Matt Gaetz will NOT be charged with allegations that he sexually trafficked a 17-year-old girl: the Justice Department is reportedly bringing years of investigation to an end
The Justice Department has decided not to charge Matt Gaetz with allegations that he trafficked an underage girl, a report said.
Prosecutors told attorneys for at least one of the witnesses that the red-hot Florida congressman will not be charged over the years-long investigation, CNN reported Wednesday.
Gaetz has consistently denied allegations that he helped tax collector Joel Greenberg transport a 17-year-old girl across state lines.
Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December after pleading guilty on a plea deal.
In March 2021, news broke that federal investigators were investigating whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws by allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paying for her to travel across state lines with him.
Investigators eventually declined to press charges over credibility concerns with their two key witnesses.
The Justice Department has decided not to charge Matt Gaetz with allegations that he trafficked an underage girl, a report said
Former tax collector Joel Greenberg of Seminole County, Fla., a former close friend of Gaetz, was sentenced to 11 years in prison last week
Last year, Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testified before the grand jury investigating him for sex crimes.
Investigators focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where Gaetz was with several women and violated human trafficking laws there.
Married Gaetz insists it never happened and the only time he had sex with a 17-year-old girl was when he was 17.
He has dismissed the investigation as a “witch hunt” and his lawyers said they saw “no credible basis” for charges.
Gaetz first became known to investigators for his friendship with Greenberg, who has been dubbed his “wingman” and pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and sex offenses last year.
Gaetz is pictured with his wife Ginger Luckey
Greenberg told investigators that Gaetz and at least two other men had sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl.
He told them that they both gave women money and gifts in exchange for sex.
Greenberg pleaded guilty to identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official, and sex trafficking a minor.
In another case, Florida man Stephen Alford was sentenced last year to 63 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a bizarre conspiracy to punch out Rep. Matt Gaetz’s father and a promise , to secure a presidential pardon for being found guilty of fraud.
That case also had Gaetz in the news, where he went public with his own account of the bizarre shakedown program during an appearance on Fox host Tucker Carlson’s show. Gaetz’s account finally held up.
Alford, 62, pleaded guilty to fraud in the convoluted scheme last year. According to the indictment, he reached out to Don Gaetz, the wealthy father of the Trump-leaning lawmaker, after learning of a Justice Department investigation into alleged sex trafficking.
The sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
Alford is demanding $25 million from Don Gaetz to fund efforts to free Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran years ago, and said he would help seek a pardon for Rep. Gaetz from President Joe Biden.