ORLANDO, Fla. (Diya TV) — Two women have sued former Rep. Matt Gaetz in federal court, accusing him and other defendants of coordinating payments, drugs and travel to sexually exploit them between 2017 and January 2019.
The civil complaint, docketed Thursday in the Middle District of Florida, identifies the plaintiffs as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2. They seek damages under federal anti-trafficking law.
The defendants include former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, former Florida state lawmaker Christopher Dorworth and businesses associated with Greenberg’s family. The women allege that Greenberg recruited them online and introduced them to Gaetz, and that the defendants exploited their financial vulnerability.
Gaetz disputed the allegations and said he welcomed the opportunity to question the plaintiffs under oath.
“I look forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” he told the Miami Herald.
He also challenged the lawsuit’s reliance on the House Ethics Committee investigation, saying that process had not allowed him to confront his accusers.
The complaint alleges that Gaetz sent approximately $6,200 to one plaintiff and $4,025 to the other through electronic payments. Transaction descriptions included references to friendship, travel and a car deductible.
The women say the defendants paid for flights, hotels and other expenses for trips to destinations including Miami, Las Vegas, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas and New York City, expecting sex in return. The complaint also accuses Dorworth of knowingly hosting a gathering connected to the alleged conduct.
The lawsuit follows separate congressional and criminal investigations into Gaetz.
The Justice Department ended its earlier investigation without bringing charges in 2023. A subsequent House Ethics Committee report, released in December 2024, found substantial evidence that Gaetz paid for sex, had sex with a seventeen-year-old girl and used illegal drugs. Gaetz denied wrongdoing. The committee’s findings were not a criminal judgment.
Gaetz resigned from Congress in November 2024 after President Donald Trump selected him for attorney general. He withdrew from consideration before the ethics report’s release.
Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal offenses, including sex trafficking of a minor, and received an eleven-year prison sentence. His conviction is separate from the unresolved claims in the new lawsuit.
Gaetz has not been criminally charged in connection with the allegations. The plaintiffs’ civil claims have not been established in court.
