A 38-page civil lawsuit filed in U.S. district court for the middle district of Florida on Thursday names former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz and others as defendants in claims of sex trafficking involving two women identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2. According to the complaint, the defendants “coordinated the recruitment, payments, drugs, and travel to obtain commercial sexual acts” from the plaintiffs during 2017 through January 2019. The lawsuit states the alleged victims were recent high school graduates at the time of the alleged misconduct.
Gaetz denied the allegations in a statement to the Guardian, stating he looks forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because he contends much of the conduct alleged against him is false. He criticized the reliance on a congressional committee report that, he argued, did not allow him to confront his accusers. Gaetz attached a photograph of three women in swimsuits from a September 2018 social media post, questioning whether the individuals pictured were the plaintiffs and suggesting their account of events conflicted with how they presented the trip publicly.
One of the named defendants, Joel Micah Greenberg, a close associate of Gaetz and former tax collector of Seminole County, pleaded guilty in May 2021 to six federal offenses including sex trafficking of a child and was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. The civil complaint alleges that Greenberg recruited the women through SeekingArrangement.com and introduced them to Gaetz.
The lawsuit details allegations spanning multiple locations and occasions. Jane Doe 1 claims she was 20 years old when first introduced to Gaetz in summer 2017 and alleges sexual encounters and payments totaling at least $150 to $1,000 on separate occasions. Jane Doe 2 alleges she was 22 when Greenberg first contacted her and claims to have attended parties where she encountered Gaetz. The complaint further alleges the defendants arranged and funded travel to multiple locations including Venice Beach, Las Vegas, the Bahamas, and New York City between December 2017 and January 2019.
These allegations emerge from an ongoing scandal involving Gaetz. He resigned from his north Florida congressional seat in November 2024 following his nomination by Donald Trump to become attorney general. Gaetz subsequently withdrew from consideration for the position amid scrutiny of the allegations. In December 2024, the House ethics committee released findings stating it had concluded Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women for sex and drugs on at least 20 occasions and engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl in 2017. Gaetz has repeatedly denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
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