{"id":705937,"date":"2021-09-01T09:50:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T13:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=705937"},"modified":"2021-09-01T09:50:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T13:50:24","slug":"florida-man-charged-in-25m-extortion-scheme-that-promised-a-presidential-pardon-for-matt-gaetz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-man-charged-in-25m-extortion-scheme-that-promised-a-presidential-pardon-for-matt-gaetz\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Man Charged In $25M Extortion Scheme That Promised A Presidential Pardon For Matt Gaetz"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fflorida-man-charged-in-25m-extortion-scheme-that-promised-a-presidential-pardon-for-matt-gaetz%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=705937&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside id=\"right1forarticles\">\n<\/aside>\n<div id=\"ob-read-more-selector\" readability=\"48.852765957447\">\n<p>A Florida developer was indicted Tuesday on a charge that he tried to extort $25 million from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz\u2019s father in exchange for a presidential pardon that would effectively end a federal sex-trafficking investigation into the congressman.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Alford, a 62-year-old from Fort Walton Beach, was indicted on charges of wire fraud and destruction of property.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ndfl\/press-release\/file\/1429001\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">indictment<\/a> alleges that Alford in March and April tried to get Don Gaetz to pay him as part of a deal titled \u201cProject Homecoming.\u201d The intricate scheme also would have funded a private effort to rescue <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/03\/25\/fbi-agent-robert-levinson-cia-dead-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Levinson<\/a>, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran 14 years ago and who officials believe died in Iran custody.<\/p>\n<p>Alford said that he could \u201cguarantee\u201d that one of Don Gaetz\u2019s family members would not go to prison if the $25 million he demanded was paid, according to the indictment. Matt Gaetz is currently under investigation over whether he broke federal prostitution, sex-trafficking and public corruption laws and whether he had sex with a girl who was 17 at the time. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/03\/30\/matt-gaetz-sex-investigation-underage-girl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Gaetz Says He\u2019s Under Investigation For Sex Crimes, But That He\u2019s The Target Of An Extortion Plot)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7167348\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"32\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7167348\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7167348 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Representative Matt Gaetz in December. (Samuel Corum\/Getty Images)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1230035169-1-2048x1366-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7167348\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Representative Matt Gaetz in December. (Samuel Corum\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The indictment refers to Don Gaetz as \u201cD.G.\u201d and to Matt Gaetz as \u201cFamily Member A,\u201d and describes the investigation as one conducted \u201cby the FBI for various public corruption and public integrity issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matt Gaetz in March <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/03\/30\/matt-gaetz-names-doj-official-allegedly-extorting-him-tucker-carlson-david-mcgee-sex-trafficking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Fox News<\/a> that he was the victim of an <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/03\/30\/matt-gaetz-sex-investigation-underage-girl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extortion plot<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is happening is an extortion of me and my family,\u201d he said, adding that he got a text message \u201cdemanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex-trafficking allegations against me go away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The federal probe into Gaetz first began in the final months of the Trump administration, and was originally part of a wider probe into Joel Greenberg, a local politician who allegedly committed <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/04\/30\/report-matt-gaetz-wingman-confession-letter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multiple sex felonies<\/a>, including that he knowingly sought out and had sex with a 17-year-old girl.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Florida developer was indicted Tuesday on a charge that he tried to extort $25 million from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz\u2019s father in exchange for a presidential pardon &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}