Florida Republican Matt Gaetz has been accused of sex trafficking young women and drugs in a new lawsuit

Two women have filed a federal civil lawsuit accusing former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and two others of participating in an alleged sex trafficking scheme involving young women, drugs and traveling across state lines. The allegations are the latest chapter in Gaetz’s high-profile sex scandal that ultimately derailed his nomination by President Trump as U.S. Attorney General and also led him to resign from Congress in 2024. His departure came as a bi-partisian House Ethics Committee was in the final stages of an investigation into his alleged misconduct.

The 33-page complaint, filed Monday in the Middle District of Florida, details how the former Congressman used two of his friends, now-convicted ex-Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, and former Florida GOP House member Christopher Dorworth, to coordinate the recruitment of young women whom they supplied with drugs in order to facilitate sexual encounters, according to the lawsuit. The incidents occurred from 2017 to January 2019.

Jane Doe 1 was 20, and Jane Doe 2 was 22 when they were introduced to Gaetz in the summer of 2017, according to the lawsuit. Both of the women said they had no stable income when they were recruited by Greenberg, who is now serving an 11-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2021 to sex trafficking of a minor, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, stalking and conspiracy. The plaintiffs allege Gaetz, Greenberg and Dorworth s participated in or financially supported a system that exploited young, vulnerable women, including through paid sex encounters and the use of controlled substances. The complaint contends that Greenberg recruited the women through the website SeekingArangement.com, then introduced them to a circle of men that included Gaetz and Dorworth. The drugs were supplied to the women at parties and private homes used for the sexual encounters. Jane Doe 1 also alleges that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a girl who was 17 at the time. The girl, identified in the suit as “Victim A,” is not one of the plaintiffs.

Jane Doe 1 alleges she received more than $6,000 and Jane Doe 2 received more than $4,000 from Gaetz, with payment descriptions such as “Being my friend,” and “car deductible” and “Love you.” “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 says.

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