Newly Released Chat Logs Reveal Matt Gaetz Pal Joel Greenberg Warning Friends They Might Need to Lawyer Up
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A new report shows that Joel Greenberg, a close ally of embattled Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), reached out to associates in an apparent state of emergency before he was federally indicted for sex trafficking a minor.
Greenberg — a former Seminole County tax collector facing 33 criminal charges for a variety of offenses — became a notable factor in the Gaetz scandal last week when it was reported that he was on the verge of accepting a plea deal and cooperating with federal investigations into the congressman’s sex scandals. These reports seemed to be corroborated when Greenberg’s lawyer spoke to the media and suggested Gaetz ought to be concerned about the prospect of his pal turning on him.
Federal investigators have obtained a WhatsApp conversation between Greenberg and his friends, and Politico’s article on the chat shows him to be concerned about people digging into his use of Venmo. This comes after multiple news outlets raised flags about Gaetz and Greenberg’s alleged use of cash apps to pay women for sex.
The Politico report says Greenberg spoke to one of his WhatsApp friends that he was paying the legal fees for a young woman he called “Vintage 99,” a reference to the woman’s birth year.
“They [federal agents] contacted her and are wanting her to talk,” Greenberg said. “She doesn’t want to talk to them.”
Politico also says they spoke to one of Greenberg’s friends from the chat log, who said the Greenberg spoke to his attorney and said “everyone is going to need a lawyer.” This friend, who was kept anonymous, told Politico that the conversation “felt like a setup” after speaking with Greenberg’s attorney, and he told Greenberg “I have nothing to do with any of this and think it is incredibly uncool you are trying to lawyer me up to be a part of it, Joel. Not. F*cking. Cool.”
Greenberg also used WhatsApp to voice his concerns that his Venmo transactions might be scrutinized by investigators.
That led to this anecdote:
“I’m trying to let everyone know who came into contact with any of these girls that the feds are going through my Venmo history and don’t want anyone to be caught off guard,” Greenberg wrote to his friend, who promptly replied that he wasn’t on Venmo, had no such history with any of these women and begged him to “absolutely positively leave my name the f— out of any of this. I’m serious about this Joel.”
“Understood,” Greenberg replied. “My only concern is I don’t know what could possibly come out of their mouths, and if any of them mentioned places where we met etc. I would think you would want to at least have a heads up if some chick says she partied at your house or something. That’s all. I’m trying to cover every possible angle I can think of. I wouldn’t want anyone to be blindsided.”
