Florida Shock Jock Joe Ellicott in Matt Gaetz Circle Pleads Guilty

“Massive Joe” Ellicott, a former Florida shock jock with doubtlessly key details about the intercourse trafficking ring involving Rep. Matt Gaetz, has pleaded responsible in federal court docket, The Each day Beast has realized.

Ellicott is the long-time greatest buddy of corrupt Florida tax official Joel Greenberg, who was Gaetz’s wingman within the underage intercourse operation, based on a number of sources with direct data of their relationship. Final 12 months, The Each day Beast revealed that Ellicott knew intimate particulars in regards to the teenage lady who was paid for intercourse by the group—and really texted what primarily amounted to a confession that they had been scrambling to attempt to coverup particulars about their intercourse with a 17-year-old from the feds.

Ellicott was notably legally uncovered by means of his involvement with Greenberg, who ran the small Central Florida tax company like a fiefdom the place he employed his associates for no-show jobs. That seems to be what took Ellicott down.

In court docket paperwork final week, Ellicott was accused of fraud for agreeing to “pay bribes and kickbacks” to a public official and a separate drug crime: illegally promoting the eye deficit hyperactivity dysfunction prescription drugs Adderall. On Jan. 18, Ellicott signed a plea settlement admitting to each crimes.

In line with prosecutors, Ellicott was the middleman within the kickback association, carrying a $6,000 money bribe from an unnamed tax workplace contractor to a Public Official—Greenberg. In trade for the bribe, Greenberg and the contractor labored out a deal the place the contractor inflated invoices for work with the tax workplace, pocketing the distinction.

Ellicott additionally copped to promoting a single unnamed shopper greater than $5,000 value of Adderall over the course of two years. The shopper made the funds to Ellicott’s firm, “Uncle Joe’s Cash,” and transferred cash by way of test and Venmo, based on the settlement. One $95 Venmo cost was disguised as “2 hour full physique therapeutic massage.”

Joe Zwick, an lawyer for Ellicott, informed The Each day Beast that his shopper has been cooperating within the intercourse trafficking case in opposition to Gaetz. That case is being dealt with by Justice Division prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and is separate from the native ongoing investigation into Greenberg and the tax workplace, which gave rise to the costs in Ellicott’s case.

“This investigation had nothing to do with the intercourse scandal, however with the unprecedented issues Greenberg was doing with the tax workplace. The massive distinction is that Joel Greenberg was elected to serve the individuals, and Joe was not. And the truth that this was achieved by legal data not an indictment is fairly telling of how the prosecutors view him on this case,” Zwick stated, stating that Ellicott was not arrested. “Clearly they worth his continued cooperation, as he does as effectively. We’re going to set off sentencing so long as we are able to, and do all the pieces we are able to to cut back his time.”

Zwick stated a plea listening to had been set for February.

Ellicott’s plea settlement requires him to cooperate with the federal government in different prosecutions, together with probably testimony earlier than the grand jury and in court docket. In trade, Ellicott is not going to be formally charged by the grand jury, and has a shot at considerably decreasing his sentence. He can even take pleasure in immunity from “every other federal offenses recognized to the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace” regarding the 2 crimes.

That immunity could possibly be sweeping.

The congressman’s workplace and the surface public relations agency he employed didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Nevertheless, Gaetz has repeatedly denied partaking in any intercourse crime—and dismissed this federal investigation as a political prosecution.

The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace within the Center District of Florida, which is engaged on the Ellicott case and different potential crimes associated to Greenberg’s conduct within the tax workplace, declined to remark about his position as a possible witness within the intercourse crimes investigation on Wednesday morning.

Though a federal grand jury is underway in Orlando—listening to testimony from witnesses, together with Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend—the case is being run by two seasoned prosecutors from the Justice Division’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. One is Todd Gee, the deputy chief of the DOJ’s public integrity part. The opposite is Lauren Britsch, who investigated intercourse crimes however has since moved over to the staff that investigates corruption by authorities officers.

Ellicott allegedly delivered the money bribe to Greenberg in late Sept. 2017—weeks after Greenberg realized the true age of the teenager on the middle of the intercourse trafficking investigation.

In line with the plea settlement Greenberg inked final Could, minutes after he found the lady was underage, Greenberg phoned Gaetz to warn him, inserting that decision at a particular time on a particular day. Requested in regards to the name, Ellicott’s lawyer identified that it was made within the tax workplace—the place Ellicott labored—and stated that his shopper “may need some details about that.”