news House Ethics Report: Matt Gaetz committed statutory rape, drug abuse, corruption

2024-12-23T18:18:33Z

The official House Ethics Committee report on Congressman Matt Gaetz has been released, here are the highlights and findings:

From 2017 through 2020, Gaetz regularly paid for sex with women that he met through his friend, Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector that is now in prison for child sex trafficking and corruption
Gaetz would often utilize Greenberg and the sex workers to obtain cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana cartridges
Multiple sex workers told the House Ethics Committee they witnessed Gaetz using cocaine and ecstasy on multiple occasions
Gaetz and Greenberg provided sex workers with drugs to facilitate sex
One of the sex workers interviewed said it was hard for she and other sex workers to know what was going on or fully consent during the encounters due to the drug use
Between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz paid approximately $95,000 on sex acts and/or drugs - these payments were made to 12 different women and to Joel Greenberg
The panel knows Gaetz spent more than $95,000 on sex acts/drugs based on multiple, consistent witness statements but cannot account for it as they were cash payments
Gaetz often used his ex-girlfriend as a liaison to set up sexual encounters with prostitutes
On July 15, 2017, Gaetz and Greenberg attended a party at the home of a Florida lobbyist where multiple sex workers were present; There Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl twice at the party, once in private and once in front of the other guests at the party
The 17-year-old told the Ethics Panel that Gaetz paid her $400 for their encounter
Gaetz learned a month later that she was a minor and paid her again for sex, 6 months after she turned 18
Gaetz accepted impermissible gifts such as private flights from associates in the medical marijuana industry
Gaetz will now be required to pay back the cost of the private flights and impermissible gifts he accepted
Gaetz abused his power to get an expedited passport for one of the sex workers he was paying
Gaetz obstructed the panel's investigation by refusing to cooperate, refusing to turn over requested documentation, and offering conspiracies in response to what witnesses were reporting about him