On Thursday, former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell handed down the sentencing verdict in an Orlando courtroom, based on a plea deal with Greenberg that collected together all of the numerous charges of election corruption, fraud, sex trafficking, and drugs.
The Orlando Sentinel puts the total number of crimes that Greenberg has been charged with since he was first arrested in June 2020. Six of those charges were subsequently dropped, and in the end, Greenberg pleaded guilty in May of last year to six federal charges, “including sex trafficking of a minor, stalking, identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy to bribe a public official,” in exchange for his guilty plea and cooperation with prosecutors in other cases.
Greenberg was known to host wild parties with attendees like Rep. Matt Gaetz. One attendee of Greenberg’s parties told The Washington Post these events had “sex, drugs — whole lot of it.”
Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, told reporters out front of the courthouse that he was “disappointed” so far “by a number of prosecutions that haven’t been brought.” When pressed further on what kinds of cases Scheller thought his client had helped potentially create, he said, “I think that there’s a number of prosecutions that can be brought in the area of the SBA fraud, the bribery and kick-backs, election fraud, and the sex cases.”
RELATED STORY: Explosive new report has witnesses putting Matt Gaetz, an escort, and cocaine in the same hotel room
Before the judge’s sentencing, Scheller had told reporters that Greenberg had been cooperating to the tune of testifying against 24 people, including 10 who were possibly involved in various “spoiler” candidate frauds throughout the state. Spoiler candidates are fake third-party candidates whose campaigns are only launched in order to split another candidate’s votes in areas where the margins are close enough to help the opposing party. You can read about one very real story of election fraud here.
In April of last year, Scheller seemed confident that his client's decision to cooperate with prosecutors would bear more fruit with regard to Florida man Rep. Matt Gaetz.
ABC News and other outlets have reported that the investigation into Gaetz has “stalled, with federal investigators having concerns regarding multiple key witnesses in the case, including Greenberg — as well as specifics in the case that could make a conviction difficult for prosecutors.” Does this have echoes of the same impotence that beset former Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta—who let Jeffery Epstein off the hook in an extraordinarily lenient plea deal back in 2007?
There have been numerous leaks of seemingly damning information connecting Gaetz to Greenberg in a variety of illegal activities. The fact that a sitting representative can seemingly move past these very serious questions is problematic, to say the least. His continuing hypocritical existence is also a shining reminder of what conservatives stand for and accept in the name of greed.
Trump and his MAGA extremists are not going anywhere, but neither are we. Chip in $5 to help Daily Kos fight to defend democracy and all progressive values
The Republican Party continues to flail and point fingers at one another. The traditional media pretends it did not completely blow it on predicting a “red wave” a few weeks ago. On today’s episode, Markos is joined by Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that these midterm races were closer than was being reported. The two do a little gloating about being right in their optimism coming into the 2022 midterm elections, give their analysis of Democratic candidates' successes, and point to signs that the Republican Party is terrified as we head into the 2024 election cycle.
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The Orlando Sentinel puts the total number of crimes that Greenberg has been charged with since he was first arrested in June 2020. Six of those charges were subsequently dropped, and in the end, Greenberg pleaded guilty in May of last year to six federal charges, “including sex trafficking of a minor, stalking, identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy to bribe a public official,” in exchange for his guilty plea and cooperation with prosecutors in other cases.
Greenberg was known to host wild parties with attendees like Rep. Matt Gaetz. One attendee of Greenberg’s parties told The Washington Post these events had “sex, drugs — whole lot of it.”
Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, told reporters out front of the courthouse that he was “disappointed” so far “by a number of prosecutions that haven’t been brought.” When pressed further on what kinds of cases Scheller thought his client had helped potentially create, he said, “I think that there’s a number of prosecutions that can be brought in the area of the SBA fraud, the bribery and kick-backs, election fraud, and the sex cases.”
RELATED STORY: Explosive new report has witnesses putting Matt Gaetz, an escort, and cocaine in the same hotel room
Before the judge’s sentencing, Scheller had told reporters that Greenberg had been cooperating to the tune of testifying against 24 people, including 10 who were possibly involved in various “spoiler” candidate frauds throughout the state. Spoiler candidates are fake third-party candidates whose campaigns are only launched in order to split another candidate’s votes in areas where the margins are close enough to help the opposing party. You can read about one very real story of election fraud here.
In April of last year, Scheller seemed confident that his client's decision to cooperate with prosecutors would bear more fruit with regard to Florida man Rep. Matt Gaetz.
ABC News and other outlets have reported that the investigation into Gaetz has “stalled, with federal investigators having concerns regarding multiple key witnesses in the case, including Greenberg — as well as specifics in the case that could make a conviction difficult for prosecutors.” Does this have echoes of the same impotence that beset former Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta—who let Jeffery Epstein off the hook in an extraordinarily lenient plea deal back in 2007?
There have been numerous leaks of seemingly damning information connecting Gaetz to Greenberg in a variety of illegal activities. The fact that a sitting representative can seemingly move past these very serious questions is problematic, to say the least. His continuing hypocritical existence is also a shining reminder of what conservatives stand for and accept in the name of greed.
Trump and his MAGA extremists are not going anywhere, but neither are we. Chip in $5 to help Daily Kos fight to defend democracy and all progressive values
The Republican Party continues to flail and point fingers at one another. The traditional media pretends it did not completely blow it on predicting a “red wave” a few weeks ago. On today’s episode, Markos is joined by Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that these midterm races were closer than was being reported. The two do a little gloating about being right in their optimism coming into the 2022 midterm elections, give their analysis of Democratic candidates' successes, and point to signs that the Republican Party is terrified as we head into the 2024 election cycle.
Embedded Content
RELATED STORIES:
Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta grilled on Epstein plea deal in House budget hearing
Federal prosecutor calls Matt Gaetz's buddy Joel Greenberg a 'prolific criminal' who 'was not alone'
Another revelation for Rep. Matt Gaetz as latest witness says he was in the room where it happened