Joel Greenberg
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Joel Micah Greenberg (born 4 February 1984) is an American Republican politician and former tax collector for Seminole County. In 2020, Greenberg was indicted on 33 federal charges, including sex trafficking, stalking, cryptocurrency fraud, Small Business Association loan fraud and embezzlement. He pleaded guilty to six counts on 17 May 2021 and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment on 1 December 2022, after which he will be ordered to serve 10 years' probation and register as a sex offender.
Biography edit
Greenberg was elected as tax collector for Seminole County, Florida, in 2016, beating incumbent Ray Valdez. He took office in January 2017. He was noted as a friend and associate of Congressman Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump's former adviser Roger Stone.
During his time as tax collector, Greenberg was the subject of a lengthy federal investigation into reports of embezzlement and sex trafficking. The investigation concluded that Greenberg had been involved in child sex trafficking, using the state's driver's license system to obtain the names of minors who were then trafficked and used for sex acts by Greenberg and his associates. Greenberg also produced fake IDs to facilitate sex trafficking. In addition, he had paid several of his associates in return for sex with an underage girl, who he had engaged in sex acts with at least seven times.
The investigation also found that Greenberg had embezzled $400,000 from the Seminole County tax collector's office, laundered it through a front company named Government Blockchain Systems LLC and used it to buy cryptocurrency and memorabilia. Various other instances of misconduct were reported, including allegations that Greenberg had used public funds to buy guns and sprinklers, fraudulently received loans from the Small Businesses Association, impersonated a college student in order to accuse a political opponent of sexual misconduct and impersonated a police officer to avoid a speeding ticket.
Greenberg was arrested at his home on 23 June 2020 and resigned from office the next day. He was charged with sex trafficking, stalking, cryptocurrency fraud, loan fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, theft of government property, embezzlement, conspiracy, bribery and producing false identification papers. In April 2021, he pleaded guilty to six counts - sex trafficking, production of a false identification document, identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy - in order to avoid a life sentence. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for 3 June 2021 but was delayed multiple times due to an ongoing sex trafficking probe into Matt Gaetz, which Greenberg is cooperating with. Prosecutors have reported that Greenberg gave them information about Gaetz which "take[s] us to some places we did not anticipate".
On 1 December 2022, Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment with 10 years' probation to be served after completing his prison sentence as well as mandated sex offender registration. Greenberg issued an apology in court, "Nothing I say today could justify my actions. I let you down and betrayed your trust. My conduct was shameful. I feel remorse for what I have done." His attorney said he has no plan to appeal the sentence and that the information gained from Greenberg's cooperation will be used to investigate the sex trafficking operation.