Daily Beast: “Text messages between Rep. Matt Gaetz’s wingman and a former Florida shock jock reveal how people with key information about an alleged underage sex ring were scrambling as the feds closed in – and they bolster the evidence in a growing scandal that could take down the congressman. Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg was already under investigation when he had a private exchange with his one-time sports radio co-host, ‘Big Joe’ Ellicott. In that exchange, conducted over the encrypted messaging app Signal and obtained by The Daily Beast, Ellicott expressed fear that others in their group of friends faced legal jeopardy for having sex with a 17-year-old girl. Ellicott wrote that a mutual friend, a woman who figures prominently in Greenberg‘s Venmo transactions, ‘knew [the minor] was underage the whole time, had sex with her, and they both went [to] see other guys.'”

“Ellicott, who is Venmo friends with Gaetz and a number of women in the alleged sex ring, also acknowledged that ‘for other guys she brought ___ along to see, that could be trafficking,’ using a nickname for the former teen. The Daily Beast has independently verified the young woman’s identity but is withholding her name. The Signal messages were set to disappear after 30 seconds, but Greenberg – as he’d done with vanishing communications between himself and Roger Stone – screenshotted the message. On Thursday, Politico reported that Ellicott was listed in a Dec. 2020 grand jury subpoena issued to another person related to the ongoing sex trafficking investigation. According to the report, the subpoena also listed three other individuals: Gaetz, Greenberg, and former Florida state Rep. Halsey Beshears, who served with Gaetz while he was in the Florida legislature. Ellicott has not responded to repeated requests for comment over the last seven weeks, and did not respond to a detailed list of questions The Daily Beast sent to him Thursday morning.”