American Medical Marijuana Physicians Association & Matt Gaetz working for the FL Taxpayers
Four people familiar with Zalonka’s arrangement said it was a “no-show” contract. Zalonka never worked at the office, and it was unclear what service she provided, they said. Accountant Daniel J. O'Keefe, who led the forensic audit of Greenberg’s alleged self-dealing, said tax collector employees told him the woman behind the company was a mystery. O’Keefe added that he found no proof Zalonka ever provided the services itemized in her contract with Greenberg.
“I have no idea what they were doing. And employees wouldn't know what they were doing. Totally a no-show job,” O’Keefe said. “There's no work product, no evidence work was done. It's just unbelievable.”
Zalonka also features prominently in a tranche of Greenberg’s Venmo transactions, which include his payments to more than 40 women. Those women received hundreds of dollars at a time for memo items such as “salad,” “lemons,” and “ass,” according to financial records.
The Daily Beast spoke to 12 of those women, who all said the payments were at least in part because Greenberg intended to have sex with them.
Three young women paid by Greenberg, who spoke to The Daily Beast under condition of anonymity, placed Zalonka in the room during a 2018 encounter at the Duval Hotel in Tallahassee.
In mid-2018, Zalonka became a spokesperson for the American Medical Marijuana Physicians Association (AMMPA), a cannabis legalization group with close ties to Gaetz. The congressman was feted as a guest of honor at
two of its conferences in
2018, and attended the previous year’s annual conference in
October. The 2017 conference, which Greenberg also attended, featured Republican operative and Trump loyalist Roger Stone, who appeared at a Gaetz
fundraiser after the congressman’s keynote speech. That day, Oct. 5, Greenberg used Venmo to send Zalonka $500 around midday—for “Rent.”
Other AMMPA officials have close ties to Gaetz and Greenberg. In Gaetz’s book,
Firebrand, published last September, the congressman singles out executive director Savara Hastings and her boyfriend, AMMPA chairman Jason Pirozzolo, as some of his “best friends.” Gaetz also says he has spent New Years Eve with the couple in the Florida Keys, and he has posted Instagram pictures featuring Hastings in Pirozzolo’s private plane as far back as
2014.
Witnesses revealed the wild scene at an after-party for a GOP fundraiser in Orlando.
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