- So Matt Gaetz. (upbeat music) Sponsored by Ting Mobile Hey LegalEagles It's time to think like a very busy criminal defense lawyer because what is going on
with the Matt Gaetz scandal. And I'm afraid we're gonna
have to be more specific than that because it appears
that there is a scandal inside of a scandal inside of a scandal. It's like one of those
Russian nesting dolls but it's all Florida men all the way down. But the question is, did any of Matt Gaetz's alleged
relationships break the law? Are the wild stories about Matt Gaetz and his father just a pack
of lies dreamed up by two men who were trying to
blackmail the Gaetz family or does it hold some truth? So let's go through the
timeline of allegations against congressman Gaetz and see if any of these allegations might give rise to illegal conduct. And let me stress that at this point these allegations are all unproven. He denies everything and there
are conflicting accounts. But one thing is certain
that if you thought that weird political
scandals were gonna end with the Trump administration, you haven't been paying
attention to Florida Man. So let's start at the beginning. In late March political news
sites reported that Gaetz was thinking about not
running for reelection and becoming a talking head on the news organization, Newsmax. Some reported that he was even thinking about ending his term early so that he could join the private sector. But this left a lot of
people scratching their heads about why a young congressman would consider Newsmax a promotion. Well, as we would soon learn, the department of justice was
apparently investigating Gaetz for federal crimes. And here's some free #notlegaladvice. Working for cable TV does not give you any
immunity from prosecution. But not long after the
New York Times reported that the DOJ was investigating Gaetz for possibly having had
a sexual relationship with a 17 year old and paying
her to travel with him. Not surprisingly several
federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under the age of 18 to travel over state lines, to engage in sex in exchange for money, or something of value. The main federal law is 8 U.S.C. 1591 which prohibits sex trafficking of children by force fraud or coercion. And for purposes of this law, a minor is someone under
the age of 18 years old. This statute also makes
it a federal offense to knowingly recruit,
entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or
maintain a minor knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the victim is a minor and would be caused to engage
in a commercial sex act. And that is defined exactly the way you would think it was. Now section 1591 does not
require proof that either the defendant or victim
crossed state lines or international lines. The prosecuting officer
doesn't need to prove the defendant used force threats of force fraud or coercion. But if the victim was
between 14 and 17 years old the penalty is a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison up to life. Now, Gaetz has denied the charges and told the New York Times, "I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my
generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward" which sort of raises the question, how do you mischaracterize
generosity toward someone who is not a minor in this context? But that is a question for another time. And here there are reports that the alleged 17 year
old victim was also involved in a felony sex trafficking
count against Joel Greenberg. Greenberg is a former Seminole
County, Florida tax collector who has been charged with 33
counts from four indictments, including sex trafficking with a minor whom Gaetz was allegedly involved with. Now, Greenberg is also one
of Gaetz's Florida pals. Here they are goofing around
with known upstanding citizen Roger Stone, and here they
are at the white house. Now Greenberg became the
youngest tax collector in the county's history and allegedly has spent over
$1 million on guns, body armor, and his own cryptocurrency scheme, and a drone while in office. And in 2017, Greenberg pulled over a woman he thought was speeding to scold her, while he wore his tax collector's badge that resembled a sheriff's badge. And for some reason he even
had flashing police lights on the top of his SUV. Now, amazingly the Florida
state attorney wrote in a letter the Greenberg was, "Being
given the benefit of the doubt that his intentions were pure." Therefore he did not commit the crime of impersonating a police officer. And look, I've been to Florida, so that does seem to check out but that probably wouldn't
fly in any other context in any other state, but in 2018 Gaetz publicly
endorsed Greenberg's bid for reelection saying that, one day Greenberg would make
a fine member of Congress. We'll pause to let that one sink in but Greenberg was then
charged with stalking and harassing a teacher
who was running against him in the Republican primary. Greenberg had apparently
set up fake online profiles to defame the teacher
and sent several letters to the school where he worked saying that the man engaged in inappropriate
conduct with his students. In July of 2019 Gaetz and Greenberg left obnoxious voicemails
on the cell phone of Florida state
representative, Anna Eskamani, a Democrat saying. - [Greeberg] This is your
favorite tax collector, I'm up in the panhandle with your favorite US
Congressmen Mr. Gaetz. - [Gaetz] Hi Anna. - Then in August of 2020, Greenberg was indicted on 14 more counts, including sex trafficking
charges related to a minor between the ages of 14 and 17. Now, unfortunately, the details of Greenberg's
alleged trafficking scheme are also essential to understanding why Gaetz is in hot water. First federal prosecutors, alleged that Greenberg used his position as tax collector to
access the Florida driver and vehicle information database where he would research women and girls. Some of the individuals Greenberg research were involved in sugar daddy
relationships with Greenberg. And Greenberg allegedly
abused his position and took surrendered driver's licenses before they were shredded
by his office staff, and created new ideas with his photograph but with the personal
information of his residents. And not surprisingly during a search, police found fake IDs
in Greenberg's office and materials used to
create those IDs as well. Greenberg of course denies
all of these allegations, which takes us back to congressman Gaetz. Gaetz allegedly visited the Seminole County tax
collector's office at least twice after hours according to
text messages reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel
and the Daily Beast. And on April 16, 2018 Greenberg visited the Lake Mary Florida branch
of his tax collection agency. Surveillance footage captured
Greenberg standing near a desk with another man, but Greenberg forgot to set
the alarm on the way out which concerned the
assistant branch manager when she went to work on Monday morning. That employee found driver's licenses scattered all over the desk instead of in the
appropriate disposal basket. She reviewed the camera
footage and alerted her boss who sent Greenberg a text message saying, "Did you happen to visit
the Lake Mary Office on the weekend?" The Daily Beast reports,
the Greenberg responded. Yes, I was showing Congressman Gaetz what our operation looked like. Did I leave something on? And according to the Daily
Beast text messages saw that, Greenberg was helping Gaetz
get some duplicate IDs. They reported that, on September 2nd, 2018 Greenberg
directly asked an employee to quickly create a new card that complies with the heightened security
standards of real ID, a process that would normally require providing
additional documentation according to the images. The Daily Beast goes on to report that Greenberg texted
one of his employees, "Amy- is there anyway to
assist one of our congressmen in getting an emergency replacement ID, or DL by Tuesday 2:00 PM. His was lost yesterday and he's got a flight Tuesday. Doesn't have any other form
of ID currently on him. Sorry to bother you on Sunday. Greenberg then confirmed
that the favor was for, "Matthew Louis Gaetz
Jr. Born May 7th, 1982." If you didn't know, Gaetz
represents Northwest Florida while Greenberg was tax
collector in Seminole County, which is 472 miles away
from Gaetz's district. So why did Gaetz need the tax collector from outside his district
to create IDs for him? These are of course red flags. So when the secret service was apparently investigating
Greenberg for identity theft, they discovered the link to Gaetz. And shortly before the
story about Gaetz broke, Greenberg was indicted yet again, this time for allegedly
submitting false claims to receive pandemic relief
aid from the government, and trying to bribe a government official. Yes, Greenberg allegedly did all of this after his other illegal troubles. And reports say that the
independent Gaetz investigation was launched under the
Trump administration, and that attorney general Bill Barr was briefed on the matter, and actively trying to avoid
meeting Gaetz in person, because of potential improprieties given the ongoing investigation. And there is yet more evidence that the Gaetz Greenberg investigation involves other Florida officials. A woman told investigators that she had had sex
with Greenberg, Gaetz, and another guy involved
in Florida, GOP politics. Several sources told reporters
from Floridapolitics.com that the third man is former Florida Department of Business
and Professional Regulation secretary, Halsey Beshears
who resigned in January. The woman allegedly was a minor at the time of the sexual encounter. And several reporters say
that she has already testified in front of a grand jury, about having had sex with Matt Gaetz. And according to another
unnamed, Florida Republican, who claims to be influential
in state politics, Greenberg texted him on August 14th, and started fuming
about the investigation. The source claims that Greenberg
was paying the legal fees for the woman who allegedly
slept with Gaetz and Greenberg, "Greenberg initially referred to the young woman as vintage 99" referring to the year she was born 1999, protip putting inculpatory
evidence in digital form especially when you're talking about the birth date of a minor, really not the best way
to criminal activity. According to reports, Greenberg wrote, I'm having to pay for vintage
99 to retain a lawyer. They, the federal agents contacted her, and are wanting to her to talk. She doesn't want to talk to them. Now paying for someone's legal fees is not necessarily illegal, but it does raise a
whole host of questions. The woman in question is now allegedly 20, but was allegedly 17 at
the time of the encounter. And the friend said that Greenberg and Gaetz shared girlfriends
and paid their bills. And after the investigation
started Greenberg apparently reached out
to his friends stating, "I'm trying to let everyone
know who came into contact with any of these girls. The feds are going
through my Venmo history and don't want anyone
to be caught off guard." To which one of Greenberg's
friends responded promptly by saying that, he wasn't on Venmo and had no such history
with any of these women and, "Absolutely positively leave
my name out of any of this. I'm serious about this Joel." And meanwhile the third man
in the White House photo op with Greenberg and Gaetz
has been identified. His name is Chris Dorworth, a former member of the Florida legislature who was close with Gaetz. Dorworth quit his job with a lobbying firm late last week. And his presence has now been scrubbed from the firm's website. Dorworth and Gaetz allegedly plotted to run a sham third-party candidate during a state senate race
to help out Jason Brodeur. Another friend of Gaetz, the two men said they probably
didn't discuss running a sham candidate and Dorworth added. There would be nothing
illegal about it if we had. Greenburg may also have some dirt on other Florida politicians as well. He allegedly use taxpayer money to pay for other Florida politicians, and WWE wrestler Matt
Morgan known as Blueprint for quote consulting services. Auditors have yet to
find the documentation for what these payments were actually for, Morgan happened to owe about
$40,000 in federal taxes. And the consulting payments happened to be for about $40,000. Florida voters later elected Blueprint to the Longwood City Commission, because of course they did,
this is Florida after all. And back to Greenberg sources
told the New York Times that Greenberg would find
women on sugar daddy websites, forums that would connect
people who would go on dates in exchange for gifts, find
dining, travel, and allowances, and presumably have sex with them. He would then allegedly
introduce these women to Gaetz who would also have sex with him. And the reports say that
the men would meet women to form mutually beneficial relationships between the two parties. But this probably goes without saying, but in America you cannot pay for sex without breaking the law. So let's talk about the
crime of solicitation. The New York Times originally
reported that Greenberg and Gaetz had paid women
for sex using Cash App, and Apple Pay stating, "The times has reviewed
receipts from Cash App, mobile payments app, and Apple Pay that show payments from
Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Greenberg to one of the women, and a payment from Mr.
Greenberg to a second woman, the woman told her friends the payments were for sex with the two men according to two people,
familiar with the conversations and encounters during
2019 and 2020 Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Greenberg instructed the women to meet at certain times, and places often at hotels around Florida and would tell them the amount of money they were willing to pay, according to the messages and interviews. And additionally, the Daily Beast reports they obtained records. The two men also used Venmo
to pay the women for sex. Again, allegedly two of the transactions are from may of 2018. When Gaetz sent Greenberg $900. The first transaction
from Gaetz says, "Test." The second page Greenberg $900. But the memo reading, hit up, blank, using a nickname for one of the girls. Six hours later, Greenberg
paid three young women $900, in the memo line for
payments Greenberg wrote, tuition school and school. One of the girls had just turned 18 about six months before the transaction. So the report does not name her. And according to the Daily Beast, Gaetz has Venmo transactions
were once public but they disappeared this week. As the investigation moves forward. Just a reminder, you may wanna set all of your
Venmo transactions to private whether you're doing
something illegal or not, #notlegaladvice. The Daily Beast was also able to confirm that the circles of contact
between Gaetz and Greenberg overlap using Venmo records, Instagram and campaign finance records, "Gaetz and Greenberg's share
two direct Venmo connections with women who received
payments from Greenberg. Greenberg is also accused
of misusing taxpayer funds but at least $300,000 allegedly being used for hotels, travel meals, consulting, and even cash advances on
a county's credit card. Which takes us to the possible crime of enticement of a minor. If Greenburg and Gaetz
had contact with minors using technology like
these sugar daddy websites or text messages or payment
apps, if that's true they could be charged with
violating 18 U.S.C. 2422 which makes it a crime to use the US mail or certain technologies such
as the internet, telephone, to persuade, induce,
entice or coerce a minor, to engage in prostitution or any other illegal sexual activity. And it's possible that these
alleged acts might give rise to a violation of the Mann Act as well. But there's also the international
travel aspect of this federal investigators are also
looking into a Bahamas trip that Gaetz allegedly took in late 2018, or early 2019 with a
marijuana entrepreneur. The marijuana guy allegedly paid for the travel accommodations
and female escorts. But even if the other guy was responsible that wouldn't necessarily
get Gaetz off the hook because 18 U.S.C. 2423
makes it a felony to, "knowingly transporting an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years in interstate or foreign
commerce with the intent that the individual engaged in prostitution or any sexual activity for which a person can be
charged with a criminal offense. This law targets human
trafficking of underage people. The minimum penalty for
this offense is 10 years and the maximum is life. And additionally, the
New York Times reports that Gaetz was allegedly using drugs, "some of the men and women took ecstasy and illegal mood altering drug before having sex, including Mr. Gaetz, two people familiar with
the encounters said, no of course there are the
drug violations themselves. But if this is true,
Gaetz has legal exposure under the Trafficking Persons
Protection Act of 2000 which makes it illegal
to course any person, adult or child into sex acts. And in the past federal prosecutors have filed trafficking charges
against people suspected of providing drugs in exchange for sex because facilitating
another person's drug habit can be a form of coercion. And then there's the issue
of paying for hotel stays and meals in exchange for
some sort of relationship. The times reported that
Gaetz had a cover story for anyone asking about his relationships. "In some cases, Mr. Gaetz
asked women to help find others who might be interested
in having sex with him and his friends, according to two people familiar
with those conversations. Should anyone acquire
about their relationships, one person said, Mr. Gaetz told the women to say that he had paid for hotel rooms and dinners as part of their dates." And CNN spoke to two women who claimed to have
attended several parties with Greenberg and Gaetz. Some of the parties took place
after GOP political events. They say that they share
drugs like cocaine and ecstasy at the parties and witnessed
Matt Gaetz taking pills. She said that he behaved like
a frat type of party boy. It probably goes without saying, but if Gaetz did in
fact use campaign funds for illegal activities or
even non campaign activities, that could certainly
give rise to a campaign. Finance violation CNN has reviewed receipts
indicating the Greenberg and Gaetz used digital payment apps to send hundreds of dollars to at least one woman at these parties. One receipt had a label indicating the payment was for travel. And one of the women told CNN
that Greenberg sent her money, after some of these parties, she confirmed that some of
the money was payment for sex but she did not disclose
who she slept with. The woman said that she did not receive money
directly from Gaetz. And Greenberg allegedly bragged
about partying with Gaetz a source close to Greenberg alleges that he often quote sent
identically worded messages to multiple women,
inviting them to parties through these so-called
sugar daddy dating websites. If this is true, prosecutors
would need evidence proving that there was some coercion
because generally speaking it's not to pay for hotels
and dinner or give gifts. As long as the people
are actually both adults and along these lines, Gaetz has defendants has action saying, "I definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated." You know, I paid for
flights for hotel rooms, I've been, you know,
generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it's not. And then there is the issue of the potential nude photos on his phone. Gaetz allegedly showed
other lawmakers photos and videos of nude women. He'd said he'd slept with, even showing pictures on the house floor. Now is talking about sexual
relationships, a crime? No, not necessarily, but given the context it is possible, there was some illegality. First of all, if the photos
or videos are of a minor girl you can understand exactly
why that would be illegal. And additionally, if the photos or videos
were taken without consent, that could also be a crime. Washington. DC is one
of the few jurisdictions with a so-called revenge porn law. This revenge porn law
criminalizes the dissemination of sexually explicit photographs of anyone without his or her consent. But these revenge porn laws
are not without controversy because they criminalize
some form of sexting and are not necessarily pornographic. And then there also the
first amendment implications former Democratic representative,
Katie Hill resigned after her, ex-husband
shared nude photos of her and a conservative
website in British tabloid published those pictures. He'll quit and file the
lawsuit against the tabloid for violating California's
revenge porn law. But just this week, a
California court ruled that the publication was
protected by the first amendment. And ironically Hill, and Gaetz
formed an unlikely friendship when she was in Congress. Now grand jury proceedings
are supposed to remain secret and we don't know for sure if one is actually looking at Matt Gaetz, how are things are certainly looking grim for the congressmen on that front. On April 8th Greenberg's
lawyer told the media that his client was negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors. - I'm sure Matt Gaetz, is not feeling very comfortable today. - It's certainly a warning shot, and if you're Matt Gaetz's attorney, that's not something you wanna
hear from other defendants. And then perhaps the weirdest twist of all on the same day that the allegations against Gaetz became public. He appeared on Fox news
with Tucker Carlson, Gaetz denied the allegations and then things got super weird. When he said that he was the
victim of an extortion plot. - What is happening is an
extortion of me and my family, involving a former department
of justice official. - Gaetz also use it as an opportunity to remind Tucker Carlson at that time that he
had dinner with Gaetz, and one of his girlfriends. - You and I went to dinner
about two years ago, your wife was there and I
brought a friend of mine. You'll remember her? - I don't remember the
woman you're speaking of what were the context at all honestly. - And then he pointed
out that Carlson knows what it's like to be falsely
accused of sex crime. - I'm not the only person
on screen right now who has been falsely accused
of a terrible sex act. You were accused of something
that you did not do. And so, you know what this feels like. - Which is not a great way to ensure that you get a friendly
interview in the future, but you should know that even if these extortion
allegations are true it's entirely possible
for Gaetz to be a victim of extortion while also being investigated for illegal things that
they actually have done. Often, the only way to extort someone is that they engaged in some
sort of illegal conduct. But at this point we don't know where the fabrications start and end. And specifically Gaetz says the two former government
officials found out about the investigation and tried to shake down the Gaetz family. Gaetz said that his father had
actually been wearing a wire in order to help the FBI
catch the alleged extorting. Don Gaetz is a former
Florida Senate president who was the wealthiest member
of the Florida legislature. The Gaetz family actually
became extremely wealthy through the hospice care industry. And the senior Gaetz has
back to his son's claim. Of course, the two individuals
accused of blackmailing the Gaetz family have both
denied these allegations. Even if someone was trying
to extort Matt Gaetz and or his family, the mere fact of the extortion wouldn't change any of the
criminal guilt associated with those alleged acts. So we'll see what happens
with the extortion. Now, if there's one lesson that we can take away from any of that is that if you are potentially
a criminal defendant you probably shouldn't
put inculpatory evidence in your Venmo history. But if you are gonna pay for
illicit activity over at Venmo, then you'll need a good
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