Ex-Matt Gaetz affiliate cooperating in Home Ethics investigation: Sources

Joel Greenberg, a one-time shut buddy of Rep. Matt Gaetz who was sentenced to 11 years in jail after pleading responsible to prices together with federal intercourse trafficking, is cooperating with the Home Ethics Committee probe into the Florida congressman, sources accustomed to the committee’s work inform ABC Information.

Greenberg, who’s at the moment in jail, served as a high witness within the Justice Division’s years-long probe into Gaetz that concluded with the DOJ’s resolution to not being prices in opposition to him.

Greenberg has been in touch with the Ethics Committee for weeks and has offered paperwork associated to the case, sources advised ABC Information.

The New York Occasions was first to report Greenberg’s cooperation with the committee.

The Home investigation, which was reopened final summer season, continues to ramp up, because the committee in latest weeks has contacted a number of new witnesses as a part of its ongoing investigation into the Florida congressman, sources stated.

In a press release, Greenberg’s legal professional Fritz Scheller advised ABC Information that Greenberg “has and can cooperate with any congressional request.”

“In a functioning democracy, he has no different selection,” Scheller stated. “One would hope that the Division of Justice shares in such a perspective. However then once more, hope is the quintessential human delusion. Regardless, the paperwork offered to Congress usually are not topic to any investigative privilege since they weren’t offered to the protection by the DOJ.”

Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing. In a press release, a spokesperson for the congressman stated, “The DOJ acquired the identical materials, deemed it unreliable, and declined to press prices. The press shouldn’t be laundering smears from folks in jail.”

Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, reached a take care of investigators in Might 2021 by which he pleaded responsible to a number of federal crimes, together with intercourse trafficking of a minor and introducing her to different “grownup males” who additionally had intercourse together with her when she was underage.

He additionally agreed to offer “substantial help” to DOJ prosecutors as a part of their ongoing investigation into Gaetz and others, in accordance with sources accustomed to the association.