Rep. Matt Gaetz may soon face a document dump in federal court that could expose — for the first time — details about the alleged sex parties tied to the accusations that Gaetz had sex with an underage teen.
The trove of information — which is expected to include sworn testimony from a number of people involved in the alleged sex parties — is the ironic result of the congressman’s friend, Florida lobbyist Chris Dorworth, dropping a civil lawsuit that sought to bury the scandal.
A federal judge will now decide whether the accounts of several key witnesses should be made public by Sept. 19, including a “declaration” from Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend that one source familiar with the matter described as “candid,” as well as the never-before-seen deposition of the woman who claims she was sex-trafficked when she was 17.
In court papers submitted Friday night, defense lawyers asserted “these materials” would contain details from “the young women who attended parties at [Dorworth’s] home” but still mask their names. Women involved have, in the past, described themselves in interviews as “victims.”
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Meanwhile, Dorworth’s lawyer asserts that this case is over — and told NOTUS everything that came out behind closed doors should remain so.
“The case was dismissed on Thursday. All items asserted as confidential remain confidential upon the dismissal of the case, and any disclosure of confidential material by opposing counsel will be addressed in a separate pleading as a violation of the confidentiality agreement,” said Alex Andrade, a Pensacola lawyer who’s also a Republican state legislator.
While the judge could decide to keep the materials sealed, he may also conclude that the secrecy agreement provided an open door to publicly air this evidence in court — something judges regularly do in lawsuits.
Gaetz has denied allegations that he has ever had sex with a minor or participated in human trafficking. The Department of Justice informed Gaetz it would not be criminally charging him over the allegations, though a House Ethics Committee investigation remains open.
The information, if released, could also assist the House Ethics Committee in its investigation into Gaetz as lawmakers probe whether he engaged in “sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.”
The Ethics Committee has struggled to get detailed information from the federal criminal investigation as the DOJ has been “stonewalling” committee investigators, sources have previously said. The DOJ ignored a House subpoena for records, which was issued earlier this year.
DOJ prosecutors specializing in sex crimes and public corruption investigated Gaetz for years, zeroing in on allegations that he paid former local politician and Gaetz friend Joel Greenberg — who is now serving an 11-year sentence for a list of charges including sex trafficking a child and fraud — for sex with a teenage girl and other young women. Greenberg’s confession letter, which was in the FBI’s possession, explained the financial arrangement and described the alleged parties.
Private Venmo transactions have also shown that Gaetz sent Greenberg $900 with instructions to “hit up” the specific teen at the center of the scandal, money that was quickly rerouted to three young women and earmarked for “Tuition,” “School” and “School” — in the amount of $900 in total.
But the DOJ informed Gaetz in early 2023 that it would not be criminally charging him. In the wake of that decision, Dorworth filed a state lawsuit against Greenberg, his family, their Florida dental business and one of the women who said she was a “sex trafficking victim.” The lawsuit claimed a vast conspiracy that cost Dorworth his lucrative lobbying career.
The woman fought back in court, with her lawyers depicting what they called her “experiences being sex trafficked and statutorily raped by plaintiff,” referring to Dorworth.
That lawsuit continued for over a year, with lawyers interviewing the lobbyist, his wife, Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend and several young women, according to court filings. Dorworth’s lawyers tried to mark those transcripts as “confidential” to keep them from the public. But in July, defense lawyers banded together to push back on the blanket of secrecy.
Dorworth ultimately dropped the woman from the lawsuit.
Throughout August, defense lawyers repeatedly challenged Dorworth’s secrecy requests, this time seeking to expose his text messages as well. Dorworth dropped his lawsuit entirely on Thursday.
But a Friday night court filing from the Greenberg family lawyer, Frederick Wermuth, indicates that the matter isn’t settled yet. Defense lawyers are now seeking to “recover their attorney’s fees,” and they want the depositions released publicly.
Wermuth claims that Dorworth’s lawyer missed key dates to bolster his secrecy requests on Aug. 9, Aug. 14 and Sept. 4, swinging the door open to the possibility that these documents could be made public.
“Throughout this action, plaintiff has abused this agreement, designating almost all of his discovery, entire deposition transcripts, and (later) portions of transcripts as confidential — even though these designated materials were extremely relevant,” Wermuth wrote. “There is a wealth of inculpatory evidence that he has effectively suppressed by designating it confidential.”
Defense lawyers noted that the court was already leaning toward releasing this material, pointing to an Aug. 13 transcript of a court hearing when Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick expressed frustration with Dorworth’s attempts to keep the depositions under wraps.
“This is a case of public importance,” Irick said in court. “It is one that there may be media interest in, and it’s one that involves important issues … I’m not seeing any confidentialities that would really overwhelm the First Amendment right for the public to see this case, especially when a plaintiff brings claims in relation to their marriage and spouses and the kind of intimate issues in this case which are laid out in extreme detail in the … complaint. I am unlikely to seal anything because it all seems relevant.”
U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza, who oversees the case, could make the final decision.
As of Saturday afternoon, Dorworth’s lawyers had not yet countered in court. A spokesperson for Gaetz declined to comment.
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Jose Pagliery and Reese Gorman are reporters at NOTUS.
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