Matt Gaetz’s former crony, and now flipped witness, Joel Greenberg is requesting yet another extension to his sentencing for sex trafficking, and other crimes, that he has already pled guilty to. With the concurrence of prosecutors he has received multiple deferrals in his sentencing. This is to allow the full value of his cooperation with prosecutors to unfold so the court may consider the value of that cooperation in the sentencing. Once again prosecutors have advised the court that they do not oppose the extension, indicating their belief the value of Greenberg’s cooperation will be high, very high.
It should be noted that these request for delays in sentencing are not to keep Greenberg out of jail. He is in jail pending sentencing. The sole reason his attorneys are asking for this is really to just gain the benefit of the value of his cooperation when he is sentenced.
Another big note, something different this time. Greenberg’s attorneys request that their brief in support of extending the sentencing deadline be filed under seal. Thus, the length of the deferral and the specific reasons for it will not be known. There’s a reason for that.
Having received multiple extensions already the court will not be satisfied without a more detailed explanation for this one. For the last extension the government stated that “Mr. Greenberg’s cooperation involves sensitive matters.” That likely will not be good enough this time around. More specifics of those “sensitive matters” will likely have to be provided, and could compromise the continued investigations if public.
The prosecutors also told the court in the last extension that Greenberg’s cooperation had taken them in directions they did not expect. Isn’t that interesting when combined with all this?
Prosecutors also at that time (back in October) told the court the deferral requested then to mid-March would be sufficient. Obviously they were wrong about that and the trails Greenberg sent them down continue to surprise prosecutors as they branch and widen.
All of this combines with the news a few weeks ago that Matt Gaetz’s former girlfriend is cooperating and testified to the grand jury under an immunity deal. Also just over a week ago Greenberg associate Joe Ellicott pled guilty under a cooperation agreement and his attorney said he cooperated in confirming a call where Gaetz was informed he had sex with an underage woman.
The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they are grinding towards Matt Gaetz.
