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Florida Republicans Demand Election 'Audit', Despite Trump Win

Florida Republicans Demand Election 'Audit', Despite Trump Win

ORLANDO, Fla., — Lake County Republicans are the latest GOP group to echo former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud by demanding a statewide forensic audit of Florida, a state Trump won by almost 372,000 votes. In a letter and two resolutions unanimously approved last week and sent to Florida GOP leaders, the Lake County Republican Executive Committee claimed “a majority of citizens doubt that the November 3, 2020, election was conducted openly and fairly” and “doubt the number of legal votes cast for each candidate equals the reported and certified results, in Lake County...

Gaetz Crony Greenberg Asks To Delay Sentencing While He Aids Prosecutors

Gaetz Crony Greenberg Asks To Delay Sentencing While He Aids Prosecutors

ORLANDO, Fla. — Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg has asked a judge to delay his sentencing on six federal charges, citing his ongoing cooperation with authorities as part of a plea deal he struck in May. Greenberg's sentencing is currently slated for Aug. 19. But in a motion filed Tuesday, his attorney, Fritz Scheller, asked to delay the hearing for 90 days. Scheller said his client, a close associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), has been cooperating with the government on an ongoing basis, having already participated in “a series of" interviews, known as proffers, with federal authorities. “Said cooperation, which could ...

Gaetz Crony Kept Committing Crimes Well After He Learned Feds Were Investigating Him

Gaetz Crony Kept Committing Crimes Well After He Learned Feds Were Investigating Him

ORLANDO, Fla. — On an April morning in 2019, federal agents walked into the Tax Collector’s Office in Lake Mary and handed an employee a grand jury subpoena that revealed for the first time that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating whether Joel Greenberg had used public money to benefit himself. That initial request for records related to Greenberg’s spending and investments was revealed in a plea agreement Greenberg struck with prosecutors which resulted in him pleading guilty to six federal crimes this week and agreeing to cooperate against other potential targets. The deal showe...

Ex-Lawmaker: Gaetz Opposed ‘Revenge Porn’ Restrictions In Florida

Ex-Lawmaker: Gaetz Opposed ‘Revenge Porn’ Restrictions In Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — While serving in the Florida Legislature, Rep. Matt Gaetz opposed a bill meant to stop people from sharing sexually explicit images of their ex-lovers because Gaetz believed that recipients of those images had a right to share them, according to the sponsor of the legislation. Former state Rep. Tom Goodson, a Republican from Brevard County, spent three years sponsoring legislation to outlaw nonconsensual pornography — sometimes called “revenge porn." And Goodson said Monday that Gaetz was the chief opponent to that legislation. Goodson said he remembered a meeting in which...

Indictment: Gaetz Pal Greenberg Misused County Funds For Cryptocurrency, Sports Memorabilia

Indictment: Gaetz Pal Greenberg Misused County Funds For Cryptocurrency, Sports Memorabilia

ORLANDO, Fla. — Just five days after he appeared in shackles in a federal courtroom, accused by prosecutors of stalking a political opponent, former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg filed paperwork with the state of Florida to resurrect a pair of defunct companies, Greenberg Media and DG3 Network. He would later use those businesses to obtain more than $432,000 in fraudulent loans through a program meant to help small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic — with the help of a federal employee whom he had bribed, prosecutors now allege. Those and other new allegations were detail...