Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is facing a new federal civil lawsuit from two women who say he and former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg coordinated a scheme involving recruitment, cash payments, drugs and interstate travel to obtain commercial sexual acts between 2017 and January 2019. Christopher Dorworth is also named as a defendant in the complaint, and the allegations have not been proven in court.
The 33-page complaint, filed in the Middle District of Florida, lays out how the two women, identified only as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, say they were drawn into the arrangement starting in the summer of 2017, according to the Miami Herald. Jane Doe 1 was 20 years old and Jane Doe 2 was 22 when they were introduced to Gaetz that summer, the lawsuit states. The complaint alleges Jane Doe 1 received more than $6,000 and Jane Doe 2 received more than $4,000 from Gaetz over the course of the alleged scheme.
According to the same account, the lawsuit also alleges that Greenberg ran more than 150 financial transactions totaling over $70,000 between December 2016 and December 2018 to pay women for commercial sex acts. Greenberg, a onetime Gaetz associate, is already serving an 11-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2021 to multiple federal offenses, including sex trafficking of a minor.
Plaintiffs' Attorney Points to Text Messages
West Palm Beach attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represents the two women, said the lengthy complaint was intentionally detailed, according to WFLX. Kuvin said the plaintiffs' attorneys believe communications and other evidence, particularly text messages, support their allegations.
WPTV reported that it had reached out to Gaetz, Greenberg and the other named defendants for comment after the lawsuit was filed, and said it would provide updates as responses become available, per WPTV. Gaetz has denied the allegations. “I look forward to taking the plaintiffs' depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” Gaetz said, according to the Miami Herald. Gaetz resigned from Congress in 2024.
A Scandal With a Long Paper Trail
Greenberg's guilty plea in 2021 came after he agreed to cooperate fully with federal investigators, according to CBS News, which reported he pleaded guilty to six federal charges. The Justice Department separately investigated sex-trafficking allegations against Gaetz but ended that investigation without bringing criminal charges, as reported by Florida Phoenix. The outlet also noted that the House Ethics Committee separately probed allegations involving Gaetz that included accusations related to sex with a minor, misuse of campaign funds, improper gifts, misuse of state identification records and explicit materials.
This is not the first time Dorworth and Greenberg have appeared together in litigation tied to the broader scandal. Dorworth previously sued Greenberg and others in a separate case, filed in April and docketed in the Middle District of Florida, alleging they had falsely accused him of sex trafficking, sex with a minor, prostitution and obstruction of justice, according to NBC News. That case, Dorworth v. Greenberg, was docketed as 6:23-cv-00871, according to CourtListener records. Gaetz was subpoenaed to sit for a deposition in that earlier case but was not himself a plaintiff or defendant in it at the time.
Gaetz has also previously been compelled to testify under oath in a civil lawsuit tied to his past friendship with Greenberg and allegations that he had sex with a teenage girl, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Whether that earlier litigation is connected to this newly filed complaint from Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 has not been established. For now, the new case adds another chapter to a yearslong scandal that has followed Gaetz since he left Congress, with the fresh allegations against him and his co-defendants still untested in court.
