Matt Gaetz Ethics Report Finds He Paid Underage Girl For Sex, Bought Illegal Drugs

Topline

A House ethics report released Monday detailing allegations of misconduct against Matt Gaetz has found that the former Florida congressman violated state laws by paying women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex and purchasing drugs illegally (Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him).

Key Facts

The House Ethics Committee released the results of its investigation into Gaetz to the public on Monday, even after the former representative filed a restraining order in federal court in an effort to halt it, arguing it would irreparably hurt his reputation and that the committee has no jurisdiction over former members of the House.

Shortly after he filed the emergency motion, the clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia posted a note online telling him he had filed it improperly, The New York Times reported, and the report was released about an hour later.

The report, which was obtained by several media outlets before being made public, includes evidence that Gaetz personally sent money for sex to more than a dozen women using PayPal, Venmo and CashApp during his time in Congress, including to one woman who described a 2018 trip to the Bahamas as "payment" for sex on the trip.

The report says Gaetz's friend Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for underage sex trafficking, wire fraud and other crimes, would arrange and pay for sexual encounters for Gaetz through the website SeekingArrangement.com (now Seeking.com).

“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, the panel wrote, including one encounter with a 17-year-old girl.

While having sex with a 17-year-old is in violation of Florida’s statutory rape law, the committee found no evidence that Gaetz knew she was underage at the time, CNN reported, and also did not find evidence that Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws.

Women interviewed by the committee said they’d seen Gaetz use ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana, and the committee wrote that Gaetz set up a “pseudonymous e-mail account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.”

Gaetz, who resigned from the House of Representatives last month after President-elect Donald Trump tapped him as attorney general and later withdrew from consideration for that position as well, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

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Crucial Quote

“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated—even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years,” Gaetz said in a statement last week. “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

What To Watch For

How Republicans in Congress react to the report. Gaetz on Sunday night tweeted a screenshot of a Daily Beast article with the headline "Matt Gaetz’s GOP Buddies Are Preparing to Carry Out His Revenge Plan,” accompanied by a comment from Gaetz reading "I get by with a little help from my friends…" The article said Congressional Republicans are planning to carry out a plan first proposed by Gaetz that would see them file a privileged resolution to "publicize the names of current and former legislators who used public funds to pay sexual harassment settlements." Politico on Thursday reported that Republicans were circulating a draft of the resolution.

Key Background

Gaetz, 42, served as a U.S. representative for Florida from 2017 until his resignation last month. He was recently the subject of a Department of Justice investigation tied to the federal probe into Greenberg, who pleaded guilty to charges of underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card and conspiring to defraud the U.S. government. Greenberg cooperated with the investigation against him and reportedly gave law enforcement information about Gaetz, including that both he and the lawmaker paid women for sex. Federal prosecutors declined to indict Gaetz over the sexual misconduct allegations and the DOJ reportedly ended its investigation into him in 2023 without bringing charges. House ethics investigators carried on the probe after prosecutors ended their case, however, and reports suggest the committee was on the cusp of voting to release its final report when Gaetz made the sudden move to resign from Congress. His resignation came as Trump tapped him to be the next attorney general, which opened Gaetz up to even more scrutiny and led to an outcry from Democrats calling for the House report to be released. He withdrew as the attorney general nominee on Nov. 21, saying, “It is clear my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.” Right-wing news network One America News later announced he has been hired as the anchor of a new primetime program starting in January.

Surprising Fact

It’s rare, but not unheard of, for the House Ethics Committee to release a report on a member of congress who has resigned. It has been done at least five times in the past, Forbes found, including for reports on former Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., who was the subject of a corruption probe, and former Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, who resigned in 2018 right before a report was released accusing him of sexual harassment.

Further Reading