ORLANDO, Fla. — Jason Pirozzolo, a politically-connected Orlando hand surgeon who used to serve on the board of the agency that oversees Orlando International Airport, was named in a Wednesday night report by CBS News as a figure in the sex trafficking investigation targeting U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and former Seminole tax collector Joel Greenberg.
Citing unnamed sources, CBS News reported that Pirozzolo paid for travel, accommodations and female escorts on a trip to the Bahamas with Gaetz in late 2018 or early 2019.
“Investigators are trying to determine if the escorts were illegally trafficked across state or international lines for the purpose of sex with the congressman,” CBS News reported.
The probe reportedly arose from an investigation into Greenberg, who is facing a slew of federal charges, including sex trafficking of a child, wire fraud, stalking and bribery of a public official.
A longtime fundraiser for Republicans who lives in Winter Garden and invests in medical marijuana companies, Pirozzolo rose to political prominence in Central Florida in 2019 when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to Greater Orlando Airport Authority. Who recommended Pirozzolo? Gaetz.
Gaetz had also recommended Pirozzolo for appointment as the state’s surgeon general: “Dr. Pirozzolo served on the health care transition team,” Gaetz told The Orlando Sentinel in an email in 2019. “I asked him to make transition recommendations for the Department of Health and to interview for the position of Surgeon General, which he did.”
Pirozzolo said potential conflicts of interest with his businesses precluded him from getting that appointment.
GOAA manages a $4 billion construction budget and its board doles out the contracts. The Orlando Sentinel reported Pirozzolo and two other appointees tried to oust the board’s longtime attorney in favor of another lawyer who would allow them to pick contractors they preferred.
Flanked by DeSantis, Pirozzolo greeted then-President Donald Trump when he got off Air Force One in June 2019, to officially kick off his 2020 Presidential campaign.
Pirozzolo resigned from the board last summer not long after his term lapsed. He also previously served on the board in 2010 and 2012 and has been a frequent visitor on the state House and Senate floor, according to his bio page on his website and social media accounts.
The Sentinel also reported Pirozzolo raised money for then-State Rep. Jason Brodeur in 2017. Brodeur, a Republican, now serves in the Florida Senate after a controversial victory over environmental attorney Patricia Sigman last year.
The win in Senate District 9, which covers Seminole County and part of western Volusia County, was aided in part by a third-party candidate who did not have an active campaign and was backed by a dark money group making promises appealing to progressives, which some say was designed to siphon votes away from Sigman.
A similar tactic backed by the same dark money group in South Florida landed former Sen. Frank Artiles in jail last month. Central Florida Democrats are calling for an investigation.
Brodeur’s wife, Christina Daly Brodeur, a prominent lobbyist, may have violated GOAA policies for not publicly disclosing a meeting with Pirozzolo and three other board members in early July 2020, the Sentinel reported.
Pirozzolo declined comment to CBS News and did not return an email to the Sentinel. Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes and has denied doing anything wrong. Greenberg is at the Orange County Jail after violating his bond and is expected to take a plea deal on charges by next month.
