Court filing alleges Matt Gaetz attended sex party in Lake Mary with underage girl

Lawyers for Joel Greenberg detailed allegations about a 2017 sex party in Florida with U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz in attendance.

Greenberg, a former Seminole County Tax Collector, pleaded guilty in 2022 to federal charges, including sex trafficking a minor. That case drew national attention after it prompted federal prosecutors to launch a sex trafficking investigation of Gaetz, a political ally and personal associate of Greenberg.

Prosecutors last year informed Gaetz he would face no criminal charges, but the House Ethics Committee announced in June it had expanded its own investigation of Gaetz into alleged sex and drug use allegations.

Filings by Greenberg’s attorney illustrate some of those accusations in greater detail. That latest information comes from a brief seeking legal fees for a defamation case brought against Greenberg and his family by a Lake Mary lobbyist. That case was dropped earlier this month. But testimony gathered in that case over more than a year included allegations by a woman, identified only as A.B., who claimed she attended a sex party at the lobbyist’s home and that Gaetz was in attendance.

Frederick Wermuth, Greenberg’s lead attorney, in a federal court filing said any testimony by A.B. and other witnesses should become a public record now that the defamation case has been voluntarily dropped. Moreover, the rebuttal includes key details from the testimony that has not been made public to date.

That includes assertions that A.B. attended a party on July 15, 2017, while she was still a minor. That invite came at a time that Greenberg was “regularly meeting teen girls and women in their early twenties through a website and recruiting them for sex with himself and others in exchange for compensation,” the filing states.

The July party was among several held with powerful political figures that involved “alcohol; cocaine; middle-aged men; and young attractive females,” according to the filing. It included Gaetz among dignitaries who were entertained at parties funded by Greenberg “featuring illicit drugs and young women.”

“Everything collapsed after Joel was indicted for stalking in June 2020,” the filing states.

Notably, U.S. District Judge Daniel Irick seemed to call the relevancy of the fresh accusations into question in a court order the day after the brief was filed. A Judge’s order states “it appears that much of the Defendants’ filings relate to their attempt to publicly utilize discovery documents to bolster their fee entitlement claims.” He ordered that parties must only consider the question or who should pay court fees, and that defendants needed to file any such briefs on Oct. 4 at the latest.

Regardless, including the accusations in the filing made public testimony from A.B. and other evidence surrounding Gaetz that had not publicly been available before. The filings were first reported by the Albritton Journalism Institute within hours of being filed.

Gaetz’s Office has not replied to a request for comment on the allegations. Plaintiffs who brought the defamation case called Greenberg’s credibility into question, noting the disgraced official has a history of lying. One of Greenberg’s first public scandals involved smearing Republican Primary opponent Brian Beute with such accusations.

“Joel Greenberg is in prison at this very moment for lying about his political opponents lying about sex with a minor,” said the lobbyist bringing the case forward. “He is known to have downloaded 60 photos of child pornography to frame his Tax Collector General Counsel, and that guy was a friend and former uncle by marriage of Joel.”

The lobbyist also said he doubted allegations about Gaetz that originated from Greenberg.

Alex Andrade, the attorney handling the case (and also a state lawmaker), filed opposition to Wermuth’s motion and said Greenbergs’ legal team wrongly was trying to force new accusations into the public purview even though the federal case had already been closed.

“The Family is, in effect, asking the Court to entertain a post-dismissal summary judgment motion or evidentiary hearing requiring determinations of credibility of factual allegations that are firmly contested by the parties,” Andrade wrote in his own brief.

In a separate case filed in circuit court, Andrade indicates A.B. had also been involved in the sex trafficking charge to which Greenberg pleaded guilty. In that case, he alleges Greenberg is continuing to fabricate accusations against former political associates.

Portions of the filing involving Gaetz are not redacted from the publicly available copy of Wermuth’s brief.