ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Department of Justice has decided against pursuing sex-trafficking charges against U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, his lawyers said Wednesday, following a lengthy investigation that emerged from the criminal case against former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg.
DOJ officials were reaching out to witnesses Wednesday to inform them that no charges will be brought against Gaetz, according to CNN, which first reported the decision. Several other outlets later confirmed the report.
“We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges against him,” Gaetz’s attorneys, Isabelle Kirshner and Marc Mukasey, said in an emailed statement.
The decision came about four months after a Washington Post report revealed that career prosecutors at the Justice Department had recommended against charging Gaetz, citing credibility concerns with the witnesses against him, including Greenberg.
The probe into Gaetz, 40, began in late 2020. It emerged from the case against Greenberg, who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and other charges and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December.
Greenberg’s plea deal required him to cooperate with prosecutors and court filings have indicated he has given them multiple interviews. He also has spoken to state investigators as part of their inquiry into Florida’s 2020 “ghost” candidate scandal and other matters.
“While the decision is troubling, it’s not surprising,” Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, said Wednesday of the DOJ’s decision not to charge Gaetz. “After so many years of defense practice, I have slowly and reluctantly come to the realization that our country has two systems of justice. In such a realm, the tenet that no one is above the law is a mere platitude, if not an inanity. Indeed, why prosecute the privileged when defendants of limited culpability and means provide sufficient cannon fodder.”
Though Gaetz represents a district in the Panhandle, he and Greenberg became friends and political allies before the tax collector was arrested on federal charges in June 2020. Greenberg faced 33 counts by the time he accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate.
Greenberg in his plea deal admitted to paying women and a 17-year-old girl for sex. According to multiple reports, the probe into Gaetz sought to determine if he also had sex with the teenager or otherwise paid for sex in violation of trafficking laws, which Gaetz denied.
Among other crimes, Greenberg was accused of concocting fake evidence to smear a political rival as a child abuser, something that could have presented a challenge to his credibility as a witness.
According to the September Post report, the other witness against Gaetz whose credibility concerned prosecutors was an ex-girlfriend who testified before an Orlando grand jury last year and who was reportedly on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas that was scrutinized by investigators.
The probe of Gaetz, a prominent ally of former President Donald Trump, reportedly began when Trump was still in the White House and the Justice Department was being overseen by then-Attorney General Bill Barr.
Testimony given to the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot reportedly revealed Gaetz at one point sought a preemptive pardon regarding the sex-trafficking probe.
Several people in Greenberg’s orbit have been charged, though not in connection to his alleged trafficking of the 17-year-old.
Michael Shirley, who worked for Greenberg at the tax office, is accused of bribing a public official who fits the former tax collector’s description as part of a kickback scheme. Greenberg’s office paid Shirley’s company about $678,000 beginning in 2017.
Former radio talk show host and Greenberg friend Joe Ellicott pleaded guilty last February to paying thousands of dollars in a cash bribe to Greenberg. Ellicott, who was paid $95,000 a year by Greenberg’s office, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in October.
Two other Greenberg associates, his office’s former real estate advisor Keith Ingersoll and James Adamcyzk, were charged with a multimillion-dollar real estate fraud scheme. Adamcyzk died with charges still pending, while Ingersoll pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
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