How a Roger Stone Acolyte and a 'Tiger King Tax Collector' Spawned the Matt Gaetz Scandal

[Nevilledog]

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Sarah Rumpf
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It's Even Weirder Than You Thought: How a Roger Stone Acolyte and a 'Tiger King Tax Collector' Spawned the Matt Gaetz Scandal https://mediaite.com/politics/its-even-weirder-than-you-thought-how-a-roger-stone-acolyte-and-a-tiger-king-tax-collector-spawned-the-matt-gaetz-scandal/… via @mediaite
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https://www.mediaite.com/politics/its-even-weirder-than-you-thought-how-a-roger-stone-acolyte-and-a-tiger-king-tax-collector-spawned-the-matt-gaetz-scandal/


This is what happens when you give Florida Man internet access.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has long had a special skill for getting his name in headlines, but he must be wishing he could have been left out of recent stories about his friend, former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, being indicted for a laundry list of federal charges, including underage sex trafficking.

In the perennially weird state of Florida, there’s often more to a story, and this one is no exception. Mediaite has obtained new information explaining how this scandal originally unfolded — and how it ties in to a Central Florida blogger and several other notable Sunshine State politicos.

Greenberg is currently in jail, facing 33 counts in a federal indictment that’s been amended four times so far. The charges against him have potential sentences that would keep him behind bars until he is a very old man. He is reportedly cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence — a move which many observers are interpreting as highly dangerous for Gaetz and others in Greenberg’s inner circle. Multiple media outlets have reported that Greenberg has been talking with federal investigators since last year, and the U.S. Marshals moved him out of the Seminole County jail and into their custody in March shortly after he was re-arrested for violating the curfew rules of his pre-trial release, lending further credence to the theory he is working with the feds.

From reform candidate to rule-breaking elected official

Here’s how this mess all started: Joel Greenberg made his first foray into elected office in 2016 as a self-funded candidate, defeating the incumbent tax collector in Seminole County, located northeast of Orlando. His father, Andrew Greenberg, founded the Greenberg Dental chain in the 1980s; the company now has nearly 100 locations across Florida and has made the family independently wealthy.

*snip*

[empedocles]

1. Lot of info in the cite. Can start to see 33 counts worth

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[BoringUsername]

3. Florida man is such a trouble maker. n/t

[stillcool]

4. reads like it came out of

a Carl Hiaasen novel.

[magicarpet]

5. Oh please,... suck Roger Stone into the vortex of this illegality and criminality.

[crickets]

6. Wow, you know you've messed up when

Pam Bondi is criticizing the way you do business. Also, petty revenge games have a way of rebounding on you, don't they, Joel? Oopsies. And one more thing, be careful the company you keep. Little chance perhaps, but it would be so sweet if Greenberg ended up taking down Roger Stone with him. Ha!