Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz is seen on the floor during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew his bid to become attorney general on Nov. 21, 2024 over continuing allegations of sexual impropriety.
Matt Gaetz, then a Republican member of the U.S. House representing Florida, speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July 2024.

A recently unsealed court document reveals new information about the young woman who testified she was paid to have sex with former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, as a minor. President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for attorney general, but he withdrew amid widespread opposition in the Senate.

In 2017, the young woman was "a then-homeless 17-year-old high schooler" states the now-unredacted court document, one of dozens in a Central Florida civil court case.

This and other court documents show the teen joined a "sugar dating" website that paired young women with men for money, where she met Joel Greenberg, the tax collector for Seminole County, Florida. Through Greenberg, she met a circle of his friends active in state politics. They included Chris Dorworth, a Republican former member of the Florida House who was a lobbyist with an influential firm based in Tallahassee, and Gaetz, a Republican congressman from northern Florida.

The young woman, identified in court records as A.B., testified that through those connections she had sexual encounters with Gaetz before she turned 18.

Using the information in the recently released document, The New York Times talked with the young woman's current attorney, Laura Wolf, and confirmed that when the encounters began the teenager was a high school student working at McDonalds, living in and out of shelters with one of her parents who was homeless. The Times reported she falsely advertised herself as 18 on the dating website, hoping to save money to have braces placed on her teeth.

Gaetz denies longstanding allegations

Allegations that he paid the teen and other women for sex have dogged Gaetz for years, though he has disputed the women's accounts on multiple occasions and denied paying for sex with a minor.

Gaetz did not respond to a request from USA TODAY for comment, but he told 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 dollars,” he added. “She never sued me because her story is fiction.”

Gaetz was nominated by Trump a year ago to serve as attorney general. Gaetz quickly resigned his seat in Congress but ultimately withdrew his bid after a furor arose over his nomination.

USA TODAY reached out to Wolf but did not receive a response.

Wolf told the Times the vulnerable circumstances faced by most crime victims are rarely known to the public, and that her client believed the public should have a fuller understanding of how she was victimized by her encounters with the men.

“Although my client’s circumstances were revealed outside of her control, I hope it helps for the public to see a fuller and more human picture of her than the press has reported on to date," Wolf said, according to the Times.

Court documents describe sex, drugs and politics

The newly released court document was a motion seeking attorney's fees in a civil suit Dorworth, the Florida legislator, filed against Greenberg. The two men and their wives were friends and attended the January 2019 inauguration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Their friendship imploded when authorities began investigating Greenberg on dozens of charges, looking into his circle of friends and acquaintances, including Gaetz and Dorworth. Greenberg was indicted on more than two dozen charges, including fraud, in 2020.

At the heart of the allegations involving Gaetz are accounts of a party at Dorworth's six-bedroom home in a gated community with “alcohol; cocaine; middle-aged men; and young attractive females” in July 2017. Court documents include a guest register from the security gate that showed the 17-year-old went to Dorworth’s house that night.

The young woman and a friend at the party testified she had sex with Gaetz twice that night, including once on a table used for air hockey or pool. She also stated in the deposition that she did a form of ecstasy and drank alcohol, danced naked and swam naked in the pool during the party.

Dorworth testified he was not at the party, despite cell phone location records that appeared to show the opposite. He also testified Gaetz "never had any inappropriate" relationship with the young woman when she was underage.

Dorworth sued Greenberg and several family members in 2023, accusing the family of conspiring with the sex-trafficking victim to falsely accuse Dorworth and Gaetz of sexual misconduct. Many of the details of the allegations against Gaetz emerged in documents related to that case.

Shortly after a third woman in the case testified in an affidavit that she attended the party and that Dorworth saw the teenager naked, Dorworth dismissed the suit against Greenberg.

Gaetz faced investigations over allegations

A related Justice Department investigation into child sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz was closed in February 2023 and no criminal charges were filed, according to two attorneys representing him in that investigation. However, a House Ethics Committee report released in December 2024, which Gaetz fought to block, found "substantial evidence" that he had engaged in "prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use" and obstruction of Congress.

The ethics report stated records "overwhelmingly suggest that Representative Gaetz had sex with multiple women" at the 2017 party, for which they were paid, including the then 17-year old. Two women told the committee Gaetz paid them for sex, USA TODAY reported. One of those women testified she saw Gaetz having sex with the 17-year-old, but that he broke off the relationship when he learned she was underage.

The ethics report also concluded Gaetz:

  • "regularly" paid women for sex from at least 2017 to 2020.
  • "used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions" from 2017 to 2019.
  • "accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging" connected with a Bahamas trip in 2018, that exceeded permissible amounts.

When the ethics report was released, Gaetz posted a response on social media: "In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated − even some I never dated but who asked," Gaetz wrote. "I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court − which is why no such claim was ever made in court."

Gaetz got married in 2021, and became a father of a son with his wife in August 2025.

Greenberg cooperated with investigators

Greenberg pleaded guilty to federal charges in May 2021, including sex trafficking of a child, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking, and conspiracy. He was sentenced in December 2022 to 11 years in prison, with credit for time served. A document in his criminal case, unsealed in August 2025, shows he cooperated extensively with state and federal investigators on other cases. That included an investigation into obstruction of the congressional certification of the 2020 electoral college vote and a recount in the 2018 governor's election in Florida.

Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, said Dorworth sued Greenberg after allegedly receiving a letter from the former 17-year-old's attorneys in December 2022 seeking a financial settlement. Despite the young woman's testimony against his client, Scheller lauded her for demonstrating "character and integrity" and said the Department of Justice "exhibited cowardice if not concealment" by deciding not to press charges against Gaetz.

"What became apparent in the civil case was a minor victim that embodied unwavering strength and courage," he said. "She stood in stark contrast to a justice department that refused to assist her and instead left her hung out to dry."

Contributing: Josh Meyer, Bart Jansen, Riley Beggin and Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY; Gray Rohrer and Jim Little, USA TODAY Network - Florida.

Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, covers climate change, weather and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Matt Gaetz's underage accuser's attorney tells New York Times her client was victimized

Reporting by Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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