In two late Venmo deals in May 2018, Representative Matt Gaetz sent his friend, accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg, $ 900. The next morning, over the course of eight minutes, Greenberg used the same app to send three young women different sums of money. In total, the transactions amounted to $ 900.
The memo field for the first of Gaetz’s transactions with Greenberg was called “Test.” In the second, the Florida GOP congressman wrote “hit up ___.” But instead of a blank, Gaetz wrote a nickname for one of the recipients. (The Daily Beast doesn’t share that nickname because the teen had turned 18 just six months earlier.) When Greenberg made his Venmo payments to these three young women, he described the money as being for “ college, ” “ school, ” ‘And’ School ‘.
The Daily Beast investigated this data as a scandal rooted in a criminal case against Greenberg engulfs Gaetz.
Greenberg – the former Seminole County tax collector – has now been charged federally on 33 counts, including sex trafficking offenses involving a 17-year-old. Court documents say Greenberg “was involved in ‘sugar daddy’ relationships.” And The New York Times says a Justice Department investigation is looking into Gaetz’s involvement in the cash-for-sex ring.
Gaetz and Greenberg are both connected through Venmo to this then 18-year-old woman – who now works in the porn industry, according to a friend of the girl. And on Thursday, Greenberg’s attorney and prosecutors indicated at a hearing that they expect Greenberg to conclude a plea deal, which likely means he plans to collaborate with investigators.
That could be potentially disastrous for Gaetz, as researchers investigate the links between these two men. And a particularly devastating connection is their financial transactions.
This week, while reporting this story, Gaetz’s once public list of Venmo transactions disappeared. Greenberg’s Venmo account is currently not publicly accessible. But The Daily Beast was able to obtain partial data from Greenberg’s past online transactions through a source.
Greenberg and Gaetz are also connected on Venmo with at least one other woman who paid Greenberg with tax money using a government-issued credit card. The Seminole County auditors marked hundreds of those payments as “questioned or unaccounted for,” and found more than $ 300,000 in suspicious or unjustified expenses in total. The Daily Beast was able to obtain that credit card information through a request for public records.
‘Nobody has any idea what he was doing. Zero, ”said Daniel J. O’Keefe, an accountant who conducted a forensic audit for the county. ‘The arrogance of these guys. They just felt they were above the law. I’ve never seen it so bad. “
O’Keefe was especially amazed at weekend expenses, hotels, unspecified high “advice” fees, and cash advances Greenberg made to himself and others. The Daily Beast compared Greenberg’s credit card statements and Venmo transactions to Gaetz’s expense and travel data – compiled through campaign finance reports, Instagram posts, and Venmo – and found that in some key places the two timelines and circles of contact overlap.
Gaetz and Greenberg share Venmo connections with at least two women who have received payments from Greenberg, and both have professional relationships with each other.
In 2018, Greenberg also paid another woman, a mutual friend of Gaetz’s, several thousand dollars using his taxpayer-backed Wells Fargo Visa card, according to county financial records obtained by The Daily Beast. Auditors flagged the transactions and said that despite having a contract and invoice from the company, they “don’t know what it was for.”
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Justice Department was investigating Gaetz for allegedly paying for a 17-year-old girl to travel across state lines with him and induce her to have sex – an act that would be in violation of the federal child trafficking laws. The research reportedly dates back to last summer, when it emerged from the ongoing Greenberg probe. According to the Times, the two men reportedly had sex with and traded the same 17-year-old girl.
The Republican has acknowledged the existence of the investigation, but denies the allegations. He told The Daily Beast in a late night text message on March 31, “The last time I had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old I was 17.” And in an op-ed in the conservative-leaning Washington Examiner last weekend, Gaetz claimed he “never, ever paid women for sex.”
Gaetz has not been charged with a crime, and the Gaetz convention bureau declined to comment directly on this story.
Instead, a representative from an outside public relations firm, the Logan Circle Group, responded with this statement from Gaetz: “The rumors, gossip and self-righteous inaccuracies of others will be addressed by my legal team in due course.”
Erin Elmore of Logan Circle – a pro-Trump pundit and former contestant The intern– added that a lawyer would ‘keep a close eye on your reporting’.
Also included in the email was another Logan Circle Group employee: Harlan Hill, who was banned from Fox News after now calling Vice President Kamala Harris “ an insufferable lying bitch. ”
Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But at a press conference following a hearing for the case, Scheller offered that the Florida congressman was unlikely to welcome the news that Greenberg had struck a plea deal.
“I’m sure Matt Gaetz isn’t very comfortable today,” said Scheller.
– Updated with comments from Gaetz.