On Monday there was a hearing to determine whether Gaetz crony, Joel Greenberg, should receive a rare second deferral in his sentencing. Greenberg received an exceptional plea agreement where all but three of 33 charges against him were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea on the remaining three and his complete, and "substantial," cooperation. One of the three charges for which he pled guilty was knowingly having sex with a minor where his confession states he personally saw "other adult men" (note the plural) have sex with this minor.
For many reasons it is widely believed one of those "other adult men" includes Republican Congressman of Florida, Matt Gaetz. However, based on what was said at this hearing, it may go well beyond that and Gaetz’s problems may be much broader than sex with an underage girl.
Prosecutor Roger Handberg spoke at the hearing supporting Greenberg's motion to delay his sentencing all the way into March. Handberg told the judge that Greenberg's cooperation had taken investigators "to some places we did not anticipate” adding that investigators "follow up on that to try to corroborate the information that’s been provided." Handberg described Greenberg as a "prolific criminal" but did so in the context of making clear that his information had been voluminous and surprising to investigators.
Handberg directly told the judge that “Mr. Greenberg was not alone.” A more clear indication that more indictments are coming is not possible.
Handberg acknowledged the second delay was unusual but advised the judge that investigators were in an “unusual situation given the number of different investigations and lines of investigation we are pursuing.” The good news for those frustrated by the delays is that Handberg also told the judge the delay to March should be sufficient. Telling the judge that there are a lot of "investigations and lines of investigations" certainly suggests that whatever comes from this could be wide ranging and involve more Florida politicians than Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz and Greenberg were once very tight, with Gaetz going so far as to describe Greenberg as his "wingman." Gaetz recently hired an expensive team of lawyers whose specialty areas focus on defending financial fraud, rather than sex crimes.
In that regards, the investigation is now being assisted by the Secret Service, and a member of the Secret Service was with prosecutors at the hearing on Monday. That's not all that surprising. While most people recognize the Secret Service only for its politician protection duties, an entire major arm of the Secret Service is dedicated to investigating financial, cyber and mail fraud.
Buckle up.