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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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Politics

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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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.