Uchitel by no means met or had any interactions with Gaetz. She additionally had no connection to Gaetz’ former good friend and “wingman,” Joel Greenberg, a former Florida county tax collector who had met a 17-year-old on SeekingArrangement and admitted to prosecutors that he had intercourse along with her in 2017.
Greenberg lately pleaded responsible to sex-trafficking the minor, amongst a bunch of different expenses. In alternate for a lighter sentence, Greenberg is cooperating with federal prosecutors and has alleged that Gaetz additionally had intercourse with the minor in 2017. Gaetz has denied any and all wrongdoing and mentioned he by no means even registered to make use of SeekingArrangement, a press release the corporate appeared to help.
“In search of.com has no information of Mr. Gaetz ever having an account on the web site,” the corporate mentioned in its assertion.
“Regardless of her claims, Ms. Uchitel’s termination was by no means associated to the state of affairs inside the firm, present occasions or any celebrities and/or politicians,” the assertion mentioned. “Her remarks on Consultant Gaetz have been totally fabricated and are unfounded as at no time did Ms. Uchitel have private information of the web site exterior of these she might have met personally as a person of the positioning.”
An organization spokesperson wouldn’t touch upon the way it decided Gaetz was not on SeekingArrangement.
The point out of Gaetz within the lawsuit led to his title being splashed in tabloid headlines, beginning with TMZ, adopted by Web page Six and Radar On-line. In her lawsuit that SeekingArrangement disputes, Uchitel mentioned that an organization consultant advised her that “the Matt Gaetz scandal was a ‘severe disaster for the corporate’” and there was a “main disaster over the Matt Gaetz problem.”
A spokesperson for Gaetz, Harlan Hill, mentioned the lawmaker’s title has been boot-strapped to tales about Uchitel’s case for a similar cause Greenberg invoked him: It’s clickbait.
“The media’s lies about Rep. Gaetz have fallen like dominoes together with the pretend ‘SeekingArrangement’ claims,” Hill mentioned in a written assertion. “The brand new ploy for consideration seekers appears to be title dropping a well-known lawmaker for a couple of minutes of fame. From Greenberg to Uchitel – the brand new hotness is having Matt Gaetz in your authorized drama to grift some information headlines. Unhappy!”
However Uchitel’s lawyer, Galen J. Criscione, mentioned Gaetz was solely talked about within the go well with as a result of the lawmaker’s scandal was used as a pretext to wrongfully terminate his consumer.
The investigation into Gaetz has dragged on and produced a slew of lurid headlines about wild intercourse events involving a number of girls, a sex-fueled journey to the Bahamas and unlawful drug use.
Gaetz has responded to the disaster by embarking on a nationwide tour and fundraising and promoting blitz, spending massive on public relations, promoting, consultants and attorneys, together with one who had defended now-deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Some protection attorneys concerned within the wide-ranging case, nevertheless, speculate that the federal investigation into Gaetz has stalled for an absence of clear proof and due to the problematic witnesses within the case: Greenberg and his former sufferer, who’s now 21 and makes hardcore pornography.
The Justice Division declined to remark for this story.
That lady, whom POLITICO will not be naming, had handed herself off as a 19-year-old when Greenberg first met her in 2017 when he had intercourse along with her, in line with his plea settlement. Requested what the corporate does to make sure minors don’t interact in sexual exercise by means of its web site, a SeekingArrangement spokesperson mentioned the corporate wouldn’t touch upon an ongoing investigation.
Beneath the federal sex-trafficking regulation, intercourse with a minor for cash is against the law — even when the minor lied about his or her age. Nonetheless, the circumstances of the case involving Gaetz is giving prosecutors pause, in line with two attorneys representing separate individuals within the case who spoke on situation of anonymity to explain the proof they’ve seen.
“The federal authorities doesn’t wish to check out novel authorized theories in courtroom, particularly towards sitting members of Congress as a result of it normally doesn’t work,” one of many attorneys mentioned, echoing different attorneys conversant in sex-trafficking prosecutions who’ve adopted the investigation. “Sure, there’s strict legal responsibility for somebody who has intercourse with a 17-year-old even when she’s just a few months away from turning 18 and even when she turns into a hardcore porn star. However prosecuting a case like this is able to be extremely uncommon if there’s no laborious proof exhibiting Gaetz has carried out this and the case rests on an admitted liar like Greenberg and the phrase of a hardcore porn star.”
The lawyer requested to not be named to guard the establish of his consumer, who they mentioned might face harassment.
Gaetz’s former girlfriend has been in talks to strike a plea take care of prosecutors who’re analyzing an obstruction of justice cost towards Gaetz, however her legal professional wouldn’t touch upon the standing of these talks.
Folks conversant in the case advised POLITICO in Might that, if an settlement had not been struck by July, it will be an indication that the investigation into the lawmaker was stalled, though prosecutors have at the least 5 years from the final date of the final crime to file expenses.
Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.