Тогда-представитель. Мэтт Гаец, республиканец от Флориды, во время конференции консервативных политических действий в Мэриленде, 3 марта 2023 года. Гаец, который ушел из Конгресса в 2024 году, обвиняется в торговле женщинами в целях сексуальной эксплуатации в новом судебном процессе.
СЕТЬ США СЕГОДНЯ
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.
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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.
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“I look forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” Gaetz said in a statement. “The lawsuit relies almost exclusively on a Congressional Committee report that didn’t allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance.”
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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.
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The Miami Herald was unsuccessful in reaching Dorworth, but did reach his former attorney who asked for a copy of the lawsuit.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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“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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Gaetz was 15 years older than Jane Doe 1 and 13 years older than Jane Doe 2; the complaint alleges that the defendants used that age difference to manipulate the women and keep them silent.
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Gaetz also used Dorworth and Greenberg to cover up his involvement, the suit alleges. The defendants arranged and funded travel for the plaintiffs, other victims, and prominent political figures to Miami, Las Vegas, the Florida Keys and New York City, according to the suit.
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“Between December 2016 and December 2018, the former Seminole County tax collector ran more than 150 transactions totalling over $70,000 to pay women for commercial sex acts, some of them charged to the tax collector’s office American Express card and given captions such as “school” and “ice cream,” according to the lawsuit.
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The lawsuit also seeks damages from Greenberg Dental Associates LLC and other companies affiliated with Greenberg’s family. His father is a dentist who operated several practices across Florida.
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The lawsuit, filed by Florida lawyer Spencer Kuvin, incorporates much of the findings of the Ethics Committee probe, which was eventually made public. That report found that there was “substantial evidence” that Gaetz violated House rules and federal laws by paying for sex with a minor; using and possessing illegal drugs including cocaine and Ecstasy; accepting gifts, including transportation and lodging in excess of permissible amounts; falsely obtaining a passport for a woman with whom he was engaged in sexual activity and obstructing the committee’s investigation into his conduct.
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Gaetz, 44, who is now a media personality with a show on the OAN network, announced last year that “I am returning to public service!” after he was appointed by former Florida House GOP speaker Daniel Perez to the Triumph Gulf Coast Board, which is responsible for distributing a $1.5 billion settlement from BP stemming from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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“I look forward to taking his deposition under oath where he will be under penalty of perjury — which the committee wasn’t able to do,” Kuvin said.
