NEED TO KNOW
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Newly released court documents cited by The New York Times reveal more details about the teenager who alleged she had sex with Matt Gaetz in 2017
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The girl, who played a key role in both the House Ethics Committee and Department of Justice’s investigations into Gaetz, is said to have been a “then-homeless, 17-year-old” at the time they allegedly met
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Gaetz, a former Republican congressman who was never charged with any crime in connection with the allegations, has continued to deny them
The 17-year-old girl at the center of the previous statutory rape allegation against Matt Gaetz was homeless and saving up for braces, according to newly unsealed court documents seen by The New York Times.
The files, obtained in October, stem from a dropped civil case that Chris Dorworth, a former Republican member of the Florida state House of Representatives, brought against the teen after her lawyers reached out to him in late 2022, the Times reported on Thursday, Nov. 13.
In the documents, the girl, who remains unnamed, is referred to as “a then-homeless 17-year-old high schooler.”
The New York Times reported that she was a high school junior in Florida who sometimes lived with a parent in a homeless shelter. She also worked at a McDonald’s but appears to have lied about her age, saying that she was 18 so that she could register a profile on a “sugar dating” website to earn money to pay for braces, the outlet added, citing the unsealed court documents and a House Ethics Committee report.
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Matt Gaetz
The new details follow the findings of a bipartisan House Ethics Committee investigation in December 2024, which resulted in a report suggesting there was “substantial evidence” that Gaetz, now 43, had sex with a 17-year-old girl at a party on July 15, 2017.
In the bipartisan report, the teen — who also played a key role in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Gaetz — was only referred to as Victim A.
Talking to The New York Times, Victim A’s lawyer Laura B. Wolf confirmed some details about the girl. Many of the details are consistent with the findings in the House Ethics Committee Report. Citing the unsealed court documents, the Times reported that the girl allegedly met the congressman after she was paid by Joel Greenberg, a former Gaetz ally, for sex.
Per the documents examined by The New York Times, Greenberg allegedly met with Victim A several times and had sex with her after giving her ecstasy.
On July 15, 2017, the pair also attended a party hosted by Dorworth where Gaetz and his then-girlfriend were also guests, the outlet added, citing the court documents.
The documents state that the event involved “alcohol; cocaine; middle-aged men; and young attractive females,” reported The New York Times.
The documents also state that Victim A, in testimony before the House Ethics Committee, alleged she danced naked in front of Dorworth and twice had sex with Gaetz, per The New York Times.
She further alleged in her testimony that one of those times took place on a “pool table or … air hockey table” and that Dorworth witnessed it take place before “[laughing] about it with other partygoers,” the outlet added based on the documents. (Dorworth has claimed he was not home at the time.)
In testimony to the House Ethics Committee, Victim A said that she was paid $400 for the encounters. The New York Times reported that she has since moved to Texas and still works in the food industry.
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Matt Gaetz
Both Gaetz and Dorworth have strenuously denied the allegations.
“I never had sex with this person,” Gaetz wrote in a text message to The New York Times.
“This person threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn’t pay her $2.3 million dollars,” he then alleged. “She never sued me because her story is fiction.”
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President Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz, from left
In February 2023, it was reported that the DOJ would not pursue charges against Gaetz, who was once Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general. The DOJ also declined to charge Dorworth.
In December 2024, the findings of House Ethics Committee investigation suggested that there was “substantial evidence” to believe he had violated Florida’s statutory rape laws.
“The Committee received credible testimony from Victim A herself, as well as multiple individuals corroborating the allegation. Several of those witnesses have also testified under oath before a federal grand jury and in civil litigation. Representative Gaetz denied the allegations but refused to testify under oath,” the report said.
The report added: “He has publicly stated that Victim A ‘doesn’t exist’ and that he has not ‘had sex with a 17-year-old since I was 17.’ The Committee found that to be untrue and determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz had sex with Victim A in July 2017, when she was 17 years old, and he was 35.”
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It continued, noting that Victim A had “cooperated with DOJ’s investigation for years and was let down by the justice system when reports circulated that DOJ would be unlikely to pursue charges.”
“The Committee received evidence that Representative Gaetz did not learn that Victim A was 17 years old until more than a month after their first sexual encounters. However, statutory rape is a strict liability crime. After he learned that Victim A was a minor, he maintained contact and less than 6 months after she turned 18, he met up with her again for commercial sex,” the report added. Gaetz has not been charged with statutory rape in Florida or elsewhere.
Gaetz resigned from Congress in November 2024. He stepped back from his nomination to serve as Trump’s attorney general days later.
PEOPLE attempted to reach out to Gaetz for additional comment.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
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