For years, former Rep. Matt Gaetz has maintained that his convicted wingman, Joel Greenberg, brazenly lied about Gaetz’s sexual relationship with a teenage girl. But on Wednesday, a newly unsealed document showed that federal prosecutors believed Greenberg was telling the truth.
Greenberg — a former Florida tax official who snitched on his political and business associates in an effort to reduce punishment for, among other crimes, sexually trafficking a minor — is currently serving an 11-year sentence at a federal prison in Miami. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors opted not to criminally charge Gaetz, who quit Congress and now has a show on One America News Network.
But with the Gaetz investigation over, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell this week ordered the unsealing of a November 2022 memo by federal prosecutors detailing Greenberg’s cooperation. Prosecutors state in unequivocal terms that Greenberg helped investigators by twice providing what they determined to be honest testimony.
“Greenberg cooperated with an investigation conducted by the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into allegations that Florida public officials and their associates engaged in commercial sex — including with a minor — distribution of narcotics, obstruction of justice, and other offenses from approximately 2017 to 2020,” the memo reads.
That evidence largely mirrors what Greenberg laid out in a confession letter that was obtained by The Daily Beast, detailing his and Gaetz’s sexual relationships with a teenager who they believed to be 18 at the time but was a year younger.
And as much as Gaetz would like to cast doubt on Greenberg, the Justice Department thought he was telling the truth.
“The defendant provided truthful and timely information which advanced the ongoing investigation,” assistant U.S. attorney Amanda Daniels wrote of Greenberg. “The defendant also provided follow-up information, including when requested by investigators. Furthermore, the defendant consented to agents copying his cellular telephone and other digital devices and accessing his social-media accounts, which assisted the investigation. The defendant agreed to testify about his knowledge of events surrounding the allegations, if requested.”
Still, the need for Greenberg to testify against Gaetz never materialized. Federal investigators shut down the criminal inquiry into Gaetz and in February 2023 notified the former congressman’s defense lawyers of the move.
But evidence against Gaetz continued to surface.
In a defamation lawsuit, witnesses said Gaetz attended a drug-fueled sex party in Florida. The former congressman was also hit with a bar complaint, which went nowhere, and then, after President Donald Trump nominated Gaetz to be attorney general, there was a House Ethics Committee report. Gaetz was able to temporarily suppress the release of that report by resigning from Congress, but the information eventually came out.
The bipartisan Ethics Committee report found that there was “substantial evidence” Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old.
Asked for comment, Gaetz said in a text message late Wednesday night: “Fuck them. Fuck Greenberg. And fuck you.”
“I was never charged with a crime because I never committed one,” Gaetz continued.