Two women have filed a federal civil lawsuit against former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and two others. They accuse the three men of taking part in an alleged sex trafficking scheme involving young women, drugs and travel across state lines.
The lawsuit adds to the sex scandal surrounding Gaetz, which led President Trump to drop his nomination for US attorney general. Gaetz also resigned from Congress in 2024, as the House Ethics Committee was close to completing its investigation into his alleged misconduct, as per reports.
What the lawsuit says
As per the Miami Herald, the 33-page complaint was filed Monday in the Middle District of Florida. The women are named Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 in the suit.
According to the lawsuit, Gaetz used two friends to find young women and give them drugs so that sexual encounters could happen. The friends are Joel Greenberg, the now-convicted former Seminole County tax collector, and Christopher Dorworth, a former Florida GOP House member. The incidents took place from 2017 to January 2019.
According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe 1 was 20 and Jane Doe 2 was 22 when they were introduced to Gaetz in the summer of 2017. Both said they had no stable income when Greenberg recruited them.
{{/usCountry}}According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe 1 was 20 and Jane Doe 2 was 22 when they were introduced to Gaetz in the summer of 2017. Both said they had no stable income when Greenberg recruited them.
{{/usCountry}}Greenberg is now serving an 11-year federal prison sentence. He pleaded guilty in 2021 to sex trafficking of a minor, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, stalking and conspiracy.
The complaint says Greenberg found the women through the website Seeking Arrangement. As per TMZ, the site is commonly used to link older, wealthy people with young people who could use extra money. The lawsuit says Greenberg then introduced them to a circle of men that included Gaetz and Dorworth.
According to the complaint, drugs were given to the women at parties and at private homes used for the encounters.
What did the women allege about Gaetz?
As per TMZ, Jane Doe 1 says she met Gaetz through Greenberg at a party on July 15, 2017. She claims that night she saw him have sex with a 17-year-old, whom she says he then gave $400 in cash.
Jane Doe 1 says she got more than $6,000 from Gaetz, and Jane Doe 2 says she got more than $4,000. As per TMZ, the payments were sent on Venmo with notes like “Being my friend” and “Just because.”
Doe 2 says she met Gaetz in December 2017. She claims that after she took ecstasy, both Greenberg and Gaetz had sex with her.
Both women say they went on trips with Gaetz, including to Las Vegas, the Florida Keys and New York City.
The lawsuit also says: “At the time of this venture, Gaetz was a sitting member of Congress, holding himself out to be one of President Donald J Trump’s closest confidants and most loyal supporters.”
Gaetz’s response and the Ethics Committee report
Gaetz has denied part of the claims. In a statement to Miami Herald, he said: “I look forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false. The lawsuit relies almost exclusively on a Congressional Committee report that didn’t allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance.”
As per the Miami Herald, the suit was filed by Florida lawyer Spencer Kuvin and uses much of the findings of the Ethics Committee probe, which was later made public. The report found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz broke House rules and federal laws by:
- paying for sex with a minor
- using and possessing illegal drugs, including cocaine and Ecstasy
- accepting gifts, including travel and lodging, above the allowed amounts
- falsely getting a passport for a woman he was having sexual activity with
- obstructing the committee’s investigation
Kuvin said: “I look forward to taking his deposition under oath where he will be under penalty of perjury - which the committee wasn’t able to do.”