Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz Paid 17-Year-Old for Sex, Ethics Report Found

The U.S. House Ethics Committee's long-awaited report into allegations of illegal drug use and sexual misconduct involving former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has finally seen the light of day.

Last month, the four-term Florida congressman was revealed as president-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general (a race he later pulled out of amid the growing pressure on the House Ethics Committee to release its findings). When he abruptly resigned from Congress, he effectively ended a long-running House Ethics Committee investigation into him over allegations of sexual misconduct and obstruction.

But while the committee initially voted against the report's release, its members quietly reversed course last week, allowing for the findings to be made public.

On Monday, the ex-congressman filed a lawsuit against the committee in an effort to stop it from releasing the report.

Among other things, the report found that Gaetz paid multiple women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex.

Attorney Joel Leppard, who represents two of the women who testified to the committee, emailed a statement to New Times shortly after the report was made public.

"My clients provided crucial testimony to the House Ethics Committee at significant personal cost," Leppard writes. "The Committee's thorough investigation and detailed findings vindicate their accounts and demonstrate their credibility. Their testimony, supported by extensive documentation and corroborating witnesses, has now been validated through this comprehensive investigation. We appreciate the Committee's commitment to transparency in releasing this report so the truth can be known."

Below are six takeaways from the report, the full text of which is attached in its entirety at the bottom of this story.

1. Violated Florida Laws

The committee found "substantial evidence" that Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl while he was in his mid-30s, according to the report.

While Gaetz denied the allegation, publicly stating that the victim "doesn't exist," the committee found that to be untrue and "determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz had sex with Victim A in July 2017, when she was 17 years old, and he was 35."

"The Committee received evidence that Representative Gaetz did not learn that Victim A was 17 years old until more than a month after their first sexual encounters. However, statutory rape is a strict liability crime," the report reads. "After he learned that Victim A was a minor, he maintained contact, and less than 6 months after she turned 18, he met up with her again for commercial sex."

Under Florida's statutory rape law, it's a felony for a person 24 years of age or older to engage in sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old.

2. The Joel Greenberg Connection

Shortly after he was sworn in to Congress in 2017, the committee report indicates, Gaetz met then-Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg at the home of Florida lobbyist Christopher Dorworth, a close friend of the congressman.

Greenberg is serving an 11-year prison sentence, having pleaded guilty to multiple felonies, including underage sex trafficking. He cooperated with federal investigators as part of their sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz.

The committee concluded that the pair attended parties and other gatherings with young women whom Greenberg met on SeekingArrangement.com, a website that connected older men with younger women looking for "mutually beneficial relationships" (AKA pairing sugar daddies with sugar babies).

"The website was generally understood by many of the women interviewed by the committee to involve, at minimum, an exchange for companionship for money," the report states.

Greenberg frequently connected Gaetz with women via the site, the committee found.

The committee obtained text messages from September 2018 showing how Greenberg arranged a "meet" with a 20-year-old woman and offered to bring a friend: Matt Gaetz.

"If you have a friend that is down, perhaps all four of us can meet up later," Greenberg texted. "Do you party at all?"

The 20-year-old responded, "Oh that's perfect. I have a friend who introduced me to the website that I could bring. She's very pretty, great personality. I usually do $400 per meet, does your friend use the website as well? And yes I do like to go out sometimes ☺️."

Greenberg said his friend "understands the deal :)," then followed up with a photo of Gaetz.
Greenberg told the committee that he frequently showed Gaetz the website and provided the congressman with his login information. He said the pair agreed to split the "costs of 'drugs, hotel[s], and girls.'"

An example: In July 2017, Greenberg, Gaetz, and others stayed at a rental property in Miami's Brickell neighborhood. Gaetz withdrew at least $1,200 in cash from three different accounts at a single ATM during that weekend.

Around March 2017, Greenberg introduced one woman he met on the site to Gaetz, who later became his girlfriend for two years. The woman was 21 at the time; Gaetz was almost 35.

"The committee obtained text messages where she appeared to act as an intermediary between Gaetz and the woman he paid for sex," the report states. "She herself was paid tens of thousands of dollars by Gaetz over the course of their two-year relationship."

In July 2017, numerous witnesses said Gaetz, his then-girlfriend, and several others, including a 17-year-old girl, attended a party at Dorworth's home. The committee says that "the record overwhelmingly suggested that Rep. Gaetz had sex with multiple women at the party, including the minor, for which they were paid."

The girl, who was going into her senior year of high school at the time, later told the committee that she had sex twice with Gaetz at the party, including at least once with other attendees present, according to the report. She said she received $400 in cash that night.

From 2017 to 2020, the committee wrote, Gaetz paid out thousands of dollars to women.

"The committee received evidence confirming that Rep. Gaetz at times personally made payments to women who attended parties with him and Mr. Greenberg, using various peer-to-peer electronic payment services, as well as checks and cash," the report states. "The committee's record also indicates that Mr. Greenberg sometimes paid women for having sex with Rep. Gaetz and was sometimes reimbursed by Rep. Gaetz."

3. Paid Women (and a 17-Year-Old Girl) for Sex

The committee found evidence that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex from at least 2017 to 2020 — including $400 in 2017 to a 17-year-old girl who had "just completed her junior year of high school."

The girl "understood [the money] to be payment for sex," the report states.

"There is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz had sex with Victim A in July 2017, when she was 17 years old, and he was 35," the report reads, pointing out that the then-congressman's actions were "in violation of Florida's statutory rape law."

Wrote the committee: "Nearly every young woman that the Committee interviewed confirmed that she was paid for sex by, or on behalf of, Representative Gaetz" between 2017 and 2020.

Transaction records illustrate payments of hundreds or even thousands of dollars to various women from digital payment services such as PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App, in addition to Greenberg's personal checking account. The accompanying descriptions include "being my friend, supplies, solving rent probs., Kale, and Love you."

Attached screenshots display text exchanges of women purportedly attempting to obtain payment for their services.

"Matt never paid me. How much did he pay you?" one woman appeared to text another. The recipient advised to ask for payment "while your giving him a bj. Before you have sex with him for sure."

In another text exchange, one woman told another she would need "like 800 for the first" before attending another party, later texting, "I hate the $ situation and drugs."

In a text exchange with Joel Greenberg, a woman lamented the fact that she was underpaid. "Especially since you asked how much my classes cost and said that you'll take care of it," she wrote, stating that she would feel more comfortable being paid upfront for future meetings.
Most of the alleged paid sexual encounters took place in Florida, though Gaetz paid women over the age of 18 to travel to both New York and Washington, D.C., for commercial sex, the committee found.

"While Representative Gaetz's relationship with these women involved an exploitative power imbalance," the report reads, "the Committee does not have reason to believe that he used force, fraud, or coercion as those terms apply under the applicable laws."

The findings also point to overwhelming evidence that Gaetz used cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. All the women the committee interviewed said their sexual activity with Gaetz was consensual, but at least one stated the use of drugs at events may have "impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent."

The committee writes, "Indeed, nearly every woman that the Committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with Representative Gaetz and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption."

4. Set Up a Fake Email Account to Buy Weed From His House Office

The committee found that Gaetz set up a "pseudonymous e-mail account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing marijuana."

The report states that Gaetz, who witnesses testified was a "frequent user of marijuana," initially set up the fake email account in order to make payments for cannabis products but also used it to pay women.

The committee obtained text messages in which Gaetz asked women to bring drugs to their rendezvous, in some instances requesting marijuana cartridges, according to the report. Gaetz is said to have sent one woman several hundred dollars in remuneration for marijuana cartridges.

One woman said of Gaetz in an interview, "I provided him with some cartridges...[o]f marijuana." Another woman said, "I know [Representative Gaetz] had his weed pen on him a lot of the times."
According to the report, when Gaetz paid for two women to travel to New York City in January 2019 to meet up with him and his then-girlfriend, he asked one of the women if they could bring "cartridges."

"I have none unless my dude can deliver to me tonight," one of the women responded, according to screenshots of text messages attached to the report.

"That is very bad news. I think I have some edibles that's about it," Gaetz replied.

"Yeah he's been out :( he just said he might be able to get more tonight but not sure...," the woman texted back, adding, "I'll bring the one that's on my battery so we can at least smoke while we're there!!"

5. 2018: An Ecstasy-Fueled Trip to the Bahamas

The report also zeroes in on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, during which Gaetz allegedly had sex with multiple women and took ecstasy — all while violating the House gift rule, which determines the types of gifts a House member may accept.

The report states that "an associate of Rep. Gaetz with connections to the medical marijuana industry" paid for the trip and for female escorts to join them.

"The only other male attendee was also connected to the medical marijuana industry, the report states. "According to press reports, [the] DOJ was investigating allegations that the trip may have been part of an illegal influence effort on behalf of the medical marijuana industry."

Six women traveled to the Bahamas with the three men, the committee concluded. The youngest woman was 18 years old. During the three-day trip, the report says, Gaetz "engaged in sexual activity with at least four women."

Also: "Several of the women recalled that Rep. Gaetz appeared to be under the influence of drugs and that they took ecstasy during this trip," the report reads. "One woman said she witnessed Rep. Gaetz taking ecstasy as well."

Another woman said no money changed hands in terms of payments to the women's trip. She described the trip itself as "the payment."

Adds the committee: "Most, if not all, of the women involved had some history of sexual interactions with Rep. Gaetz for which they had been paid."

The committee found substantial evidence that Gaetz received impermissible gifts in connection with the trip. Gaetz's associate provided the lodging and return flight via private plane, according to the report.

"Contrary to Rep. Gaetz's claims that he provided 'substantial evidence' to the committee 'demonstrating his innocence' on this allegation, he provided no evidence showing how he paid for any travel costs other than his flight to the Bahamas, despite being given multiple opportunities to do so," the committee wrote.

6. A Passport Favor

Unrelated to the Bahamas trip, the committee found that Gaetz expedited a passport for one of the women he met through Joel Greenberg.

According to the report, Gaetz and the woman had sex on the night they met in early 2018, and at some point during their encounter, the woman — who was unaware that Gaetz was a sitting congressman — mentioned that she needed a new passport.

“...[H]e connected her with his then-chief of staff, who worked with the State Department’s congressional liaison to secure a passport appointment for the woman within days of their first meeting,” the report states. The chief staff then secured an appointment for the woman at a Miami passport agency, falsely stating that she was a constituent who lived in Gaetz’s congressional district in Florida's Panhandle.

The woman said Greenberg sent her money on Gaetz's behalf but denied that it was a payment for sex.

She claimed that the $1,000 she received was to cover her transportation costs to the passport agency from her home in Orlando.

“The woman spent $195 to obtain her new passport prior to her trip — a standard $60 fee for an in-person appointment, plus $135 for the new passport,” the report states. “She continued to meet up with representative Gaetz on other occasions, during which they engaged in sexual activity."

The committee noted that it was unusual for a chief of staff to process constituents’ requests for expedited passports — a matter typically handled by the district office.

The committee found Gaetz to have "violated House regulations and laws requiring the use of official resources for representational purposes, and paragraph 5 of the Code of Ethics for Government Service, which prohibits the dispensing of special favors and privilege."