “stand by him”.

This statement is attributed to “the women of Congressman Matt Gaetz’s office” and does not identify any specific employees.

Meanwhile, Gaetz’s former advisor Nathan Nelson said Monday that he had been approached by FBI agents and questioned about the alleged involvement of the GOP legislature in illegal activities.

Nelson told reporters that he had never seen any such illegal behavior and that his departure from Gaetz’s office last fall had nothing to do with the DOJ investigation, which reportedly began during the final months of former President Donald Trump’s tenure.

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Former Matt Gaetz aide says FBI contacted him after sex-trafficking probe information

Former Matt Gaetz aide says FBI contacted him after sex-trafficking probe news

Nathan Nelson, a former employee of U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, speaks to the news media on April 5, 2021 in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

Colin Hackley | Reuters

A former Rep. Matt Gaetz employee said Monday that FBI agents contacted him last week shortly after it became known that the Florida Republican was involved in a federal investigation into the sex trafficking.

Nathan Nelson, Gaetz’s former director of military affairs, said two agents questioned him at his home after hearing from media officials that Nelson knew of Gaetz’s alleged involvement in illegal activities. The media tipsters told the FBI that Nelson resigned based on this knowledge, the ex-aide said.

“I’m here this morning to declare that nothing could be further from the truth,” Nelson said at a press conference in northwest Florida. “Neither I nor any other employee of Congressman Gaetz had knowledge of illegal activities.”

Nelson His departure from Gaetz’s office last fall had nothing to do with investigating the Justice Department’s allegations against the 38-year-old congressman. The investigation into whether Gaetz trafficked an underage girl began in the final months of former President Donald Trump’s tenure, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

In response to CNBC’s report on Nelson’s statements, Gaetz slammed the FBI, claiming the agency had “literally false media rumors”.

“Sounds familiar?” Gaetz added. He and other Republicans have accused government agencies and officials of conservative bias in recent years. In 2019, Gaetz accused special adviser Robert Mueller, who led the investigation into Russian interference and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign in the 2016 elections, of attempting to “stop Trump”. That investigation, which did not find enough evidence to suggest a collusion between Trump and Russia, has since become a powerful symbol for Republicans feeling targeted by government institutions.

The FBI did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

In the meantime, Gaetz stated in a new comment that he was “absolutely not resigning” and “not being intimidated or blackmailed” by his political opponents.

Gaetz, an outspoken Trump loyalist, has previously denied having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying for her trips with him, and he remained defiant on Monday morning.

“Since it is my turn under the gun, I would like to address the allegations against me directly. First, I never paid for sex. And second, as a grown man, I did not sleep at the age of 17 -old,” wrote Gaetz in the Washington Examiner.

Last week, Gaetz said in a statement that he and his family are threatened in a multi-million dollar extortion program involving a former Justice Department official. Police officers told NBC News that the DOJ is pursuing a separate investigation into Gaetz’s allegations of blackmail.

The sex trafficking investigation with Gaetz emerged from another case involving his former associate, Joel Greenberg, a local Florida official who was charged on numerous charges last summer, including sex trafficking in a child.

Nelson said at the press conference that he was approached by federal agents the day after the Times first reported on alleged sex trafficking.

The former Gaetz aide said he knew nothing specific about the investigation and had never heard of Greenberg before last week’s reports. But the “unsubstantiated allegation” that led the FBI to approach him “continues to convince me” that the allegations against Gaetz “are also fabricated,” Nelson said.

Another Gaetz employee, communications director Luke Ball, resigned last week.

Nelson worked in Gaetz’s office for more than four years before leaving last October, according to his LinkedIn profile. He said Monday that his departure was planned.

Nelson told reporters he was still “loosely linked to Gaetz’s office as a military advisor” in an unpaid capacity, “but said he had not spoken to Gaetz in” several months “.

Gaetz’s office had arranged Nelson’s press conference.