Matt Gaetz’s Teen Sex Allegations Take Horrific New Twist

Gut-wrenching details about allegations of paying a 17-year-old for sex that derailed Matt Gaetz’s political career have finally been brought to light.

The former Republican lawmaker was accused of taking advantage of a “vulnerable” 17-year-old who lived in and out of a homeless shelter, newly unsealed court documents show.

Gaetz has denied having sex with a 17-year-old girl when he was in his 30s, but the allegation was enough to end his nomination to be Donald Trump’s attorney general.

Many of the details of the allegations had, however, been secret until now. They are being revealed because lawsuit by the McClatchy newspaper chain to have the files unsealed was upheld by a federal judge in Florida.

That allowed her attorney, Laura B. Wolf, to disclose sickening details of the allegations of Gaetz having sex with the then, 17-year-old in 2017.

She told The New York Times that her client was still in high school when she met Gaetz, working in McDonald’s and saving up to buy braces.

To raise funds, Wolf said she signed up for a “sugar dating” website, which connects rich older men with young women. She lied about her age, claiming she was 18.

It was on that site that Wolf’s client met Joel Greenberg, an associate of Gaetz who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for sex crimes. Greenberg paid the teen for sex before allegedly introducing her to Gaetz.

Texts between Joel Greenberg and a woman who Matt Gaetz is accused of paying to sleep with. — Texts between Joel Greenberg and a woman whom Matt Gaetz is accused of paying to have sex with. The messages were released by the House Ethics Committee in December. House Ethics Committee

Gaetz, 43, is now married with a three-month-old son. He was an unmarried, first-term Congressman representing the ruby red Florida panhandle when he was accused of paying for sex.

Court documents alleged that Greenberg, after connecting with the girl online, invited her out on his boat. They did not have sex there, docs say, but he paid her $400 and gave her ecstasy to take home and try.

The two met on eight other occasions to have sex before she turned 18, the unsealed court documents alleged. The Times reported that she was allegedly paid another $400 for their second meeting, which was at a hotel. It said that Greenberg—then a county tax collector in the Orlando area—also used his personal credit card and his government card to pay the girl on future meet-ups.

Getting his first lesson in constitutional law from daddy pic.twitter.com/sBDhYIYEOS

— Ginger Gaetz (@GingerLGaetz) August 20, 2025

The files alleged that Greenberg brought the teen to a party at another ex-Florida lawmaker’s house that had “alcohol, cocaine, middle-aged men, and young attractive females.” Gaetz, then 35, was at the gathering with a girlfriend, the Times reported.

The woman told Congressional investigators that she danced and swam naked at the party.

She also reportedly told the House Ethics Committee that she had sex with Gaetz twice that night, either on a “pool table” or “air hockey table.” She also alleged that she witnessed the Congressman using cocaine.

210603-joel-greenberg-teas_mvou7s — Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the US government in 2022. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS/Sipa USA / Alamy

The woman testified that Gaetz paid her $400 that night, the Times reported. The paper added that she ultimately “was able to save up enough money to get braces.”

The then-teen never finished high school and instead moved to Texas, according to the Times. Her alleged affiliation with Gaetz would not emerge until years later, when his name emerged during a probe into Greenberg’s crimes.

Gaetz resigned from Congress in November, shortly after Donald Trump announced him as his initial pick to be U.S. Attorney General.

Matt Gaetz, then a freshman Congressman, in April 2017. A woman alleges that he paid to have sex with her later that year, when she was still 17. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

The appointment sent shockwaves through Washington, where even members of Congress, including Republicans, were stunned—and some outright appalled—by the pick.

A bipartisan House Ethics Committee probe determined there is substantial evidence that Gaetz paid the teen for sex, something he denies doing.

Ultimately, the scandal-scarred Gaetz did not have the votes to be confirmed in the Senate—even with a GOP majority. He dropped his bid for Attorney General in December, and Trump ultimately chose Pam Bondi for the all-important position.

Gaetz, who was comfortably re-elected in November, decided he would not return to Congress, perhaps in the hope that it would keep the House Ethics investigation from being released. Its sordid findings were still made public in December, and Gaetz has since taken a job as a pundit for the far-right network One America News.

Gaetz did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast, but texted the Times, “I never had sex with this person. “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.”

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