{"id":120711,"date":"2021-09-01T10:47:37","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T10:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=120711"},"modified":"2021-09-01T10:47:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T10:47:37","slug":"florida-man-stephen-alford-reportedly-involved-in-gaetz-family-extortion-plot-charged-in-25-million-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/florida-man-stephen-alford-reportedly-involved-in-gaetz-family-extortion-plot-charged-in-25-million-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man Stephen Alford, reportedly involved in Gaetz family extortion plot, charged in $25 million scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Florida man Stephen Alford has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud a victim out of $25 million, in part by falsely promising he could secure a presidential pardon.<\/li>\n<li>Alford is reportedly at the center of an alleged extortion plot involving Rep. Matt Gaetz and his family.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A man reportedly at the center of an alleged extortion plot involving Rep. Matt Gaetz and his family has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud a victim out of $25 million, in part by falsely promising he could secure a presidential pardon.<\/p>\n<p>A grand jury charged Florida resident Stephen Alford, 62, with wire fraud in connection with the pardon scheme, carried out\u00a0between March 16 and April 7, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Alford was also charged with attempting to stop the seizure of his iPhone by the government, said the grand jury indictment, which was signed by a U.S. magistrate judge on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n<p>Alford was arrested earlier Tuesday and made his initial appearance in federal court, the U.S. Attorney&#x27;s Office for the Northern District of Florida said in a press release. He faces up to 25 years imprisonment on the charged crimes, according to the prosecutors&#x27; office.<\/p>\n<h2>CNBC Politics<\/h2>\n<p>Read more of CNBC&#x27;s politics coverage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Major Republican donors are staying away from Trump<\/li>\n<li>These charts show which states will get the most money from the infrastructure bill<\/li>\n<li>Capitol riot lawyer has gone missing, prosecutors say<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gaetz, R-Fla., a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, is being investigated by the Department of Justice about whether the 39-year-old congressman had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl,\u00a0The New York Times reported in March.<\/p>\n<p>Gaetz, at the time that report came out, had linked that DOJ probe with the alleged $25 million &quot;organized criminal extortion&quot; scheme against him and his father, Don Gaetz.<\/p>\n<p>Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing. He has not been charged with a crime.<\/p>\n<p>A Times report from April 1, which described Alford as a real estate agent with a prior fraud conviction, said that he and a former Air Force intelligence officer named Robert Kent approached Don Gaetz about providing funding for an attempt to rescue an American hostage in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>They reportedly told Don Gaetz, 73, that securing that hostage, Robert Levinson, could help clinch a pardon for his son in case he was charged with federal crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Don Gaetz then hired a lawyer and contacted the FBI, the Times reported. Kent denied the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>The grand jury indictment did not refer to Matt Gaetz, Don Gaetz, Levinson or Kent by their full names.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, it said that Alford gave &quot;Person A&quot; the phone number of &quot;D.G.&quot; in order to &quot;discuss the purported release of R.L. from captivity in Iran and a purported &#x27;current federal investigation&#x27; into Family Member A of D.G.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>In a text message, &quot;it was conveyed to D.G. that Person A&#x27;s &#x27;partner will see to it that [Family Member A] receives a Presidential Pardon, thus alleviating all his legal issues,&quot; the indictment alleged.<\/p>\n<p>Alford then wrote a letter, titled &quot;Project Homecoming,&quot; which made claims about an &quot;&#x27;investigation by the FBI for various public corruption and public integrity issues&#x27; related to Family Member A,&quot; as well as a &quot;Presidential Pardon&quot; and the request for $25 million to &quot;&#x27;immediately fund the release&#x27; of R.L.,&quot; according to the indictment.<\/p>\n<p>The letter allegedly instructed that the money was to be &quot;deposited into a trust account of Law Firm A.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Alford&#x27;s letter also falsely asserted that his &quot;&#x27;team has been assured by the President&#x27; that he will &#x27;strongly consider&#x27; a &#x27;Presidential Pardon,&#x27;&quot; or tell the Justice Department to quash any probe of &quot;Family Member A&quot; if R.L. is released from captivity, the indictment said.<\/p>\n<p>Alford also falsely told D.G., &quot;I will assure you that [Family Member A] will get off his problems&quot; and claimed he could &quot;guarantee&quot; that that family member &quot;would not go to prison.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/08\/31\/florida-man-stephen-alford-linked-to-gaetz-plot-charged-in-scheme.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida man Stephen Alford has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud a victim out of $25 million, in part by falsely promising [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":120710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - 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