Alford falsely represented in the ‘Project Homecoming’ letter that his ‘team has been assured by the President’ that he will ‘strongly consider’ a ‘Presidential Pardon’ or ‘instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving ” should the team be able to secure the purported release of R.L. court.Īccording to the new indictment, Alford promised “D.G.” - presumably the thinly veiled initials of the congressman’s father Don Gaetz - that his family member would receive “a Presidential Pardon, thus alleviating all his legal issues” if he spent millions on a Levinson rescue mission titled “Project Homecoming.” Reportedly on a mission for the CIA, Levinson is believed to have been captured by the Iranian government, which in turn was slapped with a $180 million judgment by a U.S. The indictment even mirrors the details of the scheme: Alford allegedly hoped to fund the rescue of former FBI agent Bob Levinson, who is now presumed dead after disappearing in Iran in 2007. The name of the suspect, Alford, emerged shortly after Gaetz broke his silence on social media. We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter…

Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. The congressman wrote that he had been cooperating with the FBI on the matter, and he claimed that his father wore a wire in an effort to catch the alleged “extortionist” who allegedly hoped to capitalize on a sex-trafficking scandal that appeared to be closing in around Gaetz. As a sex trafficking investigation heated up around his ex-political ally Joel Greenberg, Gaetz revealed the alleged plot for the first time in a Twitter thread on March 30. Though court papers do not list Gaetz by name, references to the pro- Donald Trump Republican are unmistakable in a six-page indictment unsealed by prosecutors on Tuesday.įor months, Gaetz has told a startling similar tale to the one told by prosecutors in the indictment, right down to the dollar amount. What Gaetz called “extortion” is legally being billed by federal prosecutors as a “scheme to defraud.” Extortion would have been a separate crime which is not charged. The charges carry a possible 25-year sentence. Alford, 62, could spend much of his golden years behind bars if convicted of on counts of wire fraud and the attempted prevention of the seizure of an electronic device. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) alleged a massive “extortion” scheme against him, federal prosecutors accused the man at the center of the congressman’s tale of trying to shake him down for $25 million.įlorida man Stephen M. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.Roughly half a year after Rep. Matt Gaetz Ma.of the ongoing extortion investigation.

No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets. The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. Matt Gaetz Ma.and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals.

We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter. The Justice Department has not commented on the story and Gaetz had not been charged. 'I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations,' he said in a tweet Tuesday.

Matt gaetz extortion