Former Florida “shock jock” Joseph Ellicot (known as “Big Joe”) pleaded guilty a couple of weeks ago in federal court. Who is Ellicott, and why does that sentence mean anything to anybody? Well, according to the Daily Beast, Ellicott was a close buddy to Joel Greenberg, the former Republican operative and best party buddy of Rep. Matt Gaetz. He worked for Greenberg at the Seminole County Tax Collector’s office.
In the last week of January, Ellicott pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as well as distribution of a controlled substance. Ellicott’s main function in the case is that he told investigators he had handled cash bribes for Greenberg, acting as a middleman for criminal corruption. He also said he illegally sold Adderall. But Ellicott reportedly has one small part to play in Gaetz’s life: He says he was in the room when Gaetz was informed that he had had sex with an underage girl.
In April of last year, the Daily Beast reported on a “confession letter” purportedly written by Greenberg to amazing dirtbag Roger Stone towards the end of Trump’s presidency. Greenberg was trying to find a way to get a pardon out of Trump. In that letter, he admitted to the underage sex charges and the money for sex stuff. “On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself. From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”
Ellicott reportedly sent a text to Greenberg raising red flags over how it isn’t a good thing to have sex with underage girls. He also reportedly mentioned that fact that the underage teenager had brought another underage teenager across state lines and that too, was no good.
Greenberg also made a claim in that letter that in September 2017, he placed a call to then-Congressman Gaetz to inform him that one of the teenagers both Greenberg and Gaetz had paid to have sex with was underage. Gaetz has obviously denied any and all knowledge of these allegations. But Ellicott says he can confirm that Greenberg made that call and said those things into the phone to Gaetz. Greenberg also wrote that both he and Gaetz were “equally shocked and disturbed by this revelation.” They reportedly kept out of contact with the underage girl they had had sex with until she turned 18. Classy stuff.
A month after The Daily Beast’s report, the same date appeared in another crucial document: Greenberg’s sworn plea agreement with the federal government. The agreement also provided what could prove to be a damning additional detail; it included not just the date, but a timestamp down to the minute of when Greenberg accessed the DMV database to look up the girl’s age—1:29 pm.
If Gaetz’s phone records line up with Greenberg’s recollection of events and Ellicott’s attestation to what was discussed on that phone call, it could mean a lot of bad stuff for Gaetz. For one it would mean that Gaetz, already a liar in general, had lied about knowing he had slept with an underage girl. It would mean that Gaetz knew for most of his tenure as a congressman that he had broken that law.
Gaetz’s best buddy Greenberg has already pleaded guilty to a variety of crimes including child sex trafficking. Ellicott first came to the public’s attention because his name was listed on a federal grand jury subpoena in the ongoing investigation. The news that Ellicott has more evidence to add to an investigation into Gaetz not simply being a dirtbag but a criminal dirtbag comes just a couple of weeks after reports that Gaetz’s former girlfriend had cut an immunity deal to testify in front of a federal grand jury. It comes after a year’s worth of consistent reports that investigators were building quite a case against the Florida man. It is arguably one of the main reasons Gaetz has reportedly had a harder time of late fundraising for his campaign.
Maybe these continued revelations are why Gaetz made one of his most recent public appearances a speech crusading for women’s rights in the workplace against sexual harassment.
