Rep. Matt Gaetz attended a drug-fueled sex party in 2017 with the 17-year-old girl at the center of the alleged sex trafficking scandal, according to legal documents filed to a Florida federal court shortly before midnight Thursday, which cite sealed affidavits from three eye-witness testimonies.
The minor, who was a junior in high school at the time, arrived in her mother’s car for a July 15, 2017 party at the Florida home of Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist and friend of Gaetz’s, according to a court filing written by defense attorneys who interviewed witnesses as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit Dorworth brought in 2023.
The lobbyist claimed he had been unfairly dragged into the alleged sex trafficking scandal that has dogged Gaetz and his allies for years. Dorworth ultimately dropped the case, but lawyers filed these documents in an attempt to recoup attorneys fees for a lawsuit they say should never have been brought.
One eye witness cited in the court filings, a young woman referred to as K.M., provided a sworn affidavit that claimed the teenage girl was naked, partygoers were there to “engage in sexual activities,” and “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy… and marijuana” were present. The teenage girl was identified in the filings only as A.B.
“The discovery taken in this case to date reflects that on Saturday, July 15, 2017… Dorworth, hosted a party at his residence… with the following guests present: (1) A.B.; (2) K.M.; (3) B.G.; (4) Matt Gaetz,” lawyers wrote in the filing, also listing several others. The defense lawyers filed testimonies from those three women — who the attorneys say placed Gaetz at Dorworth’s house that night — under seal pending a judge’s approval to make the records public.
Additionally, Gaetz’s own ex-girlfriend — who was present at the party — provided testimony that lawyers say rebuts Dorworth’s claims that he was not there. NOTUS independently verified that Gaetz and one of the women who testified were previously involved in a relationship; she is only identified in the court filing by her initials, B.G.
The congressman’s ex-girlfriend’s 11th-hour testimony on Sept. 3 came just two days before Dorworth dropped his lawsuit, defense attorneys said in the filing. The defense lawyers also relied on Dorworth’s geolocated cell phone records, which showed that he communicated constantly with the congressman that day. The defense’s court filings show a hired digital forensic examiner identified Gaetz’s number, which has a Florida panhandle 850 area code and texted back-and-forth 30 times that day then called Dorworth twice in the hours before the evening revelry.“B.G., another attendee at that party, confirmed A.B.’s testimony under penalty of perjury,” defense lawyers wrote.
This marks the first time that sworn testimony has been referenced in public court filings alleging that the congressman attended one of the long-rumored parties tied to an alleged underage sex scandal. Previous reports have revealed details of ex-politician and Gaetz friend Joel Greenberg’s confession letter that was never made public, which described how Gaetz would allegedly pay him to arrange several sexual encounters with young women—including a 17-year-old girl. Greenberg is serving an 11-year prison sentence for a list of charges including fraud and sex trafficking with a child.
There have also been reports of Venmo payment transactions that were also never released showing the congressman paying Greenberg on at least one occasion.
In 2021, Gaetz appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show and asserted, “The person doesn’t exist. I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false.” Gaetz has denied allegations that he has ever had sex with a minor or participated in sex trafficking.
The Department of Justice investigated Gaetz and ultimately declined to file criminal charges.
Gaetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Records also show that A.B., who was born in 1999, attended three weekly deposition sessions in July and testified in front of lawyers in Boulder, Colorado.
The new details were released in a cache of court filings that were ironically made public as a direct result of the congressman’s friend, Dorworth, trying to make this disappear.
When the DOJ dropped the investigation, Dorworth sued several people including Greenberg, and the woman who claimed she was sex-trafficked by Gaetz when she was only 17. Dorworth did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Jose Pagliery is a reporter at NOTUS.