Witness tells House Ethics Committee Matt Gaetz paid her for sex: sources

In recent weeks, House Ethics Committee investigators have conducted a series of closed-door interviews with numerous women who witnessed the Justice Department's years-long sex trafficking investigation against Rep. Matt Gaetz, multiple sources familiar with the committee's work told ABC News.

Investigators have interviewed at least a half-dozen women who allegedly attended parties where the Florida congressman was also present and who were paid for by Joel Greenberg, Gaetz's former close friend. Greenberg was sentenced in 2022 to 11 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to several charges, including sex trafficking of a minor and introducing the minor to other “adult men,” sources told ABC News.

During the interviews, which had not previously been reported, some witnesses were shown Venmo payments they allegedly received from Gaetz and asked whether the payments were for sexual activity, sources said. Some witnesses were subpoenaed by the commission while others agreed to cooperate, according to the sources.

One woman, whom ABC News did not identify, told the committee that one payment from Gaetz was for sex, while others said they were paid to attend parties that Gaetz also attended and which featured drugs and sex, multiple sources told ABC News.

Gaetz has long denied all allegations, including paying for sex, and previously dismissed them saying “someone is trying to recategorize my generosity toward my ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.” The Justice Department informed Gaetz in 2023 that it declined to file charges against him after years of investigation.

The House Ethics Committee declined to comment. Florida attorney Joel Leppard of Leppard Law confirmed his client was cooperating with the committee but declined to comment further.

The committee subpoenaed the Justice Department earlier this year for records related to its investigation of the Florida congressman. Still, the ministry resisted releasing the information, sources said.

However, the committee obtained Gaetz's Venmo records after issuing a subpoena to the company, sources told ABC News. During the DOJ's investigation into Gaetz, public reporting, including that of the Daily Beast, focused largely on the Venmo recordings of Greenberg, who, according to his plea agreement, used his account to “pay for acts commercial sex” with women whom he also introduced to others. The committee obtaining Gaetz's records, which ABC News has not seen, could help provide congressional investigators with a road map to payments the congressman may have made while he was friends with Greenberg.

On Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee provided an update on its investigation into Gaetz, saying in a new statement Tuesday that after speaking with more than a dozen witnesses, issuing 25 subpoenas and reviewing thousands of documents, the bipartisan panel will continue to review the allegations. including that the Florida congressman “engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use” and that he “sought to obstruct government investigations into his conduct.”

The committee also clarified that it would no longer pursue allegations that Gaetz “may have shared inappropriate images or videos in the House, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds for personal use and/or accepting a bribe or improper gratification.”

When reached for comment, Gaetz's communications director pointed out to ABC News the congressman's social media post Monday, calling the House Ethics Committee “Soviet” and saying that “every investigation on me ends in the same way: my exoneration”.

Greenberg is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to several federal crimes, including sex trafficking a minor whom he admitted introducing to other “adult men” who also had sex with her when she was a minor. Justice Department investigators spent years determining whether Gaetz was one of the men to whom Greenberg introduced the minor before declining to file charges against Gaetz in 2023.

Greenberg, who has offered the Justice Department significant cooperation in its own investigation, is cooperating with the House Ethics Committee's investigation into the Florida congressman, sources familiar with the Justice Department's work told ABC News. committee.

At his sentencing in late 2022, Judge Gregory Persnell called Greenberg's degree of cooperation “more than I've seen in 22 years.” Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in late 2022 after pleading guilty to crimes including wire fraud, stalking and sex trafficking of a minor.

Investigators also interviewed several witnesses about a July 2017 party that ABC News first reported on. The committee obtained an affidavit from a woman who said she attended the party in Florida that Gaetz also attended, sources said. Several witnesses also told the committee that they saw Gaetz engaging in illegal drug use at parties, according to sources.

The committee first launched its investigation into Gaetz in 2021 before suspending it while the Justice Department conducted its own investigation.