WASHINGTON — A former girlfriend of Consultant Matt Gaetz testified on Wednesday earlier than a federal grand jury in Orlando scrutinizing whether or not he broke intercourse trafficking legal guidelines, in response to two individuals briefed on the case.
The event means that the Justice Division might have secured a key witness in its inquiry, which is in search of to find out whether or not Mr. Gaetz supplied items or funds to a 17-year-old lady in alternate for intercourse. Mr. Gaetz, a Republican, has represented a district in western Florida since 2017.
The witness, who testified in Federal District Court docket, dated Mr. Gaetz for about two years, starting in 2017, and he or she remained in touch with him after their relationship ended, in response to an individual who knew the couple on the time.
NBC Information and CNN earlier reported that Mr. Gaetz’s former girlfriend was testifying earlier than a federal grand jury.
She met Mr. Gaetz by means of one among his former confidants, Joel Greenberg, who pleaded responsible final yr to a collection of prices — together with intercourse trafficking a minor — and is now cooperating within the investigation, the particular person stated.
Mr. Gaetz is accused of getting had intercourse with the identical minor, a 17-year-old, throughout the span of his relationship with the previous girlfriend. Mr. Greenberg has informed others that he and Mr. Gaetz had intercourse with the lady and that she had claimed to be over 18, however they later realized her age.
Investigators have requested Mr. Gaetz’s former girlfriend about any sexual relationship that the minor might have had with Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Gaetz, and whether or not the lady obtained cash or materials items like meals, medicine and resort rooms in alternate.
Mr. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing within the case, together with having intercourse with a minor and paying for intercourse. His lawyer Isabelle Kirshner stated in an announcement that his protection crew had “seen no credible foundation for a cost” in opposition to the lawmaker.
A number of individuals have informed investigators that Mr. Gaetz’s former girlfriend is one among a number of girls who met Mr. Greenberg by means of the web site SeekingArrangement, which describes itself as a spot the place rich individuals discover engaging companions and deal with them to presents and money.
Mr. Greenberg then launched these girls to Mr. Gaetz, who usually had sexual relationships with them, the witnesses have stated.
Investigators started in search of proof and testimony from Mr. Gaetz’s former girlfriend in late 2020, and the F.B.I. seized her cellphone on the finish of that yr, in response to two individuals conversant in the investigation.
Additionally they have requested her whether or not Mr. Gaetz sought to dissuade potential witnesses from cooperating with the investigation, in response to individuals conversant in the inquiry.
One of many difficulties of prosecuting Mr. Gaetz is the credibility of most of the key witnesses.
Mr. Greenberg, who may face a decade in jail, has agreed to cooperate with the federal government within the hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.
However protection attorneys may search to undermine Mr. Greenberg by citing his lengthy historical past of fraud and corruption to boost doubts about his reliability.
After repeated delays, Mr. Greenberg is now scheduled to be sentenced in March. In an indication of the complexity of the case, two high prosecutors from the Justice Division in Washington joined the investigation final yr — one with experience in baby exploitation and the opposite a high official within the public corruption unit.
Katie Benner reported from Washington, and Michael S. Schmidt from New York.