Two anonymous women sued former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz on October 15, accusing him of sex trafficking in a federal civil lawsuit. The allegations are unproven. Gaetz says “much of the conduct alleged against me is false.”
The plaintiffs, who sued as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, say Gaetz and former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg arranged travel, drugs and payments to obtain sex from them between 2017 and January 2019. Their attorney, Spencer Kuvin, says they have text messages and other communications that support the claims.
They also named former Florida lawmaker Christopher Dorworth, accused of hosting a July 2017 gathering at his Heathrow home. Four businesses tied to Greenberg’s family are defendants as well, including three Greenberg Dental entities, and the complaint says they supplied the money behind the alleged scheme.
Sponsored · Selkirk Copper Mines
The plaintiffs sue under a federal law that lets trafficking victims seek damages. Its eight counts accuse defendants of committing trafficking violations or profiting from them. They seek compensatory damages and attorney’s fees and want the case heard by a jury. Both plaintiffs were adults during the period described, and the complaint doesn’t allege that either was a minor. It does refer to a separate, unnamed person it says was 17 at the July 2017 gathering.
The complaint alleges the defendants leveraged their positions and money to take advantage of the women’s financial vulnerability. It says Gaetz sent the two women more than $10,000 by phone, and that Greenberg first contacted one plaintiff through a sugar-daddy website. Gaetz said he looks forward to deposing the plaintiffs. He also argued the suit leans on a congressional committee report that didn’t let him confront his accusers.
Judge Gregory Presnell is presiding, with Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick. The plaintiffs also asked the court’s permission to keep their names out of the case. The clerk didn’t issue summonses Thursday because of missing information; the plaintiffs refiled proposed ones that afternoon, and the docket shows none issued yet. An initial order gives the parties 14 days to file disclosure statements.
The suit follows an earlier federal investigation of Gaetz. The Justice Department decided in 2023 not to charge him, and his attorneys said it had concluded the probe. Greenberg, a co-defendant, pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal charges, including child sex trafficking, and received an 11-year sentence.
Read: Ethics Committee Report: Matt Gaetz Paid For Sex With Minor And Drug Use, Abused His Office
A December 2024 House Ethics Committee report found substantial evidence that Gaetz paid women for sex from 2017 to 2020, had sex with a 17-year-old in 2017, a violation of Florida law according to the report, and used cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana. The committee stopped short of finding he broke federal sex trafficking law, and it received no evidence he knew the girl’s age.
Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. The report cites his 2021 statement, “I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old,” and says he denied using illicit drugs in written correspondence to the committee.
He resigned from Congress after President Donald Trump named him for attorney general in November 2024, then withdrew from consideration.
Read: Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Nomination For Attorney General
