Plea Deal for Joel Greenberg, Matt Gaetz's Associate, Includes 60 Pages Detailing Other Peoples' Crimes
Sixty pages of former Florida tax official Joel Greenberg's plea agreement with federal prosecutors detail the crimes of his co-conspirators in six federal charges, including sex trafficking.
Florida GOP Representative Matt Gaetz is not specifically named anywhere in the massive 86-page plea agreement presented Monday in Orlando federal court. But legal analysts and former federal prosecutors say Gaetz, an associate of Greenberg's, may be one of his as-of-yet unnamed co-conspirators.
Greenberg pled guilty to six federal charges and the allegations sparked an ongoing investigation into Gaetz's potential ties to one of those charges, sex trafficking of a child. The Florida Republican has vehemently denied any connection to the crimes but prosecutors now have full access to everything Greenberg knows or can testify to following the plea deal.
An anti-Florida Governor Ron DeSantis group flew an airplane banner above the federal courthouse in Orlando Monday which read, "Tick Tock Matt Gaetz."
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner told MSNBC Monday that plea agreements are typically between 8-12 pages and not the 86 pages seen in Greenberg's guilty plea. And in perhaps a damning preview of what's cornering Gaetz, sixty of those 86 pages detail other people's crimes.
"Sixty of the 86 pages are what I call 'receipts,' hard corroboration of the crimes of not only Joel Greenberg but the crimes of others. Now those others are not yet identified and that's what I would expect because federal prosecutors don't want to tip their hand until they have indictments, arrest warrants and we're starting to see perp walks," Kirschner said.
Greenberg pled guilty to charges of fraud and stalking a political rival. Under the plea deal, Greenberg must register as a sex offender and pay restitution to a victim who was a minor at the time of the sexual act.
"I think one of the most ominous features of this plea agreement ... is the last of the six charges Joel Greenberg just pleaded to is a charge for a conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States," Kirschner continued. "What does that tell us? Well, of necessity, a conspiracy means you have co-conspirators, because that is a requirement under the law of conspiracy that you agreed with one or more persons to commit crimes against the United States and you took one step towards the commission of those crimes, what we call an 'overt act.'"
"We already know by virtue of this plea, there are co-conspirators who are likely to be indicted and held accountable, we just don't quite know who they are," Kirschner concluded.
Fellow NBC News analyst Kerry Sanders, noted Monday, "If there is a connection that he can share that goes to representative Matt Gaetz the investigators will have full access to anything he knows."
Newsweek reached out to Gaetz's Florida offices as well as attorneys representing Greenberg during the plea deal process.
