Former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz has been sued in federal court by two women accusing him of sex trafficking.
The Miami Herald reports that the women allege that Gaetz, ex-Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, and former Florida state Representative Christopher Dorworth recruited young women and supplied them with drugs for sex between 2017 and 2019 while also transporting them across state lines. The two women filed a lawsuit Thursday in the middle district of Florida against all three men.
Gaetz denied the allegations in a statement.
“I look forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” Gaetz said. “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.”
The two women, named as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 in the lawsuit, were 20 and 22, respectively, when they met Gaetz in 2017. They allege that Greenberg, who is now serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison on multiple charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, recruited them at a time when they didn’t have a stable income.
Greenberg, Gaetz, and Dorworth had a system that preyed upon young women like them, paying for sex and plying them with controlled substances, the lawsuit alleges. Greenberg used the website SeekingArrangement.com (now just called Seeking) to find the women, introducing them to a circle of men that included Gaetz and Dorworth. The women were given drugs at parties and homes used for sex, according to the lawsuit.
Greenberg and Dorworth helped cover up Gaetz’s actions, according to the lawsuit, paying for trips to Miami, Las Vegas, the Florida Keys, and New York City for both of the plaintiffs, themselves, and other men.
“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,” the lawsuit states.
Jane Doe 1 says in the lawsuit that she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old woman, fitting with the allegations that led to Gaetz’s resignation from the House and ultimately sank Gaetz’s nomination by President Trump to be attorney general months later. She also alleges that she was paid over $6,000, with Jane Doe 2 getting over $4,000 from Gaetz. The payment descriptions reportedly read “Being my friend,” “car deductible,” and “Love you.”