As we’re all well aware, things haven’t been going great for Florida Republican House Rep. Matt Gaetz, after he recently found himself embroiled in a sex scandal, the subject of allegations of heinous acts such as sex trafficking and sexual relations with an underage girl.
But according to a recent report from The Daily Beast, even if things continue to go sideways for Gaetz in his Congressional career, it doesn’t look as though he’ll be able to fall back on his law license — as he’s apparently been banned from practicing law in the state of Florida after he neglected to pay his fees to the Florida Bar.
The Florida Bar’s public directory only lists one Matthew Louis Gaetz II, who was shown in good standing as recently as July, per the internet archive. However, as of the time of reporting, Gaetz still had not paid his fees owed to the Florida Bar, the entity that regulates attorneys in the state, resulting in the organization deeming him “delinquent” and “not eligible to practice law in Florida.”
Gaetz’s office has given what we feel is a pretty weak excuse for the lapse in Gaetz’s law license, with his office’s communications director, Joel Valdez, stating, “Congressman Gaetz is no longer actively engaged in the practice of law. He is focused on representing his constituents in Congress, not the courtroom.”
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Frankly, it just sounds to me as though someone simply forgot to pay it or just doesn’t care about it.
In fact, The Beast reportedly spoke to four different attorneys, all of which agreed that it’s extremely rare and virtually unheard of for an attorney to simply not pay their fees and allow their license to expire. Generally, attorneys who aren’t interested in practicing law at the current point in time will instead pay a smaller fee of $175 that allows them to remain “inactive” but still a “member in good standing.”
Daniel Uhlfelder, a Santa Rosa Beach attorney who lives in Gaetz’s district, said, “He clearly doesn’t take his law license very seriously when he doesn’t take the time to pay the $265 dues. He’s not a serious lawyer. He’s not a serious congressman. He’s not a serious person. This is one small but symbolic example of that.”
The Beast went on to discover that the Florida Bar has actually deemed Gaetz “delinquent” two other times in the past two years.
“The organization temporarily cut him off in 2019 and again in 2020, because Gaetz failed to affirm that he is properly handling and protecting any clients’ money in trust accounts,” the report reads. “Lawyers must abide by strict rules to ensure they are not stealing or misusing money that belongs to the people they represent.”
As we all know, Gaetz is currently under investigation for some pretty heinous sex crimes in connection with former Seminole County tax official and Matt’s old “wingman,” Joel Greenberg, who recently penned a confession letter that blatantly implicated Gaetz. This has prompted some people to theorize that Gaetz is avoiding paying his dues in an effort to ultimately avoid having his license unceremoniously revoked in connection to his alleged crimes.
Cris Dosev, a real estate developer and Marine Corps veteran of Operation Desert Storm, who unsuccessfully ran against Gaetz in a Republican primary last year said, “It might be a calculated move. I think he’s preemptively trying to remove a level of scrutiny from the Bar.”
The report goes in to read, “Gaetz failed to pay his $265 annual dues before the Oct. 1 deadline, which means that he now owes an extra $150 reinstatement fee, a $50 late fee, and would need to sign a petition asking the group’s executive director to let him back in.”
“Gaetz could have sent in a paper check or paid online via credit card with a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.”
“I don’t think they take Venmo, so maybe that was the problem,” Uhlfelder quipped.
You can read the full report from The Daily Beast here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
