Report: Matt Gaetz’s Wingman Sold Him Out in a Letter Detailing Their Many Alleged Sex Crimes - Vanity Fair

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The Florida congressman has seen better days.

By Bess Levin

April 30, 2021

As you’ve probably heard by now, things haven’t been going so great of late for Congressman Matt Gaetz. Since the news broke last month that the Department of Justice is investigating him for allegedly paying women for sex and, separately, for sleeping with a minor and transporting her across state lines, the hits, as they say, have not stopped coming. After the initial story that the Florida lawmaker might have committed the sort of crimes that can send a person to prison for at least 10 years, CNN reported that he is also a professional sleazebag who allegedly showed naked photos of women he’d slept with to colleagues on the House floor. Then we learned that he was seemingly dumb enough to have provided receipts to the women he’d allegedly compensated for sex. Subsequent to that, it came out that Gaetz had reportedly asked his pal Donald Trump for a blanket pardon for “any” crimes he might have committed, which is not typically something innocent people feel the need to do. Then there was the news that his wingman and alleged coconspirator, Joel Greenberg, was likely cooperating with the feds, followed by the emergence of the Venmo transactions. At which point you might think the reservoir of no good, very bad news for the Republican “firebrand” had run dry. But apparently, not so much!

The Daily Beast reports that Greenberg, Gaetz’s close friend who allegedly procured the women the congressman paid for sex, wrote a “confession” letter last year detailing the many alleged sex crimes committed by the two men, as part of a failed attempt to secure a pardon from Trump with the help of Roger Stone.

As part of the effort to obtain a pardon, Greenberg wrote multiple drafts of his confession letter. The Daily Beast obtained two typed versions and an earlier handwritten one. Certified forensic document examiner and handwriting expert Wendy Carlson compared the letter to writing samples obtained through two public records requests. She said it was her professional expert opinion that the person who authored a 2019 financial disclosure for Joel Greenberg, as well as Greenberg’s 2020 Board of Elections form, was the same as the author of the letter. “The person who authored the forms has been identified as the person who authored the letter,” Carlson said.

In those letters, Greenberg detailed his relationship with Gaetz. He confessed to paying young women for sex. And he claimed that he, Gaetz, and others had sex with a minor they believed to be 19 at the time.

Referencing the minor both he and Gaetz allegedly slept with, Greenberg wrote: “On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself. From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”

According to Greenberg, who has pleaded not guilty on 33 counts, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, stalking, and defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program, he learned that the 17-year-old was underage on September 4, 2017, from “an anonymous tip” and quickly contacted Gaetz. “Immediately I called the congressman and warned him to stay clear of this person and informed him she was underage,” Greenberg wrote. “He was equally shocked and disturbed by this revelation.” Greenberg said in the letter that he “confronted” the girl, who “apologized and recognized that by lying about her age, she endangered many people.” He claimed that there was “no further contact” with her until she turned 18. At which point he and Gaetz allegedly got back in touch with her to pay her for sex.

As the Daily Beast previously reported, about five months after her 18th birthday, Gaetz sent Greenberg $900 in two Venmo transactions—one titled “Test” and the other titled “hit up ___.” The blank contained a nickname for this girl, and Greenberg paid her and two other women a total of $900 about six hours later.

Elsewhere in the letter, Greenberg said he “facilitated Gaetz’s interactions” with college girls and then paid them on the congressman‘s behalf. “All of the girls were in college or post college and it was not uncommon for either myself or the Congressman to help anyone [sic] of these girls financially, whether it was a car payment, a flight home to see their family or something as simple as helping pay a speeding ticket,” Greenberg wrote.

Yet, according to Venmo and Cash App transactions reviewed by the Daily Beast, Greenberg appears to have paid for a lot more than simply “gas money” and speeding tickets.

The Daily Beast identified more than 150 Venmo payments from Greenberg to women, as well as more than 70 additional payments on the Cash App, that were generally between $300 and $500—though some exceeded $1,000. The Daily Beast also talked to 12 of the more than 40 different women who received money, and they all said they understood Greenberg was paying them at least in part for sex.

As for the pardon, for which Greenberg was reportedly prepared to pay Stone as much as $250,000 in Bitcoin, that quite obviously never panned out. (In a message from Stone to Greenberg, the ex-Trump campaign adviser, who managed to get a pardon for himself, claimed White House counsel Pat Cipollone “killed everything we wanted to get done.”)

While acknowledging to the Daily Beast on Thursday that there may be “copies of correspondence between me and Mr. Greenberg,” and that he “recall[ed] requesting a document explaining his prosecution,” Stone insisted he “made no formal or informal effort in regard to a pardon for Mr. Greenberg,” and claimed he “never requested or received a penny” from the guy.

Greenberg’s lawyer declined the Daily Beast’s request for comment. A public relations firm hired by Gaetz told the outlet: “Congressman Gaetz has never paid for sex nor has he had sex with a 17-year-old as an adult. We are now one month after your outlet and others first reported such lies, and no one has gone on record to directly accuse him of either. Politico, however, has reported Mr. Greenberg threatening to make false accusations against others, which seems noteworthy for your story and in fact sounds like the entirety of your story. Congressman Gaetz has had no role in advocating for or against a pardon for Greenberg and doubts such a pardon was ever even considered.”

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