Florida Shock Jock in Matt Gaetz Circle Pleads Guilty

[brooklynite]

Source: Daily Beast

“Big Joe” Ellicott, a former Florida shock jock with potentially key information about the sex trafficking ring involving Rep. Matt Gaetz, has pleaded guilty in federal court, The Daily Beast has learned.

Ellicott is the long-time best friend of corrupt Florida tax official Joel Greenberg, who was Gaetz’s wingman in the underage sex operation, according to several sources with direct knowledge of their relationship. Last year, The Daily Beast revealed that Ellicott knew intimate details about the teenage girl who was paid for sex by the group—and actually texted what essentially amounted to a confession that they were scrambling to try and coverup details about their sex with a 17-year-old from the feds.

Ellicott was particularly legally exposed through his involvement with Greenberg, who ran the small Central Florida tax agency like a fiefdom where he hired his friends for no-show jobs. That appears to be what took Ellicott down.

In court documents last week, Ellicott was accused of fraud for agreeing to “pay bribes and kickbacks” to a public official and a separate drug crime: illegally selling the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prescription medicine Adderall. On Jan. 18, Ellicott signed a plea agreement admitting to both crimes.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-shock-jock-joe-ellicott-in-matt-gaetz-circle-pleads-guilty

[Ziggysmom]

1. Repubes surround themselves with only the BEST people.

[PatSeg]

11. The party is looking like a huge crime syndicate

The overall dishonesty and corruption is extraordinary. Why work for a living when you can become a republican politican?

[evolves]

14. Because it IS

a huge crime syndicate. Agree that the corruption is unbelievable.

[PatSeg]

17. It used to be relatively subtle

but now it is so in-your-face all the time, just business as usual. The fact that so many people still vote for them in spite of it says a whole lot about a large percentage of Americans. I have no doubt that Trump really could have shot someone on Fifth Ave. and wouldn't lose any supporters. "Hey, the guy probably had it coming!"

[ificandream]

19. Yes, because it is .....

Emphasizing that comment.

[calimary]

20. No kidding!!!

[Grammy23]

2. Bit by bit things are moving along with the crimes committed by these lowlifes.

I’m sure Gaetz is probably feeling a little nervous about things as one by one his former pals are going down. It’s just a matter of time before his number is up. I’m sure a lot of his constituents here in NW Florida will be disappointed. But it’s way past time for the chickens to come home to roost for Matty. The chances he didn’t do all the sleazy, illegal things that he’s been said to have done is slim and none. Daddy might not be able to buy him out of this mess he created.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Lowlifes? These are pillars of the community.

Thank you all for caring enough to take them down, because that push would have never started from within the county.

[certainot]

18. lowlifes + rw radio equals pillars of the community

happened all over the country. that's how the meadows, gaetz, taylor greenes, gomerts, and trumps got elected

and now those radio assholes are going to scream and lie their asses off determining that all of biden's options for supreme court are lowlife liberals and criminals until manchin and sinema can push for a conservative.....

[DuaneT]

4. No, his daddy will try and maybe already succeeded in paying these guys off before hand.

At some point his daddy has to say enough is enough and you're on your own son. But the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. I suspect his daddy Don G. has done some pretty bad things here in Florida.

[GB_RN]

5. The Theme Song To TV Show, The Jeffersons Comes To Mind Right Now...

Because the lyrics start off ""Well, we're movin' on up..."

This is moving right on up, closer and closer to nailing the slime ball himself, Gaetz. 😁

[SoCalDavidS]

6. Been Hearing That Since Last April

I’ll believe it when I……Yada Yada yada

[gab13by13]

9. The big delay

was because Gaetz' buddy Greenberg asked for a delay in his sentencing to give more testimony. The only way Greenberg gets his sentence reduced is to give up bigger fish.

[SoCalDavidS]

12. We Have No Idea Whether Greenberg Said Shit

He may have simply been trying for a delay, there's no way of knowing whether he gave up anything, or if he's going to get a reduced sentence.

I'm STILL not holding my breath.

[L. Coyote]

15. Actually, the court filings contradict you.

He was cooperating fully and the needed more time before sentencing so his continuing cooperation wouldbe considered. The continuance was granted because he is providing evidence. What is of concern to prosecution is obtaining collaborating testimony and evidence because greenbery is an easily defamed witness lacking sufficient credibility for his testimony to stand alone.

[Mr. Ected]

7. First the wingman, then the girlfriend and now the wingman's buddy

What the fuck is a wingman? His pimp?

Gaetz is going down. Hard. I wonder if he's reached out to his good friend DJT to figure out a way to weasel out of it. LOL. Won't help.

[FakeNoose]

16. In this case the wingman is the guy who paid the under-age girl

Joel Greenberg paid her using his own credit card, so that it wouldn't show up anywhere in Matt Gaetz's receipts. That way, Gaetz had plausible deniability. Except it all fizzled when Gaetz' former girlfriend squealed, and wingman Joel turned state's evidence. We didn't know about this other guy, he must have been there too. Or at least he was tweeting about it.

[TeamProg]

8. More context below:

“This investigation had nothing to do with the sex scandal, but with the unprecedented things Greenberg was doing with the tax office. The big difference is that Joel Greenberg was elected to serve the people, and Joe was not. And the fact that this was done by criminal information not an indictment is pretty telling of how the prosecutors view him in this case,” Zwick said, pointing out that Ellicott was not arrested. “Obviously they value his continued cooperation, as he does as well. We are going to set off sentencing as long as we can, and do everything we can to reduce his time.”

Zwick said a plea hearing had been set for February.

Ellicott’s plea agreement requires him to cooperate with the government in other prosecutions, including possibly testimony before the grand jury and in court. In exchange, Ellicott will not be formally charged by the grand jury, and has a shot at significantly reducing his sentence. He will also enjoy immunity from “any other federal offenses known to the U.S. Attorney’s Office” relating to the two crimes.

That immunity could be sweeping.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida, which is working on the Ellicott case and other potential crimes related to Greenberg’s conduct in the tax office, declined to comment about his role as a potential witness in the sex crimes investigation on Wednesday morning.

Although a federal grand jury is underway in Orlando—hearing testimony from witnesses, including Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend—the case is being run by two seasoned prosecutors from the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. One is Todd Gee, the deputy chief of the DOJ’s public integrity section. The other is Lauren Britsch, who investigated sex crimes but has since moved over to the team that investigates corruption by government officials.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

10. Very key, yes. Thank you. He texted details of the coverup??...Twitter is good for something.

[CaptainTruth]

13. Gaetz is such an arrogant ass, I want to see him go down hard.

[FoxNewsSucks]

21. I want to see this

[cinematicdiversions]

22. Florida Shock Jocks honestly should be their own semester in law school. NT