SEATTLE - After months of investigations into a sex trafficking scandal that linked Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to participating in "drug-fueled" sex parties with minors, the Florida Bar has dismissed a criminal complaint on Gaetz.
Gaetz has been under investigation for quite some time after rumors accused him of being involved in a sex trafficking scandal in 2017, where he allegedly engaged in "sexual activities" with a then-17-year-old girl at a party.
The Florida Congressman has long denied any involvement and wrongdoing. Last year, following a yearslong investigation, the Justice Department declined to bring any charges against Gaetz. One of the reasons, according to an ABC News source familiar with the investigation, was that prosecutors feared that a jury would not convict him due to the difficulty of proving that Gaetz and others knew that the minor was underage at the time.
The criminal complaint dismissed by the Florida Bar against Gaetz was filed in late September by Chaz Stevens, a South Florida activist. The case was debated within the Florida Bar because it did not pertain to Rep. Gaetz's conduct as a lawyer and could appear politically motivated.
The Florida Bar agreed in their dismissal letter that "to discipline an attorney that has engaged in criminal conduct, a court with proper jurisdiction must find that the attorney, in fact, committed a crime."
During the investigation, Gaetz produced evidence seeking to show that he and his family were being extorted by former Department of Justice (DOJ) official David McGee, with former ally of Gaetz, Joel Greenberg, acting as an accomplice.
Greenberg was once a close ally of Gaetz, until he was charged and convicted with sex trafficking a minor in 2020. The former Seminole County tax collector is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence.
My final response to the Ethics Committee: pic.twitter.com/iCBR3fyB6D
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 26, 2024
Earlier in October, Gaetz stated that he would no longer voluntarily participate in the House Ethics probe, painting a separate investigation as a "political payback exercise." He also reiterated his denial that he ever had sex with a minor.
"Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum," Gaetz said.
David Rothman, a defense lawyer, said that Gaetz could still be sanctioned, but mentioned that it is very rare that a criminal conduct allegation against a lawyer winds up being a Bar case without an attendant criminal investigation and prosecution.
But although Gaetz seems to have cleared the Florida Bar's investigation, he is still facing the one conducted by the House Ethics Committee.
Just a few days ago, on October 15, the committee recently issued a subpoena for documents from the civil lawsuit against Gaetz. The subpoena requests all documents related to the case, which include witness depositions and affidavits.
Back in July, the House Ethics Committee stated that it had stopped looking into certain claims, including whether Gaetz's misused state identification records or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity, but the investigation had also found other allegations that "merit continued review."
The committee said that it would continue to review claims that Gaetz "engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use" and that he "sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct."
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