Rep Matt Gaetz is expected to be indicted within the next few weeks as former Florida official and friend Joel Greenberg is believed to have turned on the congressman in the sex trafficking investigation against him.
Greenberg, who was elected Seminole County Tax Collector in 2016, is currently in jail awaiting trial after being slapped with a string of charges last year including sex trafficking a minor between the age of 14 and 17.
Earlier this week Gaetz was revealed to be under investigation for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old – who on Thursday was reported to be the same girl Greenberg is accused of sex trafficking, according to The New York Times.
Gaetz also allegedly paid women via Apple Pay for ecstasy-fueled sex at Florida hotels.
The damning allegations were revealed in the Times report which cited several unnamed sources close to the DOJ investigation as well as text messages and payment receipts reviewed by the outlet.
Multiple women reportedly told DOJ investigators Gaetz, 38, would tell them a time and place to meet and how much he was willing to pay them for sex.
They would then meet in hotels in Florida where the lawmaker and staunch Trump ally would sometimes take ecstasy before they had sex, the women said.
The DOJ investigation is also reportedly looking into whether one of the women involved with Gaetz was 17 at the time and whether he paid her or gave her gifts to have sex with him.
Gaetz was reportedly first introduced to the women through close ally Greenberg, the former tax collector of Seminole County who investigators believe met the women through ‘sugar daddy’ websites.
Sources said the minor is the same 17-year-old girl at the center of Gaetz’s sex trafficking probe and the DOJ is investigating whether other men connected to the two men also had sex with the child.
The two men were pictured together on social media with Roger Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress, in 2017.
Investigators believe Greenberg first met the women through ‘sugar daddy’ websites including SeekingArrangement, where rich men pay women in gifts, travel, fine dining and allowances in exchange for going on dates with them, they said.
Greenberg then introduced the women to Gaetz who allegedly also had sex with them.
One of the women told investigators she had sex with an unidentified person in Florida Republican politics as well as Gaetz and Greenberg, the Times reported.
Sometimes, Gaetz and the other men and the women allegedly took ecstasy before they slept together.
Gaetz would sometimes ask the women to introduce him to other women who would have sex with him and his friends, two sources told the Times.
Receipts from the mobile payments app Cash App and Apple Pay show both Gaetz and Greenberg sent payments to one woman and Greenberg sent a payment to a second woman, the Times reported.
Sources said the women said the payments had been for sex with Gaetz and Greenberg. Another person said the men also sometimes paid in cash.
The trysts took place in 2019 and 2020, according to the Times.
Gaetz got engaged to food analyst Ginger Luckey, 26, in December at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
He met Luckey in early 2020. It is not clear exactly when the couple met nor when in 2020 some of the alleged encounters with the other women took place.
The women told investigators Gaetz told them that, if their relationship ever came to light, they should tell people the congressman only paid for their hotel rooms and dinners as part of their dates, the Times reported.
When news of the DOJ probe surfaced Tuesday, Gaetz gave an interview to Axios where he claimed he often ‘provided for’ women he was dating when he was single, such as paying for flights and hotel rooms.
Gaetz said today he will not resign from his seat in the House.