What has come out against Matt Gaetz paints a bleak picture https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/11/opinions/matt-gaetz-allegations-bleak-picture-honig/index.html
Gaetz associate pleads guilty and says he'll cooperating with feds ''They're not coming for me.................they're coming for you.'' , Gaetz said to his cultist followers.
Is Gaetz suggesting with that statement that his "cultist followers" are into sex- trafficking and the FEDS will be coming for them too ??? wrbtrader
The hotel room where Gaetz and his buddies were snorting coke and frolicking with underage escorts was paid for by donors such as Fortune Teller and smallfil et al. Make America Gaetz Again. Escort who snorted cocaine with Matt Gaetz had ‘no show’ government job: report The hotel room was paid for by Gaetz's campaign. New salacious details in the Matt Gaetz scandal were revealed in a bombshell new report by The Daily Beast. "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," The Beast reported. The woman was identified by The Beast. "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," The Beast reported. The hotel room was paid for by Gaetz's campaig "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 Beast noted.
Love how rightie women charge their lot for sex while leftists bang them for free all the time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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.
Fascinating how so many Trump apologists are headed in the general direction of prison. Birds of a feather.
Your typical con: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/pol...0210514-pkkz4tltarcvnkpeszyv7b5ldu-story.html Joel Greenberg to plead guilty to 6 counts, cooperate with federal investigators in plea agreement Days before he was first arrested for stalking a political rival, Joel Greenberg was in the midst of preparing a fraudulent application for a COVID-19 relief loan, with the help of a government employee he’d later bribe. If there was any doubt of his untoward intentions for the aid funds, Greenberg erased it with a text message. “How quickly can I blow it all on p-ssy?” he asked. Greenberg, Seminole County’s disgraced former tax collector, will plead guilty to six federal crimes — including sex trafficking of a child — in a deal that calls for him to cooperate with federal investigators in the “investigation and prosecution of other persons,” according to an agreement released Friday. The 86-page document laid bare the remarkable brazenness of Greenberg’s behavior. On his first day in elected office, he sought to cover up a federal crime he’d committed years earlier. He spent hundreds of thousands of tax office dollars on Bitcoin — then borrowed from family to pay it back. He spent thousands on more drugs and sex — including with a 17-year-old girl. In addition to trafficking, Greenberg will plead to charges of identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Prior to striking a deal, he was facing 33 federal charges. Prosecutors will drop the other 27 counts filed against him. The charges carry at least 12 years in federal prison and Greenberg will be considered a sex offender for the rest of his life. The deal, which will be made official during a Monday morning court hearing Greenberg is required to attend, marks a turning point in the sprawling federal investigation that has roiled Florida politics and reportedly taken aim at Greenberg’s friend and ally U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz. Gaetz, who was not named in the document released Friday, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Greenberg admitted to paying more than $70,000 over two years to women for sex, many of whom he met through a website connecting young women, known as “sugar babies,” with older men, called “sugar daddies.” According to the plea agreement: Greenberg used at least four accounts to pay the women for sex — including a Tax Collector’s Office American Express card — with the payments typically ranging between $200 and $1,000 and disguised as payments for expenses such as “school,” “food,” and “ice cream.” One person Greenberg paid for sex was 17 years old, though Greenberg said she’d claimed to be 18 years old when he first found her through the “sugar babies” website. Greenberg said he initially contacted the minor through a Snapchat account. He paid her $400 for an initial meeting on his boat, in which no sex occurred, and then another $400 to meet at an area hotel where they had sex. After that, Greenberg admitted that he would invite the minor — often with others — to meet and have sex at hotels around Central Florida. He would often also supply ecstasy to attendees — including the minor — and would sometimes pay extra to those who would take the drug. Greenberg had sex at least seven times with the minor while she was still a minor — and also introduced her to adult men who had sex with her, too, though the men aren’t identified in the plea agreement. Greenberg admitted to frequently — and illegally — using his access to the state’s driver’s license system to “investigate” his sexual partners. And on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2017, Greenberg ran a search on the minor “because he had reason to believe that the minor was under the age of 18.” According to witnesses, Greenberg would also offer women he paid for commercial sex acts the use of driver’s licenses that he took from the Tax Collector’s Office. In addition, after he was first indicted in June 2020 and Greenberg learned that authorities were investigating him for having sex with a minor, Greenberg reached out to her, directly and through a friend, to ask her to lie to investigators about why he’d initially looked up her information in the driver’s license database. “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,” according to the agreement. Used office funds on Bitcoin The agreement also reveals the extent to which Greenberg mixed his office’s funds with his personal finances, from cashing tax office checks for personal use to an elaborate scheme involving the buying and selling of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. According to the agreement: On Sept. 20, 2017, Greenberg opened an account in the name of “Seminole County Tax Collector” at Fifth Third Bank, and hid its existence from the chief financial officer for the Tax Collector’s Office. He then began making small deposits of office resources into the account. For instance, he sold a vehicle owned by the office for $27,000, then deposited the check from that sale at Fifth Third. That December, he grew bolder, asking the CFO in an email “[H]ow much do we have that can be used for a 60-90 day investment fund [for the Tax Collector’s Office]? What’s the most you can do?” The CFO told him $100,000 was the maximum; Greenberg deposited the check at Fifth Third. Greenberg moved the money into his personal bank account, then into an account in his name with a cryptocurrency trading service. He spent almost all of the $100,000 within five hours on more than 15 cryptocurrency trades. Meanwhile, the money missing from the tax office was causing issues. “We are going to need additional funds before the end of the month to get all expenses paid,” the CFO said in an email to Greenberg during this period. In order to refund the tax office, Greenberg borrowed $90,000 from a family member, then later deposited a cashier’s check for $100,000, which he marked as “Returned Investment funds,” into an office-owned account. About a year later, authorities say he pulled a similar scam involving twice as much money. A cryptocurrency splurge ensued, followed by yet another entreaty for help from family. Greenberg told a relative in January 2019 that he needed $200,000, explaining he was in “big trouble” for mixing public money with his own. The relative obliged. But Greenberg didn’t refund his office — he bought more cryptocurrency for himself. Then, on April 23, 2019, federal agents served a subpoena on the Tax Collector’s Office and Greenberg learned he was under investigation. He went back to the same family member who had given him $200,000 months earlier — asking for the same amount, again. “When asked what had happened with the other money, Greenberg explained that he had used it to purchase cryptocurrency for himself,” the agreement adds. “Greenberg stated that he would go to jail if he did not pay the $200,000 back to the Tax Collector’s Office.” 1st ID theft victim was boat seller The document also sheds new light on Greenberg’s forays into creating fake IDs for himself, if not his motivations for doing so. According to the agreement: The earliest offense Greenberg is accused of long predates his time in elected office. The victim, identified as R.Z., is someone from whom Greenberg purchased a boat in 2015. That November, Greenberg used R.Z’s personal information that he obtained from the transaction to order a replacement driver’s license from the state with R.Z.’s personal information. That license was mailed to a post office box in Longwood that Greenberg had set up. Then, on Jan. 3, 2017 — the day he took office as tax collector — Greenberg changed the mailing address for R.Z. from the Longwood post office address back to R.Z’s actual residence. “R.Z. never authorized Greenberg to obtain a replacement driver’s license using his identity, and R.Z. never knew what Greenberg had done,” the agreement states. As tax collector in November 2017, Greenberg would then use R.Z.’s personal information from the DAVID system to create a new driver’s license with R.Z.’s name but with Greenberg’s photograph. Greenberg also used public money from the Tax Collector’s Office to purchase a badge-making machine online, which he used to make fake IDs. When federal agents raided Greenberg’s Heathrow home on June 23, they found the fake driver’s license with R.Z.’s personal information and Greenberg’s photograph in his wallet, according to the plea agreement. But it wasn’t the only time Greenberg used his office to create fake IDs for himself. In September 2018, a man identified as E.J.C.C. walked into a Tax Collector’s Office to turn in his old driver’s license from Puerto Rico and obtain a new Florida driver’s license. However, Greenberg grabbed E.J.C.C.’s old Puerto Rico license from the basket of discarded IDs before it could be shredded. He used the badge-making machine to produce a fake Puerto Rico driver’s license with E.J.C.C.’s personal information but with Greenberg’s photo, according to the plea agreement. Federal agents also found that fake license with E.J.C.C.’s information during their raid at Greenberg’s home last June. Fraudulent relief loans Greenberg also admitted to claiming $432,700 in federal loans intended to help small businesses weather the pandemic, with the help of a Small Business Administration employee and one of Greenberg’s friends. The scheme was not Greenberg’s idea, the plea notes, but “he agreed to participate in it with knowledge of its illegality.” On June 19, four days before Greenberg was arrested, a friend texted him, saying he had an “easy” and “quick” way for him to receive a loan of up to $160,000 and referred Greenberg to the SBA employee. Neither the friend nor the employee are named in the plea. Greenberg texted the SBA employee the same day. On June 24, the day after Greenberg’s arrest, the SBA officer emailed a loan agreement to him for $133,000 and he executed it. That agreement required Greenberg to say he would use the loan “as working capital solely to alleviate economic injury caused by disaster occurring during the month of January 31, and continuing thereafter” and that he had not been arrested or convicted on felony charges since applying for the money. The plea deal notes the SBA employee was a “willing and knowledgeable” participant in the fraud. Greenberg texted the employee at the end of June, telling her that the state had approved his applications to reinstate the two defunct businesses, but would charge a fee of $1,000 for each entity. “Before I pay, are you confident these funding request will go through,” Greenberg texted the employee, who responded, “Yes it will.” Greenberg received $432,700 in fraudulent loans, paid in three installments in late June and July. He shared some of the proceeds from the fraud with his conspirators, giving $16,000 to his friend, and $3,000 to the SBA employee. Gaetz not mentioned Gaetz’s name does not appear in Greenberg’s plea deal, though it’s been widely reported that the former tax collector’s cooperation was sought in order for federal authorities to advance their probe of the Panhandle congressman. According to reports, investigators are seeking to determine whether Gaetz had sex with the same 17-year-old Greenberg was accused of trafficking, paid for sex and travel with escorts or traded political favors in medical marijuana legislation for paid sex and other gifts. Gaetz has said he has never paid for sex or had sex as an adult with someone underage. If he is found to have had solicited sex with a minor, Gaetz could be prosecuted under the same trafficking law as Greenberg. He also could be charged under the Mann Act, which bans bringing anyone across state or international lines for prostitution, legal experts said. By the time it was revealed in court last month that Greenberg planned to take a plea deal, he had already met with federal investigators several times and told them about having given women cash and gifts in exchange for sex with himself and Gaetz, according to the New York Times. Under the terms of his deal, Greenberg will be required to cooperate fully with the government. If his cooperation is of “substantial assistance” to prosecutors, they will recommend a lower prison sentence. He must also pay restitution to several people, including the minor and entities like the Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office and the SBA. Prosecutors agreed to not charge Greenberg with committing any other federal criminal offense. But if he knowingly provides incomplete or untruthful testimony, falsely implicates or incriminates someone else or fails to cooperate, Greenberg can be prosecuted for perjury or obstruction of justice, according to the agreement. Prosecutors can also refile the dismissed charges against him. The agreement said Greenberg will also forfeit at least $654,780 in assets obtained through his offenses. The plea agreement still must be approved by the judge. Patrick Cotter, a Chicago defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, says the plea agreement sends a message from prosecutors to other people who committed crimes with Greenberg. “The message is, ‘The game is up,’” he said. “‘… Everything you did with Mr. Greenberg, we now know about. And Mr. Greenberg is willing to go into the courtroom, put his hand down on a Bible, take deals and testify as to what you guys did.’”
Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job https://news.yahoo.com/rep-matt-gaetz-snorted-cocaine-224503239.html 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. The Strange Friendship That May Bring Down Matt Gaetz 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. 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.
Well, in his defense, if you're going to snort cocaine with anyone, those are the best people to do it with.
Hey... I got a bright idea, let's go to a conference and admit to my guilt... Matt Gaetz comments over the weekend could be taken as an admission of guilt: Ex-prosecutor https://www.rawstory.com/matt-gaetz-joel-greenberg-plea-agreement/