Witness says Gaetz associate Greenberg paid her for providing sex at parties, never Gaetz himself

(Image credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

published April 14, 2021

A woman who reportedly attended parties with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said she would receive payments from the congressman's friend and fellow Florida politician Joel Greenberg for providing sex at the gatherings, though she said she never received money directly from Gaetz himself. The woman, one of two witnesses to the Gaetz-attended parties to speak on condition of anonymity with CNN, would not say who she slept with at the events.

One of the women said Gaetz behaved like a "frat type of party boy" and took pills she believed were recreational drugs, but both witnesses appeared to cast doubt on allegations — which are part of a Justice Department probe of Gaetz — that the parties were connected to sex trafficking. They told CNN they never saw anyone at the parties who appeared to be underage, and one of the women said she decided to speak with the network in part because she did not believe Gaetz was involved in sex trafficking based on what she witnessed. Neither witness has spoken to federal investigators, CNN notes.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox