DOJ Chooses Not To Charge Matt Gaetz In Sex-Trafficking Investigation
The investigation into Gaetz began in 2020, and leaks about it emerged in the press the following year, around the same time the congressman said his family had been targeted by a $25 million extortion scheme. A judge later sentenced Florida businessman Stephen Alford to about five years in prison for a plot to defraud Gaetz’s father.
In the federal sex-trafficking case, prosecutors reportedly recommended against charging Gaetz back in the fall because two key witnesses had questionable credibility.
One of the witnesses was a female with whom Gaetz was allegedly involved when she was 17. Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Seminole County, Florida, and a friend of Gaetz was identified as the second witness.
Greenberg pleaded guilty to charges of underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the U.S. government. A Florida judge sentenced Greenberg to 11 years in prison last December after Greenberg cooperated with the Justice Department’s investigation.
