Joel Greenberg – associate of Matt Gaetz – set to enter plea agreement in court today

Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg has formally entered into a plea agreement admitting to numerous crimes, including the sex trafficking of a minor. In return for his cooperation (PDF) in the probe, the federal government has dropped his 33 count indictment down to just six charges – a sign of how valuable prosecutors believe he will be as a witness. While Gaetz is not named in the agreement, it is reported that he falls under the activities described in the following paragraph:

Greenberg engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor in the Middle District of Florida at least seven times when she was a minor. During these commercial acts, Greenberg often would offer and supply the Minor and others with Ecstasy, which Greenberg would take himself as well. Oftentimes, Greenberg would offer to pay the Minor and others an additional amount of money to take Ecstasy. Greenberg also introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor in the Middle District of Florida. [emphasis mine]

It is also reported that Gaetz accompanied Greenberg to the tax office where the latter often accessed drivers license data (DAVID system) for illegal purposes.

At times, Greenberg used his access to the Florida Driver and Vehicle Information Database (known as “DAVID”) to look up and investigate his sexual partners. Those searches were not authorized and violated the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, and they had nothing to do with any legitimate activities of the Tax Collector’s Office. One of the individuals whom Greenberg searched for in the DAVID system was the Minor…

After he was federally charged and arrested for other offenses on June 23, 2020, Greenberg learned that investigators were investigating his commercial sex acts with the Minor. 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 DAVID system was because the Minor had asked him to do that, which, as Greenberg knew, was not true. 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.

Greenberg will plea guilty to: 1 count of carrying out the sex trafficking of a child, 1 count of producing false ID document, 1 count of aggravated ID theft, 1 count of wire fraud, 1 count of stalking, and 1 count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the US.

Reminder: Greenberg wrote a confession letter in the final weeks of the Trump administration, apparently in an attempt to secure a pardon with the help of Roger Stone. The letter explicitly states that Gaetz had sex with the minor from Greenberg’s plea agreement:

A confession letter written by Joel Greenberg in the final months of the Trump presidency claims that he and close associate Rep. Matt Gaetz paid for sex with multiple women—as well as a girl who was 17 at the time. “On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself,” Greenberg wrote in reference to the 17-year-old.

“From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”

…In the private text messages to Stone, Greenberg described his activities with Gaetz, repeatedly referring to the Republican congressman by his initials, “MG,” or as “Matt.”

“My lawyers that I fired, know the whole story about MG’s involvement,” Greenberg wrote to Stone on Dec. 21. “They know he paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the girl who was underage.”

Further reading:

“Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job,” Daily Beast.

“4 Women Say Matt Gaetz’s Wingman Pressured Them to Have Sex,” Daily Beast.

“Feds tighten grip in Gaetz probe,” Politico.