Thread by @JeffWeinerOS

.@abcnews reports (abcnews.go.com/Politics/gaetz…) the feds are delving into contracts Joel Greenberg doled out through the tax office. @orlandosentinel has been covering these deals — given to friends, allies, even elected officials — since well before JG's arrest.

Some examples:

Oct. 4, 2019: @LaurenInLake reports that Greenberg had spent $3.5 million on outside consultants and new employees, including a lawyer once married to his aunt and three of his groomsmen.

orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-…

The lawyer, Rick Sierra, is his former uncle by marriage. According to a county audit, he cost taxpayers $614,665 in pay, benefits and expenses. Auditors listed him as among 15 "unnecessary" positions that were "considered to be a waste."

Another one Lauren called out: Keith Ingersoll, paid $48,000 to “facilitate the transition,” “evaluate strategy” and recommend investments. Paid $6K/mo. Audit found "no evidence of work product." ABC now reports he's been contacted by the feds.

orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-…

This piece also mentioned Joseph “Big Joe” Ellicott, a longtime friend Greenberg made assistant deputy tax collector. He was paid $361K in taxpayer dollars. Staff told auditors he "did not do much." Audit flagged numerous purchases with office credit card as suspect.

Ellicott, who was a groomsman at Greenberg's wedding and co-hosted a radio show with him, "could emerge as a key witness in the ongoing sex traffic investigation," ABC News now reports, citing texts in which Ellicott told Greenberg a mutual friend was worried about the probe.

Lauren also noted that Mike Shirley, who helped run Greenberg's election campaign, got $678,000 from the tax office through his company Praetorian Integrated Services. Audit: "No evidence of work product." Additional comment from staff: "He was helpful in getting Joel elected."

Another: ex-Greenberg business partner and friend Scott Tomlinson got $5.5K for a newly-formed company and later was hired as a “Special Projects Technician.” Auditors said this position was also not needed, no work product. $162,572.82.

@martinecomas had reported even earlier that Greenberg hired Ballard Partners and lobbyist/friend/former legislator Chris Dorworth at a cost of $6,250 a month to, in Greenberg's words, "change laws that are out of date or just stupid." orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-…

June 2017: Greenberg reveals he'll soon let staff openly carry firearms. This would lead to the hiring of Chris Anderson, until then a Seminole deputy, as "Chief Investigations Officer," yet another "unnecessary" position, according to auditors.

orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-…

Anderson was ultimately paid $185K by the tax office. As @reporterannie recently reported, he got much more from the job than that: It was a springboard to being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as Seminole's Supervisor of Elections. orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-pr…

From the audit notes, about the job Greenberg created for Anderson: "It should be understood, the Tax Collector is not an enforcement officer. The Tax Collector is not responsible for the collection of unpaid taxes." Then-AG Pam Bondi also effectively nixed the open-carry policy.

This April, @Jason_Garcia and @reporterannie delved into several more of the dubious contracts Greenberg handed out, many of which went to political allies and, in some cases, other elected officials: orlandosentinel.com/news/os-prem-n…

Among them: Matt "The Blueprint" Morgan, a former professional wrestler and Longwood city commissioner. He started a new company in October 2019 called “Blueprint Enterprises LLC.” That same month, the Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office began paying Morgan $4,500 a month.

Audit: Morgan's Blueprint was paid $40K for "some kind of community outreach which they never did." No evidence of work product.

Another: Megan Zalonka, whose firm, MZ Strategy Group, Greenberg paid $7K with an office Visa. That was for “consulting services” having to do with social media marketing and communications. She has since been served a grand jury subpoena. orlandosentinel.com/news/os-prem-n…

Zalonka, a former model, was also working for the American Medical Marijuana Physicians Association, which is run by Jason Pirozzolo, a doctor and marijuana entrepreneur whose name has surfaced in reports about the sex-trafficking probe of Greenberg and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Greenberg also used an office credit card to pay $10,000 in late 2017 to Eric Foglesong, a longtime local political consultant. Auditors described them as “unknown payments... for ‘community relations consulting.’” orlandosentinel.com/news/os-prem-n…

Foglesong was also one of the only donors last year to Jestine Iannotti, one of several "ghost" candidates in key state Senate races. As @reporterannie recently reported, it also appears Foglesong paid Iannotti's filing fees. orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-pr…

(Foglesong at the time he was spending money on Iannotti's campaign was falling behind on his home rent payments and had recently been ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to stealing money from another campaign)

Another contract: A company set up by former Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel was paid $60,000 for “consulting services.” Office employees told auditors “he never did anything for us.” Auditors found no evidence of work product. orlandosentinel.com/news/os-prem-n…

Ertel, one of the few willing to comment on his work for Greenberg, says he conducted “a full-fledged operational audit” of the tax office. As evidence he provided a Power Point presentation of recommendations he said he made to Greenberg.

His wife, Michelle Ertel, was also hired by Greenberg. Another position the audit said was "unnecessary." Paid $107,449 as "public affairs director." Auditors: "This position falls completely outside the scope of a Tax Collector office."

Another elected official: Greenberg paid state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican, $7,500 over two-a-half months. Deal was signed five days after Sabatini was admitted to the Florida Bar.
orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-joe…

Sabatini told us he worked on “wrongful termination cases against him [Greenberg] from the employees that he terminated when he took office.”

Every dollar in this thread was taxpayer money.