Oh, great, a tawdry sex scandal. What happened to Make Scandals Great Again?
Investigators believe Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector in Seminole County, Fla., who was indicted last year on a federal sex trafficking charge and other crimes, initially met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel and allowances, according to three people with knowledge of the encounters. Mr. Greenberg introduced the women to Mr. Gaetz, who also had sex with them, the people said.
...
Mr. Gaetz denied ever paying a woman for sex.
Some of the possible charges seem like a stretch:
It is not illegal to provide adults with free hotel stays, meals and other gifts, but if prosecutors think they can prove that the payments to the women were for sex, they could accuse Mr. Gaetz of trafficking the women under “force, fraud or coercion.” For example, prosecutors have filed trafficking charges against people suspected of providing drugs in exchange for sex because feeding another person’s drug habit could be seen as a form of coercion.
So offering gifts is fine but offering cash is coercive? OK, go with that.
The joker in the deck is this:
The Justice Department inquiry is also examining whether Mr. Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl and whether she received anything of material value, according to four people familiar with the investigation. The sex trafficking count against Mr. Greenberg involved the same girl, according to two people briefed on the investigation.
She's a minor, so Gaetz needs the Epstein Exception here.
I wonder what a Florida jury would make of all this. I have a suspicion that a decent portion of the Florida service economy relies on an equilibrium between fiscally appealing men and physically appealing women. Maybe I'm thinking of Vegas.
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