MIAMI (VINnews) – Two women filed a federal civil lawsuit Monday accusing former Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and two associates of participating in a scheme that recruited young women, supplied them with drugs and facilitated paid sexual encounters, including travel across state lines.​

The 33- to 38-page complaint, filed in the Middle District of Florida by attorney Spencer Kuvin, names Gaetz, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg and former Florida state lawmaker Christopher Dorworth as defendants. It also names dental companies affiliated with Greenberg’s family. The alleged conduct spanned 2017 to January 2019, according to the suit and contemporaneous reporting.

The plaintiffs, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, were 20 and 22 when introduced to Gaetz in the summer of 2017, the complaint states. Both said they lacked stable income at the time. Greenberg, who is serving an 11-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2021 to sex trafficking of a minor and other charges, allegedly recruited them through SeekingArrangement.com and introduced them to a circle that included Gaetz and Dorworth. Controlled substances were provided at parties and private homes to facilitate the encounters, the suit alleges.​

Jane Doe 1 claims she received more than $6,000 from Gaetz; Jane Doe 2 claims she received more than $4,000. Payment descriptions included phrases such as “Being my friend,” “car deductible” and “Love you,” according to the complaint. Jane Doe 1 also alleges she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl identified in the suit as “Victim A,” who is not a plaintiff. The defendants arranged and funded travel for the women and others to locations including Miami, Las Vegas, the Florida Keys and New York City, the suit says.​

Gaetz, now 44, rejected the claims. “I look forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” he said in a statement. “The lawsuit relies almost exclusively on a Congressional Committee report that didn’t allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance.”​

The case revives a scandal that derailed Gaetz’s nomination by President Donald Trump as U.S. attorney general and contributed to his resignation from Congress in 2024. A bipartisan House Ethics Committee investigation, whose findings were later made public, concluded there was “substantial evidence” that Gaetz violated House rules and laws by paying for sex (including with a minor), using and possessing illegal drugs such as cocaine and Ecstasy, accepting impermissible gifts, and obstructing the probe. The committee did not find sufficient evidence of a federal sex-trafficking violation. Gaetz has long denied wrongdoing.​

Kuvin, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said he looks forward to deposing Gaetz under oath. Efforts to reach Dorworth were unsuccessful, according to the Miami Herald, which first reported the filing.​

Gaetz now hosts “The Matt Gaetz Show” on the One America News Network. In June 2026, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez appointed him to the Triumph Gulf Coast Board, which distributes settlement funds from the 2010 BP oil spill for economic development in Northwest Florida Panhandle counties. Gaetz described the role as a return to public service.

The allegations in the civil complaint have not been proven in court. Greenberg’s prior criminal conviction is separate from this lawsuit.