Political Sex and Corruption Scandals

[LFC]

Gaetz just got some less than fun news. Thoughts and prayers, motherf***er.

In a glimpse of the screws tightening around Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a federal judge in Florida on Thursday scheduled a hearing for a longtime Gaetz associate to change his previous not guilty plea in a sex trafficking case.

The move suggests that Greenberg will likely plead guilty in the case, where federal prosecutors have said that he committed a range of crimes that include stalking a political opponent, making fake IDs, and sex trafficking.

After a hearing last month in which both Greenberg’s attorney and prosecutors said that the former Seminole County tax collector was likely to plead guilty, Greenberg attorney Fritz Scheller told reporters that “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.”

The court order in Orlando set the change of plea hearing for Monday. The judge added that “any representations or promises made to the Defendant” need to be laid out in a document filed before the Monday hearing.

The scope of any potential plea deal and cooperation agreement remain unknown publicly.

Greenberg has reportedly been speaking with prosecutors since last year about Gaetz. The Florida congressman is reportedly under investigation for his relationship with a 17-year-old girl, who he allegedly moved across state lines while in a sexual relationship.

[goldenvalley]

May 13, 2021 21:00:58 GMT LFC said:

Gaetz just got some less than fun news. Thoughts and prayers, motherf***er.

In a glimpse of the screws tightening around Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a federal judge in Florida on Thursday scheduled a hearing for a longtime Gaetz associate to change his previous not guilty plea in a sex trafficking case.

The move suggests that Greenberg will likely plead guilty in the case, where federal prosecutors have said that he committed a range of crimes that include stalking a political opponent, making fake IDs, and sex trafficking.

After a hearing last month in which both Greenberg’s attorney and prosecutors said that the former Seminole County tax collector was likely to plead guilty, Greenberg attorney Fritz Scheller told reporters that “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.”

The court order in Orlando set the change of plea hearing for Monday. The judge added that “any representations or promises made to the Defendant” need to be laid out in a document filed before the Monday hearing.

The scope of any potential plea deal and cooperation agreement remain unknown publicly.

Greenberg has reportedly been speaking with prosecutors since last year about Gaetz. The Florida congressman is reportedly under investigation for his relationship with a 17-year-old girl, who he allegedly moved across state lines while in a sexual relationship.

I can hear Gaetz now...the Deep State, anti Trumpers got to Greenberg, convincing him to lie about Gaetz in return for a good plea deal. Plus those b*%^s lied about their ages to entrap him.  How can anyone really tell the difference between a 17 year old and an 18 year old anyway?

[LFC]

Gaetz's buddy and procurer pleaded guilty.

Former Florida county tax collector Joel Greenberg, Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) indicted associate, will plead guilty to six felony counts including sex trafficking when he changes his plea at his hearing on Monday, according to Business Insider.

The other counts Greenberg is expected to plead guilty to also reportedly include identify theft and wire fraud.

The Justice Department had hit the former official with 33 criminal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor between 14 and 17 years old, bribery, and theft of government property.

[LFC]

Greenberg didn't just plead guilty, he pleaded HELLA-guilty including to charges of conspiracy. As this piece notes if you have a conspiracy then there are likely co-conspirators.

Speaking on MSNBC this Monday regarding the recent news that Joel Greenberg, a close confidant of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, has pled guilty to six federal charges, ex-federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said the 86-page plea agreement given to Greenberg was something he hasn't seen in his career as a prosecutor.

According to Kirschner, a majority of the plea agreement contains "hard corroboration" of the crimes "of not only Joel Greenberg but the crimes of others," adding that the prosecution has laid out "some really troubling crimes."

In a court hearing Monday, Greenberg admitted to a federal judge that he had knowingly solicited and paid a minor for sex.

"I think one of the most ominous features of this plea agreement ... is the last of the six charges Joel Greenberg just pleaded to is a charge for a conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States," Kirschner said. "What does that tell us? Well, of necessity, a conspiracy means you have co-conspirators, because that is a requirement under the law of conspiracy that you agreed with one or more persons to commit crimes against the United States and you took one step towards the commission of those crimes, what we call an 'overt act.'"

"So, we already know by virtue of this plea, there are co-conspirators who are likely to be indicted and held accountable, we just don't quite know who they are," he continued.

Greenberg's attorney had this to say.

An attorney for Joel Greenberg on Monday said that his client's sex trafficking case would be "must-see television" when he was asked about a possible connection to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

I think Matt Gaetz may have just soiled his britches rather badly.

[LFC]

Gaetz's staff is distancing themselves from him. Way to make yourself toxic, Matt.

Scandal-plagued Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has become so toxic that his former staffers are dropping their links to him from their professional biographies.

At least 25 of the Florida Republican's former congressional staffers do not mention Gaetz's name on their LinkedIn pages, according to an analysis by Insider.
"In a town where people spend all day and all night long bragging about the fact that they work on Capitol Hill, this is really weird," said longtime Democratic Senate aide Jim Manley.

A former GOP congressional aide said Gaetz staffers were wise to drop their links to the lawmaker, who is the subject of a federal sex-trafficking investigation and an ethics probe.

"There is literally no upside to putting Gaetz on your résumé," the former GOP staffer said. "You wouldn't want to say, 'Hey future employer, I worked for a guy who was a potential sex trafficker. It's very savvy to leave that name off."

[RichTBikkies]

Apr 4, 2021 13:38:22 GMT LFC said:

Campaign funds may have been used to pay for sex.

Federal investigators who are probing allegations that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) made payments to multiple women who were recruited online for sex have also looked into whether any federal campaign money was involved in paying for travel and expenses for the women, CNN reported late Thursday.

The development comes after a separate revelation that investigators have focused on payments Gaetz made using the Cash App and Apple Pay in his encounters with the women. The women told friends that the payments were for sex. Sometimes, they said they were paid in cash from ATMs located in Florida hotels.

Not very bright, is he? Why not pay cash? He must have read crime novels or watched TV thrillers; paying cash is a well-known precaution used by bad guys.

[andydp]

Jun 17, 2021 6:07:19 GMT RichTBikkies said:

Apr 4, 2021 13:38:22 GMT LFC said:

Campaign funds may have been used to pay for sex.

Not very bright, is he? Why not pay cash? He must have read crime novels or watched TV thrillers; paying cash is a well-known precaution used by bad guys.

Most Floridians know his dad got him out of tough scrapes before.  I guess he thinks this will be the next one dad gets him out of.  

Based on the way some of these idiots operate, they wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in North Jersey (Northern NJ).

[Bact PhD]

Jun 17, 2021 14:21:35 GMT andydp said:

Most Floridians know his dad got him out of tough scrapes before.  I guess he thinks this will be the next one dad gets him out of.  

Based on the way some of these idiots operate, they wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in North Jersey (Northern NJ).

It is referred to as “Flori-DUH” for a reason…

[LFC]

The Bill Cosby case didn't seem particularly political. It turns out it was all along and Cosby is now a free man because of a maneuver by power hungry former DA Bruce Castor. F***.

It started with a press release.

On Feb. 17, 2005, I was sitting at my desk at the Philadelphia Daily News wrapping up my work for the day when I got a fax from the office of Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.

It was no ordinary press blast. Instead, Castor was announcing that he would not be prosecuting Bill Cosby for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand.

The fax was timestamped 5:45 p.m.—I still have it—and it was shocking for a number of reasons.

Nearly a dozen other women had come forward already—the number would swell in the years to come—saying Cosby had done the same or similar things to them, which briefly led Constand’s attorneys to hope Castor was going to actually prosecute the disgraced comedian after all.

Not only that, Castor wrote it himself and faxed it to the press himself—a first the technically-challenged DA later testified about in a court of law. Constand and her attorneys say he never even bothered to let them know of his decision beforehand.

It also came as a shock to his own detectives, who just that morning had come up with a list of follow-up interviews they wanted to do on the case.

But in no way, shape, or form was there any inkling this was anything but a press release. Because, why would it be anything other than what it clearly was?

That would come later, when Castor argued it was also a promise not to prosecute the since-disgraced comedian in exchange for his testimony in a civil case. The bizarro move was quintessential Bruce Castor, and it helped make Bill Cosby a free man on Wednesday.

[jackd]

Not sure why you're calling it political. Stupid or ignorant seem better labels to me. Is there some evidence that the fix was in?

[LFC]

Jul 1, 2021 18:48:47 GMT jackd said:

Not sure why you're calling it political. Stupid or ignorant seem better labels to me. Is there some evidence that the fix was in?

To me it read like Castor avoided virtually every proper legal requirement of an immunity deal while promising one in order to avoid prosecuting somebody who, at the time, was a rather beloved figure. That makes for bad personal politics.

[jackd]

Could be right.

[LFC]

Jul 1, 2021 18:59:35 GMT jackd said:

Could be right.

[Deleted]

Dude got totally lost in the shuffle as he lost his perspective after the 9/11 terror attacks. Anyone knows what he might be up to lately?

[LFC]

Jul 1, 2021 19:48:38 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Dude got totally lost in the shuffle as he lost his perspective after the 9/11 terror attacks. Anyone knows what he might be up to lately?

Not at all. We used to really like him. Then my wife and I watched one of his standups during the Bush years. He had become a total right-winger right down to the complete loss of his sense of humor. We made it through maybe 20 minutes of what amounted to a stream of angry attacks and defenses. Not an actual joke to be found, just bitter diatribes delivered as if they were jokes.

[Deleted]

Yeah I remember his Bush era routines. Totally mirthless. Bitter diatribes is the apt description. He lost his spark. Sounded then like he was struggling with demons in his own mind. Still wringing out a living with the same schtick, I see.

[Bact PhD]

The Epilogue to an old story:
The FBI field office that conducted the original investigation into Nassar screwed up royally, lying to cover their tracks:

The FBI failed to properly investigate sex-abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, the former doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, according to a scathing report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, who also determined that FBI officials gave misleading or false answers when confronted about those failures.


Despite “the extraordinarily serious nature of the allegations and the possibility that Nassar’s conduct could be continuing, senior officials in the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies,” concludes the report issued Wednesday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz.


The report says that when confronted with the shortcomings in their handling of the case, such as failure to interview alleged victims, FBI officials in Indianapolis sought to blame others.

(I know, it shouldn’t be surprising)

www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/fbi-nassar-investigation-failures/2021/07/14/ebc37274-e4c4-11eb-8aa5-5662858b696e_story.html

[LFC]

Matt Gaetz appears to be getting fleeced. Matt seems to know what he wants and and he "deserves to get it good and hard."

With the possibility of sex trafficking charges still hanging over him, Rep. Matt Gaetz’s latest campaign finance report shows a spate of new legal spending, a massive public relations blitz, and continued payments to one conspicuous MAGA icon: Roger Stone.

Nearly half the embattled congressman’s $1.95 million in expenses—a little over $825,000—went to public affairs firm Logan Circle Group, which has handled Gaetz’s media strategy since The New York Times first reported in March that he was the focus of an investigation over federal sex crimes. Some of the payments were for “strategic campaign consulting,” while others were for “advertising.”

But perhaps the most notable strategist Gaetz paid is one who had contact with Gaetz wingman Joel Greenberg as the former Seminole County tax collector sought a presidential pardon.

Roger Stone—the longtime Trump operator who received a pardon himself for charges that he lied to Congress, obstructed justice, and attempted witness tampering—received $15,000 in three installments for “strategic campaign consulting.” Two of the payments, which went to Stone’s business Drake Ventures, came after the Justice Department sued Stone and his company for $2 million in unpaid taxes.

A few days before The New York Times broke news of the investigation into Gaetz, the Florida congressman paid Stone $5,000 for “strategic consulting.” And according to the new filing, Gaetz paid Stone another $5,000 three days after the news broke. The report discloses a second fee in late April after a series of reports about Gaetz’s connections to people involved in the alleged sex ring, including Venmo payments to his former wingman-turned-convicted sex trafficker.

The third payment to Stone, on May 26, came on the heels of Greenberg’s cooperation deal.

[LFC]

More Republican grift and lies to cover it up.

A Republican senator faces serious allegations that he illegally loaned his campaign millions of dollars from his company. But the senator in question—Republican Mike Braun of Indiana—says he can’t fully answer the government’s questions because one of his key staffers “vanished.”

The Daily Beast found him within minutes.

On Wednesday morning, the Federal Election Commission released its audit of Braun’s campaign committee, alleging a litany of serious financial reporting errors, as well as millions of dollars in allegedly improper loans Braun used to finance his 2018 bid—including $1.5 million routed from the candidate’s former company.

However, the campaign claims it cannot fully comply because its former treasurer “vanished,” and they have not been able to locate him in three years.

But the campaign must not be looking very hard. It only took The Daily Beast minutes to identify and locate the man. His mother said in a phone call that she would pass along a request for comment.

The campaign’s Oct. 4 response to the audit explains that the treasurer in question, Travis Kabrick, “was, at least ostensibly, an experienced FEC compliance professional who had worked for many federal candidate committees over many years.”

However, the response adds that “at some point during the 2018 election cycle this individual began making mistakes and failing to perform his services as warranted (and for which he was being paid). He ultimately vanished, and he has not been able to be located since the end of 2018.”

In a hearing with FEC commissioners on Wednesday afternoon, Chris Gober, a lawyer for the campaign, confirmed that the campaign had still not reached Kabrick, who, Gober said, “effectively just up and left and disappeared on the committee.”

And Kabrick, Gober argued, is critical. Without his cooperation, Gober said, “we haven’t been able to obtain all the documents truly needed to address all findings.” He added that the “inability to make contact or get a response” was in fact so extreme that the campaign asked the FEC to subpoena Kabrick, though it is not clear when the request was made, or whether the agency has taken action.

An hour before the hearing, The Daily Beast had confirmed Kabrick’s current job in a phone call with his employer, as well as his location, contact information, and three social media accounts. (Twitter has suspended an account connected to the personal Gmail address Kabrick listed on campaign registration documents, but a company spokesperson did not say when or why the account was restricted.)

Going by the audit’s findings, Kabrick appears to have good reason to keep a low profile. But his absence alone would not seem to cover all of the allegations, which include allegedly illegal loans from Braun’s former company.

[LFC]

The prosecutors keep getting closer to Matt Gaetz.

Witness Can Reportedly Confirm Gaetz Was Told He’d Had Sex With Minor

“Big Joe” Ellicott — the ex-Florida shock jockey who has pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme allegedly involving ex-Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg — was in the room when Greenberg called Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to tell him the congressman had had sex with a 17-year-old, the Daily Beast reports.

• Ellicott is close friends with Greenberg, who has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking involving the same 17-year-old. Greenberg claimed in a confession letter to Trump ally Roger Stone that he and Gaetz had believed the teen was 19-years-old when they slept with her.

• Ellicott has been talking to federal investigators about the trafficking and sexual contact with a minor allegations against Gaetz, according to Ellicott’s lawyer, who told CNN that his client “was able to shed light on all of those issues.”

[LFC]

Ken Paxton, Texass's corrupt attorney general, is desperate to cover up his corruption.

Technical Difficulties

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) reelection campaign missed the Jan. 18 deadline for candidates statewide to publicly disclose all their donors in the second half of 2021 — and his team still hasn’t done so, the Dallas Morning News reports.

• Paxton’s report only laid out ​​$652,000 of the $2.77 million he raised in total. The rest is all unaccounted for.

• The money Paxton raked in at a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in December isn’t detailed either.

• The attorney general’s campaign blamed the holdup on tech issues. It promised to give a full report once the problem gets fixed, whenever that is.

• Paxton has been under federal investigation since last year over corruption allegations involving a wealthy donor.

"Technical issues", the new version of "the dog ate my homework."

[LFC]

The We Build the Wall chumps who didn't receive a Trump get out of jail free card just plead guilty. Meanwhile Steve Bannon must be laughing his ass off at these suckers.

Steve Bannon is a free man today thanks to Donald Trump’s pardon of the far-right power player in the last minutes of his presidency. Others involved in the same scheme as Bannon weren’t so lucky: Two of them pleaded guilty Wednesday to defrauding donors to the $25 million GoFundMe border wall project known as “We Build The Wall.”

Brian Kolfage, who led the project, and another man charged in the fraud, Andrew Badolato, pleaded guilty to their roles in “defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors” in the wall-building scheme, the Justice Department said in a press release.

In short: Though Kolfage repeatedly promised donors that their money was going to the construction of segments of privately built border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, he, Bannon and others secretly siphoned off more than $1 million for themselves.

Kolfage pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as did Badolato, and Kolfage additionally pleaded guilty to tax and wire fraud charges that originated in the Northern District of Florida. Badolato and Bannon’s relationship goes back 20 years, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported last year.

Bannon, who faced charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering before Trump pardoned him, was deeply involved in the scheme, serving as a public spokesperson and booster and adding his hefty reputation in Trumpworld to We Build The Wall’s star-studded roster of supporters.

[LFC]

Brain Kolfage, who ran the "We Build the Wall" scam, is facing 5 years in prison. Worse than just stealing money he and the rest of the corruption crew, like Steve "Pardon Me!" Bannon, built some shit that is expected to just fall down.

Brian Kolfage arrived in Texas three years ago pledging to help fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise of a “big, beautiful” wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. After pleading guilty to federal fraud charges last month, Kolfage leaves behind two small stretches of fencing that are mired in legal, environmental and permitting fights.

Kolfage, a 40-year-old Air Force veteran, faces more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the wall effort. Despite the resolution of the criminal case, Kolfage and his We Build the Wall group still face a defamation suit brought by the National Butterfly Center, a nonprofit nature preserve in the Rio Grande Valley that he accused of promoting sex and human trafficking without evidence. In addition, the federal government has filed suit regarding one of his wall projects, alleging it was built in potential violation of an international treaty between the U.S. and Mexico.

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported in 2020 on severe erosion at the base of the 3-mile fence outside of Mission, Texas — the subject of a federal lawsuit — that experts said could result in the structure toppling into the Rio Grande if not fixed. The outlets also reported on Kolfage’s long history of online harassment and intimidation, which escalated with his border wall projects.

Controversy continues to surround the two physical legacies of Kolfage’s We Build the Wall effort: the bollard fence on the shore of the Rio Grande and a half-mile stretch of fence outside of El Paso.

The federal government has confirmed in court filings that the Rio Grande barrier remains at risk of falling and that it could potentially shift the international boundary. Government lawyers are negotiating a settlement in a lawsuit filed against the project. Based on court hearings, it could require wall builders to modify the barriers, such as adding gates to help prevent flooding, but appears unlikely to result in the removal of the fence that opponents seek.

An attorney for the construction company, Fisher Industries, denied the government’s allegations in his response to the complaint, according to court documents, and did not respond to a request for comment.

Separately, three years after construction of the fence outside of El Paso, Kolfage’s group has failed to fulfill federal requirements, including providing an operation and maintenance plan and evidence of financial responsibility for damage or injuries that can be caused by the structure.

[andydp]

Other articles say more info is due out later today (Jul 11)


Chairman Of Oklahoma College Republicans Arrested, Accused Of Lewd Acts

The Oklahoma GOP is speaking out after the chairman of Oklahoma College Republicans was arrested for lewd acts and forced oral sodomy.

Jonathan Hernandez is accused of sexually assaulting a then-14-year-old in an Oklahoma Christian dorm room.

The state's Republican Party said Saturday that they "condemn all instances of sexual assault in the strongest possible terms."

"We did not have any prior knowledge of investigations into Mr. Hernandez and will let the judicial process play out," the Oklahoma GOP also said in its statement.


www.news9.com/story/62ca1ab315d1ca072aa9a466/chairman-of-oklahoma-college-republicans-arrested-accused-of-lewd-acts

[LFC]

Just another corruption scandal that nobody pays attention to anymore. Thanks for this, John Roberts. You may not have built this but you justified and legalized it.

Celebrity doctor and Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz has plenty of personal wealth to help fund his upstart campaign. And while the TV doctor might be a political neophyte, his fundraising operation has incorporated a sophisticated technique—what one expert described as “legalized money laundering.”

Like so many aspects of today’s campaign finance system, it traces back a decade—to the Supreme Court’s watershed Citizens United decision.

The Oz setup involves a somewhat confusing super PAC, which has a “dark money” nonprofit twin. The super PAC has raised more than $4 million, including a donation from the nonprofit.

That pairing was made possible thanks to Citizens United, which gave rise to super PACs—political committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money.

Brett Kappel, campaign finance specialist at Harmon Curran, explained the arrangement.

“The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowed corporations, including nonprofit organizations, to make unlimited contributions to Super PACs, which then could spend those funds on independent expenditures supporting or opposing candidates,” Kappel said.

But where super PACs have to disclose their donor information, nonprofit organizations don’t. That gives donors a layer of anonymity—instead of giving to the super PAC, give to a nonprofit that gives to the super PAC. The nickname “dark money” is a pejorative reference to that anonymity.

“Citizens United essentially created a system of legalized money laundering, which allows wealthy donors to funnel unlimited amounts of money through nonprofit organizations to Super PACs to support candidates of their choosing without ever having to reveal their identities,” Kappel said.

The super PAC backing Oz is called American Leadership Action. Its dark money twin is called American Leadership Policy.

According to federal election reports, the American Leadership Action super PAC has raised more than $4 million and spent nearly $3.5 million supporting Oz through the primary, which he won last month after a recount.

The group has reported two donations from limited liability corporations. But it also received a $66,000 contribution from the nonprofit twin.

Those names aren’t a coincidence; it’s a team effort.

So where is Oz's money coming from?

Oz can’t coordinate with the super PAC on fundraising. But his in-laws are its top donors.

The distaff branch of the Oz household has ties to two wealthy and influential mid-Atlantic families: The Asplundhs and the DuPonts, both of whom have given to the super PAC.

The Ozes have stakes in the multibillion-dollar Asplundh Tree Experts, holding between $11.55 million and $52.1 million, according to Oz’s candidate disclosures—between 10 to 50 percent of Oz’s total net worth. (The forms only provide dollar amounts in wide ranges.)

And the biggest super PAC donor is Oz’s father-in-law, Dr. Gerald LeMole, who has already donated more than $1.5 million, according to campaign filings.

Oz also registered his campaign at Dr. LeMole’s strip mall office address. And in 2020 he and his wife took out an eight-year, eleven-month mortgage for between $1 million and $5 million to purchase a house from his in-laws, along with a promissory note of up to $250,000. He lists that home on his voter registration.

The sister of Oz’s wife, Lisa Oz, married into the DuPont dynasty. Benjamin DuPont has so far given $70,000 to the Oz super PAC.

But we’ll likely never know whether those two wealthy East Coast families are also fueling funding the super PAC’s nonprofit twin. The group does not have to disclose its donors.