Illegal medicine and intercourse with a minor: All the allegations in opposition to Matt Gaetz revealed in explosive report | EUROtoday

As a sitting member of Congress, Matt Gaetz paid for intercourse with a 17-year-old highschool scholar, used cocaine and ecstasy, and spent 1000’s of {dollars} on sex- and drug-fueled partying, in response to a bombshell report from the House Ethics Committee.

The report discovered “substantial evidence” the now-former Republican congressman “regularly” paid for intercourse and met ladies by way of a “sugar dating” web site by way of a former affiliate who has since pleaded responsible to intercourse trafficking.

The report decided Gaetz seemingly violated guidelines of conduct for the House of Representatives that prohibit “prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

Ethics committee members paint a damning portrait of a four-year span, wherein Gaetz allegedly paid tens of 1000’s of {dollars} to younger ladies for intercourse — a interval when Gaetz emerged as a far-right bulldog for Donald Trump’s agenda and a outstanding determine in right-wing media.

The president-elect named Gaetz as his first alternative for the following U.S. legal professional common, overseeing the Department of Justice because the nation’s prime regulation enforcement official. Gaetz resigned from the House following that nomination, after which withdrew his title from consideration amid mounting scrutiny of the allegations on the middle of the committee’s years-long investigation.

The former congressman has since taken a job with One America News Network and hinted at one other run for public workplace.

He has vehemently denied allegations of wrongdoing. He filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the committee to dam the general public launch of its findings, which he claimed contained “defamatory information.”

‘Statutory rape’ involving 17-year-old woman

Shortly after he entered workplace in 2017, Gaetz and his affiliate Joel Greenberg attended a celebration the place Gaetz “had sex with multiple women,” together with a 17-year-old woman, who have been paid, in response to the report.

Gaetz’s then-girlfriend additionally attended the occasion, which was allegedly on the residence of Christopher Dorworth, a outstanding lobbyist in Florida.

Then-congressman Gaetz and the woman, recognized as Victim A, “had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees.”

Gaetz was 35 years outdated on the time.

Victim A testified to the committee that she was “under the influence of ecstasy” and “recalled receiving $400 in cash” from Gaetz, “which she understood to be payment for sex”

She didn’t disclose her age, nor did he ask. The committee didn’t discover proof that Gaetz was conscious she was a minor.

After later studying she was a minor, he maintained contact “less than [six] months” after she turned 18 yr outdated, after which “met up with her again for commercial sex,” in response to the report.

When Greenberg was prosecuted for intercourse trafficking that very same sufferer, Gaetz publicly acknowledged that Victim A “doesn’t exist” and that he has not “had sex with a 17-year-old since I was 17,” the report famous.

The committee discovered his statements “untrue” and his alleged actions “were in violation of Florida’s statutory rape law.”

Tens of 1000’s of {dollars} for intercourse

Gaetz “became friends” with Greenberg — who had just lately taken workplace as a tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County — shortly after Gaetz was sworn into Congress in 2017, in response to the report.

Greenberg would contact ladies by way of SeekingAssociation.com — now Seeking.com — which had billed itself as a “sugar dating” web site to attach financially well-off males with youthful ladies for transactional relationships.

Greenberg would present the web site to Gaetz and provides him his login credentials, and the lads would then break up the prices of “drugs, hotels and girls” they might invite to events and journey locations, in response to the report.

Gaetz would usually pay ladies by way of PayPal and Venmo, in addition to money and with paper checks, or Greenberg would pay ladies to have intercourse with Gaetz, who then reimbursed Greenberg, the report discovered.

Sometimes a lump sum could be despatched to 1 girl, who would then distribute the money to others who attended their events, in response to the report.

The report lists funds totaling greater than $90,000 to 12 totally different ladies between 2017 and 2020.

Text messages obtained by the committee seem to indicate that Gaetz and the ladies understood the character of the funds as transactions for intercourse.

“Representative Gaetz did not appear to have negotiated specific payment amounts prior to engaging in sexual activity with the women he paid,” in response to the report. “Instead, the women had a general expectation that they would typically receive some amount of money after each sexual encounter.”

One girl advised the committee Gaetz paid her greater than $5,000 between 2018 and 2019, and “99 percent of the time that Gaetz and I] were hanging out, there was sex involved.”

A 21-year-old girl Greenberg met on SeekingAssociation.com ultimately turned Gaetz’s girlfriend when he was 35. Their relationship continued for greater than two years, although they weren’t unique; she “sometimes participated with him in sexual encounters with other women who were active on the website or otherwise involved in sex-for-money arrangements,” in response to the report.

She invoked her Fifth Amendment proper in opposition to self-incrimination in response to a number of of the committee’s questions, together with whether or not Gaetz had ever paid her for intercourse and if she was conscious Gaetz had ever paid anybody for intercourse.

“There is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz paid women for sex, and had others pay women for sex on his behalf,” the report concluded. “Nearly every young woman that the committee interviewed confirmed that she was paid for sex by, or on behalf of, Representative Gaetz.”

While some ladies characterised their relationship as a “date-for-hire” association the place intercourse was not essentially anticipated, Gaetz nonetheless spent “tens of thousands of dollars on other women with whom he had a shared understanding that they would be compensated for sexual activity with him,” in response to the report.

“There were potentially additional amounts spent on commercial sex that could not be specifically identified either because payments were made in cash or through intermediaries,” the committee added. “The Committee’s record thus indicates that Representative Gaetz enticed and procured women to engage in sexual activity for hire and purchased the services of women engaging in sexual activity for hire, in violation of Florida state law.”

Use of marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine

Text messages obtained by the committee embody Gaetz’s requests for “a full compliment [sic] of party favors,” in addition to “vitamins” or “rolls.” Greenberg asks one girl if she had ever completed “molly,” whereas ladies testified that Gaetz routinely was beneath the affect of marijuana, cocaine or ecstasy.

Gaetz despatched one girl a number of hundred {dollars} to purchase marijuana cartridges, whereas one other girl stated she and Gaetz’s then-girlfriend introduced medicine on a visit to the Bahamas, the report discovered.

Another girl stated that she introduced cocaine to at the least one occasion with Gaetz and that she witnessed him taking cocaine or ecstasy on at the least 5 events, in response to the report. “Nearly every witness interviewed observed Representative Gaetz using marijuana,” the report acknowledged.

Greenberg additionally testified that he would usually present medicine and Gaetz would pay him again in money.

Questions of consent and ‘coercion’

All of the ladies interviewed by the committee stated their sexual relationship with Gaetz was consensual, however at the least one girl stated the usage of medicine on the events they attended with him could have “[impaired their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.”

“Indeed, nearly every woman that the Committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with Representative Gaetz and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption,” in response to the report.

Women additionally testified to moments the place Gaetz tried to persuade them to have intercourse with him or Greenberg. Women described being made to “feel bad’ about not having sex with the men, and being asked to “make” them “happy.”

Another girl stated that their relationship sooner or later was a “loving friendship,” however over time got here to really feel like a “task,” in response to the report.

“When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated,” one girl stated.

“I think about it all the time. … I still see him when I turn on the TV and there’s nothing anyone can do,” stated one other. “It’s frustrating to know I lived a reality that he denies.”

In one occasion, a 21-year-old girl who joined Greenberg and Gaetz at a Florida resort, together with one other 20-year-old girl Gaetz “regularly” paid for intercourse, had requested Gaetz for assist along with her tuition funds, in response to messages included within the report.

When she arrived to select up the test in a resort room, she discovered Greenberg and the 20-year-old girl, with the “expectation” of a “sexual encounter” in trade, in response to the report.

“The four of them had sex and afterwards Representative Gaetz gave her a $750 check made out to cash with ‘tuition reimbursement’ in the memo line,” the report discovered.

The 21-year-old girl advised the committee she believed that the encounter “could potentially be a form of coercion because I really needed the money.”

While the committee didn’t discover proof that Gaetz violated federal intercourse trafficking legal guidelines, the report famous that the youngest one that joined the Bahamas journey was 18 years outdated on the time, and that whereas his relationship with the ladies “involved an exploitative power imbalance, the Committee does not have reason to believe that he used force, fraud, or coercion as those terms apply under the applicable laws.”

Abuse of workplace

In early 2018, Greenberg paid a lady who had intercourse with Gaetz the evening they met, in response to the report.

During that encounter, the girl advised Gaetz she wanted a brand new passport, and Gaetz linked her to his chief of workers, who then labored with the State Department to safe an appointment days later, the report discovered.

She stated the $1,000 she obtained from Greenberg was to “assist her with transportation costs to go to the Miami passport office from Orlando,” in response to the report. The girl stated she continued to fulfill with Gaetz for intercourse.

Obstruction and ‘tampering’

The committee discovered proof of Gaetz’s obstruction of the probe, pointing to his refusals to reply committee questions whereas publicly attacking the report and denying allegations that the committee was asking for details about.

The committee additionally was investigating allegations that “Gaetz may have sought to tamper with witness testimony in connection with its investigation or the DOJ’s investigation.” Prosecutors “refused to provide a copy of an audio recording in which Representative Gaetz discussed the DOJ’s inquiry with one of the women he paid for sex,” in response to the report.

The committee “did not find documentary evidence that Representative Gaetz directly acted to prevent any woman from testifying” for both of these probes, however some ladies “cited a fear of retaliation from the congressman when declining to speak on the record with the Committee.”

No proof of intercourse trafficking

In 2021, Greenberg pleaded responsible to intercourse trafficking a minor, amongst different expenses, and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department within the “prosecutions of other persons, and to testify” in associated proceedings, if obligatory.

He admitted to introducing a “minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts” along with her, in response to a plea settlement.

The Ethics Committee discovered “substantial evidence” that Gaetz violated state and federal legal guidelines and congressional guidelines surrounding prostitution and statutory rape, amongst different allegations, however investigators in the end didn’t discover that Gaetz violated a federal intercourse trafficking statute.

“Although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion,” the report concluded.