Matt Gaetz accused in sex trafficking lawsuit of two women in Florida | US News

Former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz was accused of participating in the sex trafficking of two young women in a civil suit filed Thursday in a Florida district court.

The allegations, which Gaetz denied in a statement to the Guardian, are the latest developments in a long-running sexual abuse scandal involving the politician who resigned from Congress in November 2024.

In the 38-page lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the women identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 claim that Gaetz and two others “coordinated recruitment, payments, drugs and travel to obtain commercial sex acts” from them “from 2017 through January 2019.”

“Defendants collectively used their public office, power, and wealth to take advantage of Plaintiffs’ economic vulnerability and commit these acts,” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit contends that the alleged victims “were recent high school graduates” at the time of the alleged offenses.

One of the defendants, Joel Micah Greenberg, Gaetz’s close associate and former Seminole County tax collector, pleaded guilty in May 2021 to six federal offenses: child sex trafficking, illegal production of a false identification document, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy. Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

Gaetz rejected the allegations in the new lawsuit in a statement to the Guardian.

“I look forward to hearing the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” he wrote. “The trial rests almost exclusively on a congressional committee report that failed to allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance.”

Gaetz attached a photo of three women in swimsuits from a September 2018 social media post that appeared to show them on a beach in the Bahamas, with the caption: “#Beers and #babes are all you need.”

Gaetz added: “I don’t know if this is Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 or not. But if so, they seemed to describe their trip to the Bahamas differently on social media than in their lawsuit for money.”

The congressional report Gaetz is referring to was part of a bipartisan House Ethics Committee investigation into his alleged misconduct. That investigation ended when he resigned in November 2024 from his North Florida congressional seat, shortly after being nominated by Donald Trump to be attorney general.

Later that month, Gaetz withdrew his candidacy for attorney general amid intense scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking and drug use. He has repeatedly denied these accusations.

Weeks later, in December 2024, the House Ethics Committee said its investigation found that Gaetz had made payments totaling tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex and drugs on at least 20 occasions. It also revealed that in 2017, Gaetz “engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.” Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

The complaint filed Thursday alleges that Greenberg recruited the women through the website SeekingArrangement.com and “introduced them to Gaetz.”

The lawsuit contends that Jane Doe 1 was 20 when she was first introduced to Gaetz in the summer of 2017 and that Jane Doe 2 was 22 when Greenberg first contacted her.

“Gaetz was a sitting member of Congress, presenting himself as one of President Donald J. Trump’s closest confidants and most loyal supporters,” the lawsuit states.

Jane Doe 1 alleges she had sex with Gaetz at a party in July 2017 at the home of one of the other named defendants. She said she was invited by Greenberg and that Gaetz “introduced himself” to her before giving her a “tour of the floor.” The complaint claims the tour “ended with Gaetz having sex with Jane Doe 1 in a guest bedroom.”

Later that night, Jane Doe 1 claims she saw Gaetz “having sex with ‘victim A,'” who was “only 17 years old” at the time, and that Gaetz “gave victim A $400 in cash that night, which victim A understood to be payment for sex.”

The complaint also alleges that three days after the party, Gaetz sent Jane Doe $1,500 via PayPal, and that it was “the first of thirteen payments he would make to her.”

“Between July 2017 and January 2019, Gaetz and Greenberg paid Jane Doe 1 on at least nineteen documented occasions,” the complaint states, noting that “the payments ranged between $150 and $1,000.”

Jane Doe 1 said she had “no significant savings or stable income” and alleges that “they made her believe they could solve her financial problems as long as she continued to engage in sexual acts for them and their associates.”

Jane Doe 2 alleges that she first met Greenberg in 2017 and that he later invited her to a party at a rented house.

“Greenberg promised Jane Doe 2 that she would be ‘well compensated’ for her participation, but gave her small details about what would be required of her,” the complaint alleges. Jane Doe 2 alleges that she met Gaetz that evening, that “pressed MDMA pills” were “handed out” at the party, and that she took one with Greenberg.

“Greenberg then had sex with Jane Doe 2, and Gaetz then had sex with her,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit alleges that “defendants arranged and financed travel for plaintiffs, other victims, and other high-profile political figures to Venice Beach, Miami, Las Vegas, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and New York between December 2017 and January 2019.”

“These trips took Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 to places they had never been and into rooms with men they would never have met otherwise, and every part of that access, from flights to hotel rooms, was paid for by men, including the defendants, who expected sex in return,” it reads.