- Unsealed court documents allege a 17-year-old was paid for sex amid drugs, cash and exploitation tied to Joel Greenberg and associates.
- Sworn testimony and records claim Rep. Matt Gaetz had sex with the teen twice and paid $400, allegations he strongly denies.
- House Ethics report found "substantial evidence" Gaetz paid the teen, blocking his Trump AG bid and prompting his resignation.
WASHINGTON—Freshly unsealed court documents are peeling back layers on one of the most explosive scandals to rock Capitol Hill in recent years, laying bare the gritty, heartbreaking story of a high school girl caught in a web of paid sex and political power.
The files, long shielded from public view, center on allegations against former Rep. Matt Gaetz, the firebrand Republican whose meteoric rise—and dramatic fall—left even his allies reeling.
What emerges isn’t just a tale of alleged misconduct; it’s a stark portrait of vulnerability exploited amid the haze of drugs, cash, and influence.
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The accuser, a 17-year-old scraping by at a McDonald’s job while dreaming of braces to fix her smile, was still navigating the chaos of high school and intermittent homelessness when she crossed paths with the men at the heart of this saga.
Details of the New Findings
Newly revealed details, disclosed through a federal judge’s ruling upholding a lawsuit by the McClatchy newspaper chain, paint her as a kid desperate for a break—one that came in the form of a “sugar dating” website promising quick cash from wealthy older men.
She fudged her age online, claiming to be 18, and that’s where Joel Greenberg entered the picture.
Greenberg, a onetime Seminole County tax collector and close associate of Gaetz, wasn’t just any mark.
By 2017, he was already deep in a life of excess, later pleading guilty to a laundry list of federal charges: underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, and more.
Sentenced to 11 years behind bars in 2022, Greenberg’s role in the unfolding drama feels like a grim prelude.
Court docs allege he shelled out $400 for their first meetup on his boat—no sex that time, but he slipped her ecstasy to take home.
What followed were at least eight more paid sexual encounters before she hit 18, with Greenberg footing the bill via his personal credit card and, shockingly, his government-issued one for some hotel hookups.
Then Gaetz Comes Into the Picture
But the documents don’t stop at Greenberg’s misdeeds. They thrust Gaetz, then a 35-year-old freshman congressman from Florida’s Panhandle, squarely into the spotlight.
The teen’s account, shared in testimony to the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, describes a boozy, drug-fueled party at the home of another ex-Florida lawmaker.
Picture this: alcohol flowing freely, cocaine making rounds, a mix of middle-aged men and young women in various states of undress.
She says she danced and swam naked that night, her nerves frayed in the unfamiliar swirl.
And then, the allegations sharpen: Gaetz, there with a girlfriend, allegedly had sex with her twice—once on a pool table, the other on an air hockey table.
He paid her $400 for it, she told investigators, and she caught him using cocaine amid the chaos.
These aren’t abstract claims whispered in backrooms; they’re etched in sworn statements that helped torpedo Gaetz’s ambitions.
Gaetz Jumps Ship After Trump Nomination
Fast-forward to late 2024, and the story loops back with brutal timing. Donald Trump, fresh off his election win, taps Gaetz as his first choice for attorney general—a nomination that stunned Washington, drawing gasps from Republicans and Democrats alike.
“Whoa,” one GOP senator reportedly muttered in a closed meeting, according to sources close to the confirmation process.
The pick felt like a middle finger to the establishment, but the old allegations resurfaced like a bad hangover, amplified by the ongoing probe into Greenberg’s crimes.
Gaetz, ever the combative showman, fought back hard. He resigned from Congress in November, just days after Trump’s announcement, in a move some saw as a gambit to dodge the Ethics Committee’s looming report.
It didn’t work. The panel’s findings dropped in December, concluding there was “substantial evidence” that Gaetz had paid the teen for sex—a charge he flatly denies.
Lacking the Senate votes for confirmation even with a Republican majority, Gaetz bowed out.
Trump pivoted to Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, who sailed through without the baggage.
Matt Gaetz Still Denies Any Wrongdoing
Now 43, married, and father to a 3-month-old son, Gaetz has traded the House floor for the pundit chair at One America News, the far-right network where his bombast finds a ready audience.
But the unsealed files have yanked him back into the fray. His attorney, Laura B. Wolf, spoke to The New York Times about her client’s lingering pain, describing how the teen— who never finished high school and eventually relocated to Texas—had scraped together enough from those payouts to finally afford the braces she’d craved.
It’s a small, poignant victory amid the wreckage.
In a text to the Times, Gaetz lashed out: “I never had sex with this person.”
He went further, claiming extortion: “This person threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn’t pay her $2.3 million. She never sued me because her story is fiction.”
The woman’s side, through Wolf, paints a far grimmer picture—one of a girl adrift, lured into a dangerous orbit by men with means and motives far beyond her grasp.
The documents don’t just accuse; they humanize the fallout, showing how one desperate choice rippled into a national firestorm.
As Gaetz rebuilds in the media shadows, these revelations force a reckoning: In the high-stakes game of power, who really pays the price?
For the full context of these developments, the House Ethics Committee’s December report remains a key public record, detailing months of investigation into Gaetz’s conduct.
Also Read: A DOJ Whistleblower Now Makes Revelation That Undermines the Judicial System’s Integrity
