By Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused a Florida man of trying to defraud U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz’s father Don Gaetz out of $25 million, in a scheme allegedly linked to a criminal investigation targeting the Republican congressman.
In a newly unsealed indictment https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/press-release/file/1429001/download, prosecutors accused Stephen Alford, 62, of contacting Gaetz’s father and demanding $25 million. The congressman is currently under criminal investigation over an allegation that he sex trafficked a minor and, prosecutors alleged that Alford falsely claimed he could help Gaetz obtain a pardon from former President Donald Trump.
The indictment does not refer directly to the embattled pro-Trump lawmaker or his father, a former healthcare executive who also served as president of Florida’s state senate. But the alleged plot was widely reported this year after Gaetz released documents he said showed an extortion plot against him.
Federal investigators are seeking to determine whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old, according to news reports and a law enforcement source who spoke with Reuters. He has not been charged with any crimes and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Alford is in custody, federal prosecutors said, and it was not immediately clear if he had retained an attorney.
In an interview with the Northwest Florida Daily News earlier this year, Alford did not deny approaching the wealthy Gaetz family for money. But he said he and associates were seeking to partner with the Gaetzes to rescue Robert Levinson, a CIA operative who disappeared in 2007.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida. In a press release, the office said Alford faces up to 25 years imprisonment on the charged crimes.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by David Gregorio)
