All language subtitles for American Greed s15e01 The Life & Crimes of Joel Greenberg

You're watching CNBC On Demand.

In this episode of American Greed, the
wingman.

A small -town politician goes on a
brazen crime spree that reaches all the

to the nation's capital. To understand
his case is to understand life.

12 different tentacles of criminality
that are all different in and of

themselves. Newcomer Joel Greenberg has
just been elected to local office in

Seminole County, Florida.

Like, did he wake up and say, oh, hey,
I'm going to be a tax collector today?

A millennial born into money and
privilege, he begins almost immediately

abuse his power. With all due respect,
you are full of crap.

Stealing from his office.

And the next thing you know, Joel's
making money. Paying for sex with a

He was using the credit card that he had
from work to pay for some of these

transactions. Scheming against rivals,
colleagues, even the federal government.

He texted his buddy to say, how soon can
I blow it all on policy?

But it's only when his case appears to
ensnare a famous congressman that it

the national stage.

We're learning some explosive new
details surrounding the Justice

investigation into Florida GOP
Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Featuring exclusive stories from
Greenberg's days as a wannabe shock

just graduated high school. He would ask
me to go out for a couple drinks.

New details of his alleged scheming. And
he said, I want to get some ransomware

together to put on the network.

And never before seen footage of
Greenberg's arrest.

American Greed unmasks the Florida man
at the center of a Washington scandal.

Do you know why?

From the dark swamps of Florida, one
slick resident crawls into the

riding the coattails of President Donald
Trump.

His name? Congressman Matt Gaetz.

We must protect our home with
unbreakable, made -in -America strength.

Strength I see every day in President
Donald Trump.

Gaetz is an apex predator of the Trump
era.

But in early 2021, he's hit with an
allegation that threatens to eat him

The investigation of possible sex
trafficking currently underway into the

Florida lawmaker began with an
investigation into an associate of his

pleading not guilty to trafficking,
stalking, and identity fraud charges.

That associate is Gates' friend, a local
public official who is a complete

unknown outside the small corner of
Florida.

where he's built an empire of fraud and
depravity.

Good afternoon, and thank you for
allowing me to be here. Just for the

the record, name?

Joel Greenberg, Sunwell County tax
collector.

To those who cover the story, Greenberg
is a politician and a criminal unlike

any they've ever encountered.

There was a boldness and an in -your
-faith disregard for the

law that went on here that...

I certainly had never seen in another
elected office. It's just one example

after another of different parts of ways
of breaking the law that you didn't

think were possible.

Greenberg's rise to power starts in this
affluent enclave of lake swamps and

suburbs northeast of Orlando.

In Seminole County and across the state,
Joel Greenberg's father has struck gold

with a mini empire of dental clinics
worth millions.

It's a household name in Central Florida
because there are so many of them.

I passed two on the way here today.

Straightening pearly whites makes
Greenberg Dental a booming business.

But young Joel walks a crooked path as
the family's black sheep.

He was brought up in a family of
overachievers, and that was not Joel.

By the time he's a teen, Greenberg shows
up in an Orlando Sentinel article about

a basketball program for wayward boys.

His mother told a newspaper reporter at
the Sentinel that he's my shining star

who still needs more polishing.

To help with that polishing, Greenberg
is shipped off to military school and

spends years in college, though he never
graduates.

He also finds himself in legal trouble
more than once.

The money, I think, was a problem
because it seemed like every time Joel

trouble, Somebody from the family would
step forward with some cash.

Eventually, Greenberg uses his share of
the family's wealth to make a name for

himself on local AM radio, buying
airtime for a program he creatively

Joel Greenberg Show.

Greenberg is then in his late 20s.

And he turns for help to a future
Instagram model named Nicole Hampton.

I had just graduated high school. I was
about 17, 18 years old. He reached out

to me on Facebook and asked me if I
wanted to be an honor personality on

his radio show. You know, being as young
as I was, I was just starting college.

It meant a lot.

Though it seems like the start of a
dream career, Hampton says her older

hardly a wise mentor.

Some of the things that he would say or
some of the things that we would have

guests on that were a little bit more
Howard Stern -esque, our producer would

bleeping things out left and right.

In this boys' club atmosphere, Hampton
says she gets to know two very different

versions of Greenberg.

He was really professional on air.

Off air, Joel was a completely different
Joel.

I mean, during commercial breaks, he
would make me sit in his lap and stuff

that. He would grab my butt or slap my
butt.

And Joel would ask me to go out to
dinners. He would ask me to go out for a

couple of drinks.

And at the time, I was 18, 17 maybe.

I don't remember.

But definitely not 21.

Then, Hampton says, there's the
unconventional arrangement Greenberg has

paying her.

She would always write me checks at the
house.

Now, I worked for him Monday through
Friday, so I don't understand why he

couldn't bring my check to the office or
to the recording studio.

In the end, Hampton decides she's had
enough and leaves her dream job.

I did not want to be.

in the same room as him, especially
working under him and knowing that I had

listen and do everything that he said.

Greenberg's attorney declined to comment
about Hampton's allegations.

The radio show isn't Greenberg's only
venture into the media world.

The reputation he had was a guy that had
been sort of, just sort of aimless. So

he produced this other sort of...

different tangent of a career becoming a
tax collector.

I don't remember exactly where I saw it,
but I do remember being utterly

shocked. Like, did he wake up and say,
oh, hey, I'm going to be a tax collector

today?

For someone seemingly addicted to the
spotlight, Greenberg's choice to run for

Seminole County tax collector in 2016 is
odd.

It's typically a low -profile position
involving the collection of taxes and

issuance of driver's licenses, hunting
licenses and concealed carry permits.

In the hierarchy of local government, I
mean, the tax collector is kind of like

the long snapper on the punk team.

You know, he's important, but he's got a
limited job.

If the job choice seems strange...

So does Greenberg's pivot from failed
shock jock to politico.

You know, the name was well known
through the dental chain.

Joel himself was not very well known.

But that will soon change in a very big
way.

When he enters politics, Greenberg has
close to $5 million socked away.

and he uses his share of the family
fortune to kick -start his campaign with

$100 ,000 loan.

Ironically, Greenberg's candidacy is
based on attacking the ethics of his

opponent, the county's long -serving tax
collector.

had a fellow in there who was pretty
clearly profiting from his office

in ways that did not turn out to be
illegal but were kind of questionable,

people were tired of it.

And his biggest line during the campaign
was, people are sick

of this, and I'm not going to do it.

When the ballots are challenged,
Greenberg ekes out a win with 52 % of

And to those watching, his victory
dovetails with that of another wealthy

political newcomer with a home in
Florida who's running for office that

We're going to Washington, D .C. to
drain the swamp.

It's pretty clear from how he fashioned
himself as a candidate, what he ran on,

who he made himself out to be.

and how he behaved after he got into
office, that he was a perfect

of what happens when Trumpism comes to
your local government.

Coming up later, after Greenberg takes
office, all hell breaks loose.

As one observer says, it's like the
Tiger King got elected tax collector.

He would pay extra to the young women if
they would take the extra.

Long before his scandal makes national
news, Joel Greenberg is sworn in as

Seminole County tax collector in January
2017.

So I'm asking you to expect very little
and to allow me to surprise you.

Once in office, he meets a young man
named Brent Tyler.

I had just finished my bachelor's degree
in cybersecurity.

I was trying to get my foot in the door,
getting a job.

And I guess he had heard about it
through the grapevine and he invited me

come talk to him.

Tyler takes the job and gets to see that
Greenberg is far from a typical boss.

He's a strange guy sometimes.

You know, he'd talk about girls, talk
about staff, how hot they were, how he

liked to do stuff with them. I mean, he
seemed like a smart guy. He had good

ideas, but he also sometimes just had
crazy ideas, obviously.

Before long, Greenberg fires off one of
these crazy ideas.

At some point in the first year, he
decided that he's going to form

his own security force in the tax
collector's office.

You know, and they were open carrying
glocks every day. They had little badges

that said Deputy Tax Collector on them.
Like, they were walking around like they

were supposed to be sheriff's deputies
or something.

Serving as tax collector hardly puts him
face -to -face with danger.

But Greenberg carries his own weapon and
badge, and he seems more than happy to

play cop on occasion.

Hello. I wanted to speak to a deputy in
reference to a suspicious incident that

happened with my mom about an hour ago.

She was basically followed in a vehicle,
air quotes here, did a traffic stop

kind of.

She thought she was being followed, so
she pulled over in the front of her

neighborhood, and a car pulled in behind
her and had a flashing white light.

According to a Seminole County Sheriff's
report, Greenberg is wearing his tax

collector badge, a backwards hat, and a
pair of cargo shorts when he pulls over

the 61 -year -old woman and lambasts her
for speeding like a bat out of hell in

his neighborhood.

Greenberg gets away with little more
than a slap on the wrist.

And a month after the incident, real
cops pull over the fake cop, who now

to see speeding as no big deal.

No.

I'm a traffic officer. This is what I
do.

And you felt the situation was giving
the tax collector his speed?

Yes. All right, gentlemen. Look, I get
it.

Apologize for speeding.

I hope I didn't come across as being
rude or a dick.

No.

Not at all.

Look, I did.

Among those who get a close -up look at
Greenberg is Seminole County's elected

board of commissioners. We have the tax
collector's office.

Mr. Greenberg's here.

Not long after Greenberg is sworn in,
the commissioners begin to raise

about the way he is spending taxpayer
money.

Then Commission Chairman John Horan is
one of those who tussles with the tax

collector. In the $11 million that
you've submitted a budget for, there are

new executive positions. We see a new
executive chief operating officer at $93

,500. Though it's alarming, the
commission has no constitutional power

the tax collector.

That job is left to a state agency,
Florida's Department of Revenue.

We can't say no to him. We can say no to
the Department of Revenue and object to

certain aspects of his budget. But the
Department of Revenue passes on his

budget. That's a real problem if you
have a tax collector who gets in there

wants to do things that aren't in the
best interest of the taxpayers.

That's exactly what Greenberg is doing.

You all have been provided a copy of the
budget for the upcoming year. As the

commission attempts to push back... The
young tax collector becomes more and

more belligerent. With all due respect,
you are full of crap.

As the problems heat up,

cybersecurity contractor Brent Tyler
says he gets a message from Greenberg

asking him to meet.

In recent years, American cities of all
sizes have been facing a new cyber

threat called ransomware.

Back now with that big American city
held hostage by hackers demanding money.

It's the latest instance of an attack
known as ransomware, a growing danger

could strike where you live.

When Greenberg calls in Tyler, he seems
to have heard the news and allegedly

decided that a ransomware attack on a
local government sounds like a good

I met with him back in his office. We
went in there. He was a little late, and

he said, hold on, stay quiet, and he
turned up the music.

And he said, hey, I'm having issues with
one of the county commissioners.

I want to get some ransomware together
to put on the network.

So he wanted to create a virus that
would spread through the county's

and encrypt all their files so they
couldn't use it.

And then they would pay him in Bitcoin
to unencrypt the files. So he wanted,

know, $500 ,000 to a million dollars.
This was his target area he was looking

for. So he would split it down the
middle with me, whatever we got.

And I mean, that was a very shocking
thing to hear.

I mean, how would you even put that into
words at that point in time when you're

being offered something like that and
that illegal?

Greenberg's attorney declined to comment
on the ransomware allegation.

Tyler says that rather than bow to
pressure from his boss, he leaves the

and gets a new job.

Then, according to records of the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement,

December 2017, he meets with department
officials.

I told them the whole story in their
car.

They said they were going to need some
time to digest it and see what they

do with it.

And nothing really ever came of it.

A spokesman for the FDLE will later tell
the Orlando Sentinel that the case was

closed because it came down to
Greenberg's word against Tyler's.

And when that happens, the tax collector
continues along his path of

destruction.

I mean, if there was no consequences, he
could just keep doing what he wanted

to. I mean, he got away with it for
three years or so.

Next. If Greenberg's public antics seem
odd, they're nothing compared to his

actions behind closed doors.

And later, exclusive footage of
Greenberg's last moments as a free man.

After just a short time in office, Joel
Greenberg is making quite a splash.

I can unequivocally say that we have the
best run tax collector's office in the

state of Florida, and the numbers back
it up.

Despite, or perhaps because of his
antics, Greenberg seems to be a star on

rise in Florida's Republican Party.

I think that Joel always wanted to move
up in politics, and I think that this

was designed to just...

be a first step to show the public that
he could do great things with the tax

collector's office.

Greenberg is filled with ambition, and
he isn't afraid to talk about the many

connections he builds.

I've been with the governor, Ron
DeSantis.

I know Congressman Matt Gaetz.

And Matt Gaetz is this young congressman
who has also hitched his political

fortunes to Donald Trump. He comes to
Washington in 2017 when Trump gets

And Joel Greenberg is a buddy of Matt
Gaetz. Matt Gaetz is Donald Trump's most

staunch defender on Capitol Hill. And
Donald Trump really likes that. So Matt

Gaetz is going to the White House and
Joel Greenberg is going with him.

Greenberg marries shortly before he's
elected and will have two children while

in office.

To help build his credentials, his wife
uses her Facebook page to post pictures

of her husband at the White House and
videos of him speaking at a Trump rally.

I love that sign right there.

Trump, baby, Trump, yep.

Representative Gates donates to
Greenberg's re -election fund and says

the tax collector with a growing record
for oddball behavior would make a good

addition to Florida's congressional
delegation.

The two young public servants pal around
together often, sharing pictures like

this one with longtime Republican dirty
trickster Roger Stone on social media.

And one Monday morning in the spring of
2018, tax collector's office employees

come into a branch where they find
things in disarray.

When they check the security camera
footage from early the previous morning,

They see that Greenberg and another man
had entered the office, then gone

through baskets of discarded driver's
licenses.

They were rummaging around.

Both of them were kind of looking
through the desk. It was very odd for a

.m. visit, per se.

Brent Tyler says his mother, who is a
Greenberg employee, checks into the

situation with her boss via text
message.

She asked him if he was in the Lake Mary
office, and he said that he was with

Congressman Gates and that they had been
showing him the operation up there,

and they had seen some IDs that were a
mess, and they organized them, which

struck her as odd because they were
always put where they should have been

disposal box.

I mean, why would you be in a driver's
license office in the wee early morning

hours on a Sunday?

There's no real reason to show somebody
your operation when everything's closed.

Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gates, says
that the congressman never had anything

to do with fake or discarded IDs.

But Greenberg will later admit to
stealing and manufacturing licenses.

And this is hardly all he's up to.

Joel was using an escort website that
had become popular.

Basically, older men would call them
sugar daddies, would pay sugar babies to

spend time with them.

And so Joel would find young women
through this website and then

hire them to attend parties, or Joel
would sometimes provide ecstasy.

Joel admitted in his plea deal that he
would pay extra to the young women if

they would take the ecstasy.

One of the women Greenberg pays for sex
is only 17 when they meet.

It's here that Greenberg commits the
first of six federal crimes he admits to

his plea agreement, sex trafficking a
child.

Though the girl claims online to be an
adult, Greenberg will later admit he had

reasonable opportunity to observe that
she was underage, but acted in reckless

disregard of this fact.

Hardly a master criminal, Greenberg
shells out more than $70 ,000 over two

for sex with her and others, sometimes
compensating women via the online

app Venmo.

He'd meet a young woman on seeking
arrangement and he would pay her, you

say $200 and he would say it was for ice
cream or say it was for salad or for

gas money, that sort of thing.

According to the Daily Beast...

Venmo records show Greenberg makes more
than 150 payments to dozens of young

women.

Greenberg was so out there and, for lack
of a better term, open about this, that

he was using the credit cards that he
had from work to pay for some of these

transactions.

In addition, Greenberg uses government
databases to illegally search for

information about some of these women
and about many others.

And he uses his access to the tax
collector's office to steal identities

himself and others.

When people would turn in sort of an
expired driver's license, so you go to

your new one, you give them your old
one, they would just sort of throw it in

basket. Joel was going through those
baskets and pulling out expired licenses

and then using equipment to make fake
IDs out of those.

He himself had multiple IDs, but also
the young women that he

had what they called sugar daddy
relationships with also had IDs that he

made for them. And what the purpose of
those were, I couldn't tell you.

And this isn't the only way Greenberg is
using his elected position for his own

benefit. Yesterday installed our first
Bitcoin ATM in our Castleberry office.

A quintessential millennial, Greenberg
is a cryptocurrency evangelist.

He was riding the Bitcoin train hard.

Invest in Bitcoin. We're going to start
taking Bitcoin for payments.

The guy's not stupid.

I mean, he sees this wave.

And he thinks, hey, we ought to be on
this. And I think he could have been

right.

But again, he gets his little pause in
it.

And the next thing you know, Joel's
making money.

Greenberg uses hundreds of thousands of
taxpayer dollars to make cryptocurrency

investments that benefit only one
Seminole County resident, Joel

None of that cryptocurrency profit was
ever returned to the tax collector's

office.

At some point, however, Greenberg says
he realizes he'll be in big trouble if

can't pay back $200 ,000 he's stolen to
buy cryptocurrency.

Joel became aware that investigators
were looking into him diverting tax

collector money for some of these
Bitcoin schemes.

He needed $200 ,000 and he went to a
family member who was not identified in

plea. And the family member gave him the
$200 ,000.

And what did Joel do? Joel spent it on
more Bitcoin.

And then when it became clear, oh yeah,
I really am in trouble with this, he

went back to the same relative and said,
I really need $200 ,000 this time. And

this time the relative gave it to him
again.

Coming up on American Greed.

Even after Joel Greenberg's many
misdeeds go public.

The tax collector just can't stop
breaking the law.

He is willing to go as far as to bribe
someone on the inside working for the

federal government.

Bill Greenberg's sex trafficking of a
minor and others and his Bitcoin schemes

may be obscure, for now.

But his odd behavior and wasteful
spending of taxpayer money are making

Three years after his election, Orlando
Sentinel columnist Lorne Enrichie

unveils $3 .5 million Greenberg has
spent handing out new jobs and contracts

to more than a dozen allies.

He was giving out contracts to friends,
to three

groomsmen in his wedding party, you
know,

people that he just ran around with.

An auditor hired by the county will
later determine that many of the

Greenberg hires are unnecessary.

And the contracts he gives out are
vague, excessive, or unneeded.

You can't just go around, you know,
spending money so that your friends have

contracts.

That's considered corrupt.

When Ritchie's column comes out,
Greenberg is facing re -election.

And more and more people begin to
realize he may not be suited for public

office.

Stuff he did and the stuff that appeared
in a column was so egregious and so

impossible to refute. It's all based on
records that I think

people started coming out of the
woodwork, like this fellow Brian Butte,

then became Joel's victim.

Brian Butte is a local school teacher in
Seminole County.

He files to run against Greenberg in
October 2019 and later explains the

decision this way.

I'm a teacher at a small school in a
small community who simply saw a need to

replace someone who was taking advantage
of regular citizens like me.

A few days after filing to run, the
school where Butte works receives

letters, purportedly from a very
concerned student.

They falsely claim that Butte has been
having sex with another male student and

local law enforcement officials come to
investigate.

They initially opened the investigation
into the teacher, right? This was a

serious allegation. But very quickly, I
mean, almost immediately, they realized,

no, this is an investigation into who
sent the letter. And what the police

eventually able to figure out is Joel
essentially licked the envelope. They

found his DNA on the letter.

Once they discovered it was Joel
Greenberg, they turned that over to the

because the feds at this point had
already been investigating Greenberg for

months for financial improprieties at
the tax collector's office involving his

cryptocurrency investments, involving
some of the other dealings there.

Though Greenberg is the one secretly sex
trafficking a minor, it's his decision

to falsely accuse his opponent of a sex
crime with a child that finally lands

the tax collector in legal jeopardy.

Anytime, you know, a local agency or a
state agency had looked into him, they'd

come away either concluding no crime had
been committed or there was no way to

prove one way or the other and they just
sort of like washed their hands of it.

And so it finally came down to the feds
to provide some accountability.

Once they get under the hood, it's just
like, wow, there's a lot here to look

at.

As they sort through it all, the feds
move quickly to arrest Greenberg,

him at first with the most obvious
crime, stalking his challenger, Brian

But there's much more to come.

Next, even after his indictment, the
revelations about Greenberg continue.

And so does his scheming. Which tells
you something about his judgment,

it? He doesn't have any.

Want more greed?

Follow us on Instagram, connect on
Facebook, and listen to the American

podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll be right back.

Following his arrest on stalking
charges, Joel Greenberg resigns from

finds himself in need of a job.

He's just gotten thrown out of a job
that pays him nice, hard, cold cash.

And he needs money. Because to Joel, I
mean, he wouldn't consider a lifestyle

change.

That's not part of who he is.

As Greenberg makes clear in this video
he posts online, he is all too familiar

with the once -in -a -lifetime pandemic
that unfolds alongside his scandal.

Hey, everybody.

Joel Greenberg here. I wanted to give
you an update. Today, May 28th, I tested

positive for COVID.

But where others see a life -changing
crisis, Greenberg sees a chance to cash

in.

There's a pandemic hitting the country.

And the federal government is trying to
help people across America who are being

devastated by the pandemic. The economy
has been turned upside down. They are

giving grants and loans and money to
individuals to help them get by.

As these programs ramp up, Greenberg
gets in on the action.

Well, he knew the feds were looking at
him. He got involved with a buddy and

a... federal government employee on a
plan to sort of bilk the Small Business

Administration out of COVID -19 relief
loans.

He had a couple of like essentially
defunct businesses.

And so Joel activated these businesses
and filled all these applications

claiming they'd been hurt by COVID and
they needed the money.

He just flat lied.

I mean, he said that these companies had
pretty extensive profits the previous

year. They hadn't even existed the
previous year.

The system is supposed to catch
misrepresentations, but the former tax

has a way of getting around these
safeguards.

He is willing to go as far as to bribe
someone on the inside working for the

federal government to help him do that.

According to his plea deal, Greenberg
receives a total of $432 ,000 from the

program. including one loan for $133
,000 that he executes the day after he's

arrested by the feds on the initial
stalking charges.

Which tells you something about his
judgment, doesn't it?

He doesn't have any.

Even though he knows he's under the
investigative microscope, Greenberg

about the scheme on his phone.

One of the most...

Sort of Joel -esque details of this
whole case was when he found out that

applications had been submitted, he
texted his buddy to say, how soon can I

it all on pussy?

There is a level of stupidity to the
criminality that made this case very

for the government, I think, once they
got started.

Up next on American Greed.

As the revelations mount, Greenberg
takes an early morning trip that will

him his freedom.

You have to go.

Can I get some creamer? Okay.

As Joel Greenberg's case drags on, the
federal government begins to pile on

and more charges.

They indict him for sex trafficking a
child, a litany of identity theft

wire fraud related to his use of office
money to buy cryptocurrency, money

laundering, stalking his challenger
Brian Butte, and conspiracy related to

COVID relief scheme.

Even people used to reporting on federal
crime say it's a staggering series of

charges.

Well, typically with one criminal
investigation, you have one crime that

looking at. In this case, you go in and
it's like a buffet of different

criminality. It's different things at
different stations.

seemingly similar in the fact that they
have disregard for the law, but all very

different in the areas that they're
trying to dip their hands into.

Following his initial arrest, Greenberg
remains out on bond and undeterred.

In late February 2021, he goes on an
early morning mission to find his wife

her parents' home in Jupiter, Florida,
two and a half hours away from his own

house in Seminole County.

Hello, what was the case of your
emergency?

Hi, so my daughter's husband is on house
arrest, but they live in Lake Mary.

But he just showed up here in Jupiter
looking for my daughter, who's not here.

And he's, like, crazy.

I'm not sure if he's on drugs. I have no
idea if he has a weapon.

Sorry, I just locked myself in the
bedroom.

Freaking out.

Okay, is there a protection order?

No, but he's on house arrest in
McMurray.

Do you know why?

Yeah, because he does bad things.

His name's Joel Greenberg.

Before long, local cops arrive on scene
where Greenberg is sipping on a cup of

coffee.

How did you end up in this house and
what were you doing inside?

These are my in -laws.

They can attest. And I came down to
visit.

You have to go. Can I get some creamer?
This is not up for discussion.

Okay.

The trip lands Greenberg in hot water.

Under the terms of his bond, he's not
supposed to leave the area where he

But that meant nothing to Greenberg.
Joel Greenberg has no regard for the

that he'll easily be caught, and the
government finds out about it.

A few days after his visit to Jupiter,
sheriff's deputies in Seminole County

come to Greenberg's home to arrest him.

In this American Greed exclusive, body
camera footage shows that Greenberg

going down easy.

Much

to the dismay

of deputies waiting to arrest him,
Greenberg remains inside for more than

hours.

And law enforcement officials try to
coax him out with flattery.

Eventually,

Greenberg agrees to surrender.

Following a bumpy ride to jail...

It's clear that Greenberg's case is
blown up in his face, and a judge orders

detained pending trial.

Then, less than a month after his
arrest, the sex trafficking allegations

involving him and others will blast into
the national spotlight.

We're learning some explosive new
details surrounding the Justice

investigation into Florida GOP
Congressman Matt Gaetz.

At the center of it all, allegations of
a pay -for -sex arrangement between

multiple women and Gates, as well as an
indicted Florida politician, according

to the New York Times.

We find out in the spring of 2021 that
Matt Gates is facing

significant scrutiny from a federal
investigation looking at his

with a minor.

And as we dig in and report on that, we
find this case.

We find that... Joel Greenberg has told
federal authorities about the fact that

he saw Matt Gaetz having sex with these
women, that Matt Gaetz gave him money

for the sex that Matt Gaetz was having
with the women, that Matt Gaetz knew why

the women were brought along.

Gaetz has denied that he has paid for
sex or that he has had a sexual

relationship with an underage girl.

I'm built for the battle, and I'm not
going anywhere.

Referring to teacher Brian Butte, Gates'
spokesman tells American Greed that

Greenberg has pleaded guilty to lying
about another man having sex with

That man was innocent, and so is
Representative Gates.

He also said that the allegations
against Gates were grounded in a failed

extortion attempt that has already led
to one indictment.

But in April 2021, Greenberg's attorney
makes it clear that he thinks the

congressman is not out of the woods yet.

I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very
comfortable today, all right?

Then in May, Greenberg pleads guilty to
wire fraud related to his cryptocurrency

scheme, various fake ID charges, taking
part in a COVID relief conspiracy,

stalking charges related to the smear of
his challenger, Brian Butte.

and sex trafficking a minor between the
ages of 14 and 17.

To understand his case is to understand,
like, 12 different tentacles of

criminality that are all different in
and of themselves.

Having admitted to multiple crimes,
prosecutors say Greenberg is facing at

12 years in prison, and he agrees to
cooperate with the government.

Joe lives for Joe.

And I think he'd rat his grandma if he
could get a lesser sense.