Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
R. Kelly, once one of the biggest names in the world of R&B music, was found guilty on Monday of being the ringleader of a decades-long scheme to recruit women and underage girls for sex. Continue reading “R Kelly Found Guilty On Sex Trafficking & Racketeering Charges”
The news continues to worsen for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his party pal/wingman Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty in a Florida court room this morning to six felony charges including sex trafficking of a child.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
Greenberg was led into court by U.S. Marshals and appeared in a dark colored jail jumpsuit, shackled at the wrists and ankles and flanked by two attorneys. He spoke succinctly during the hearing, responding with one or two words to questions from a magistrate judge.
In all, Greenberg faced 33 federal charges. But prosecutors will drop the other 27 counts against him. Greenberg also pleaded guilty to identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official.
Greenberg now faces possibly 12 years in prison for the crimes he’s copped to.
The plea deal calls for Greenberg to forfeit at about $654,780 in assets he obtained through illegal acts, as well as cooperating with any investigation by the prosecutors.
Ruh-roh, Matt Gaetz.
Matt Gaetz's wingman, Joel Greenberg, has just pleaded guilty to six charges, including sex trafficking a minor.
As someone who has been extremely immersed in this case, let me tell you, this is not good news for Matt Gaetz.https://t.co/5Cp2Gbd3Yl
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) May 17, 2021
We are flying this banner around the Orlando Federal Court where Matt Gaetz’s wingman Joel Greenberg is pleading guilty to sex charges. Tick Tock Matt Gaetz, time is running out ⏳. pic.twitter.com/gxdtPFcQPY
— Remove Ron (@RemoveRon) May 17, 2021
JUST IN: Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg has entered “guilty” plea to 6 federal charges including sex trafficking of minor. Former Florida tax collector, has been in jail, appeared in court today in a dark jumpsuit, with his hands restrained by a thick chain around his waist. @CNN
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCNN) May 17, 2021
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| Jeffrey Epstein (mug shot) |
Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was able to commit suicide this past weekend without interference because the two guards that should have been watching him (fresh off of suicide watch) apparently fell asleep on the job for “some or all of” a three hour period of time, reports the New York Times.
The two staff members who were guarding the jail unit where Jeffrey Epstein apparently killed himself fell asleep, failed to check on him for about three hours and falsified records to cover up their mistake, according to several law enforcement and prison officials with knowledge of the matter.
Those disclosures came on Tuesday as the two employees were placed on administrative leave and the warden of the jail, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, was temporarily reassigned, pending the outcome of the investigation into Mr. Epstein’s death, the Justice Department announced.
The two staff members in the special housing unit where Mr. Epstein was held — 9 South — falsely recorded in a log that they had checked on the financier, who was facing sex trafficking charges, every 30 minutes, as was required, two of the officials said. Such false entries in an official log could constitute a federal crime.
In fact, the two people guarding Mr. Epstein had been asleep for some or all of the three hours, three of the officials said.
Epstein, 66, was found dead hanging from a bedsheet at approximately 6:30am on Saturday in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
He had been awaiting trial on charges he had sexually abused scores of teenage girls at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.
In related news, one of Epstein’s accusers, Jennifer Araoz, has filed a lawsuit against his estate, his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell and three unnamed female household staff, according to NBC News.
Araoz alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Epstein at his New York City townhouse when she was 14 and 15 years old, including a forcible rape in 2002.
She first disclosed her alleged abuse publicly in an exclusive TODAY Show interview with Savannah Guthrie of NBC News on July 10, the same day she filed papers in New York state court saying she intended to sue Epstein.
According to the complaint filed today, Araoz says Maxwell and the other staff members “conspired with each other to make possible and otherwise facilitate the sexual abuse and rape of Plaintiff.”
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| Jeffrey Epstein |
Convicted sex trafficker and Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein was pronounced dead at a hospital after hanging himself in his jail cell.
Two weeks ago, he attempted suicide. Aren’t prisoners put on suicide watch after suicide attempts?
Things that make you go hmm…
From ABC News:
He was found unresponsive in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center around 6:30 a.m., the Bureau of Prisons said. He transported in cardiac arrest to New York Downtown Hospital at 6:39 a.m., according to sources.
Epstein, 66, was set to stand trial next year for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of minor girls in New York and Florida.
His death came less than three weeks after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal prison in Lower Manhattan, with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told ABC News. He was placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but was not on suicide watch at this time of his death.
Epstein was arrested in July of this year for alleged sex trafficking of minor girls at his Upper East Side mansion and his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Some of the charges date back to the early 2000s.
Epstein’s death comes just one day after over 2,000 pages of records were unsealed which detail allegations by an alleged victim of Epstein that while working as a teenage locker room attendant at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort nearly two decades ago she was recruited to give Epstein massages that often involved sexual activity.
Epstein is dead less than 24 hours after documents unsealed showing inner workings of his vast sex trafficking operation. What else did Epstein know was going to come out? A lot.— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) August 10, 2019
A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably…Russian.— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 10, 2019
We won’t know the truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death until William Barr issues his 4 page summary.— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) August 10, 2019
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| Jeffrey Epstein |
From CNN:
Financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found in his Manhattan jail cell with marks on his neck this week, a law enforcement source and a source familiar with the incident said Thursday.
It is not clear to jail officials if the injuries, incurred Tuesday, were self-inflicted or the result of an assault, the law enforcement source said.
Epstein is awaiting trial at Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York. He is charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 66-year-old allegedly paid girls as young as 14 to have sex with him at his Upper East Side home and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. Federal prosecutors say he used employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and then paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.
From The Daily Beast:
Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was arrested for allegedly sex trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005, and will appear in court in New York on Monday, according to three law enforcement sources.
Saturday’s arrest by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force comes about 12 years after the 66-year-old financier essentially got a slap on the wrist for allegedly molesting dozens of underage girls in Florida.
The new indictment — which, according to two sources, will be unsealed Monday in Manhattan federal court — will reportedly allege that Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage girls in a now-familiar scheme: paying them cash for “massages” and then molesting or sexually abusing them in his Upper East Side mansion or his palatial residence in Palm Beach.
Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors—which could put him away for a maximum of 45 years.
Several sources are pointing to Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who as a U.S. attorney in Miami cut a deal to keep Epstein out of jail and seal all evidence against him.
From Vox:
The FBI had prepared a 53-page sex crimes indictment for Epstein in 2007 that could have sent him to prison for life, according to the Herald.
Instead, he cut a deal with Alexander Acosta, then the US attorney in Miami, which allowed him to serve just 13 months — not in federal or state prison, but in a private wing of a Palm Beach county jail.
He was granted work release to go to a “comfortable office” for 12 hours a day, six days a week, despite the fact that the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Department prohibited work release for sex offenders.
Trump said of Epstein in 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”https://t.co/TNXvg1I3dH— chuckwestover (@chuckwestover) July 7, 2019
FUN FACT: Alexander Acosta, the U.S. Attorney in Miami that cut a secret deal to keep Jeffrey Epstein out of jail and seal all the evidence was Trump’s mysterious pick for Secretary of Labor.Coincidences take a heap of plannin’.
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) July 7, 2019
Let’s adjust the headline just a touch: “Long time dear friend of Donald Trump (who exclaimed about Epstein’s affinity for young girls) arrested in New Jersey— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) July 7, 2019
He knew. pic.twitter.com/XVkN0KYcyM— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) July 7, 2019
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| Former OK state Sen. Ralph Shortey |
Former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey, who was busted for child sex trafficking, has been ordered to pay more than $125,000 in restitution to his victim.
Shortey, who served as Donald Trump’s state campaign chair in 2016, was arrested in March 2017 after police found him with a 17-year-old boy in a motel room in Moore, Oklahoma. Police found marijuana and condoms on the premises at the time of the arrest.
An affidavit from one of the police investigators revealed text messages between the teen and Shortey showed the former ‘family values’ lawmaker was looking to pay the boy for sex.
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Shortey pleaded guilty to one count of child sex trafficking in November 2017 in exchange for three child pornography charges being dropped. He’s currently serving a 15 year prison sentence in Texas.
Although federal prosecutors requested $535,000 in restitution to be paid to the victim, the judge has ordered Shortey pay $125,850.
Shortey does not have the right to appeal the judgment.
According to local news station KFOR, the original $535K figure sought by prosecutors was “to include mental, psychiatric and psychological treatment along with the victim’s estimated lost income resulting from Shortey’s offense.”
The prosecutors pointed out in their motion that the victim “did not complete high school, largely because of the trauma and victimization caused by the defendant.”
The majority of the requested restitution, $410,000, was to offset lost future income as the Social Security Administration calculates a lifetime loss of approximately $410,000 for individuals who don’t finish high school.
But the judge disregarded that argument as speculative since the boy had obtained his GED.
Shortey’s attorney, Ed Blau, told KFOR he felt the judgment was fair, although the victim won’t receive the majority of the funds anytime soon.
“By statute, my client was ordered to pay $125,000 immediately,” said Blau. “Obviously, he’s incarcerated – he’s not going to be able to do that, so what they will do is they’ll take a certain amount off his books each month.”