GOP lobbyist accused of raping woman from Matt Gaetz sex trafficking probe: report

The FBI investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for claims that he was part of a scheme to transport an underage girl over state lines for sex acts did not lead to charges against the congressman, who has denied any wrongdoing. But one of his allies, county tax official Joel Greenberg, who received money from Gaetz before Venmoing the girl, ended up sentenced to 11 years in prison.

But there's one more person who could be in hot water in all this: Florida Republican lobbyist Christopher Dorworth, who filed a bizarre lawsuit against several people who tangentially involved him in the investigation — and is now being accused of rape by the girl at the heart of the scheme.

"Despite claims from Greenberg that Gaetz recruited and paid that teenager for sex, the high-profile investigation fizzled in February when the Department of Justice declined to prosecute the congressman," reported Jose Pagliery and Roger Sollenberger of the Daily Beast. "But little was ever said about the lobbyist. He’s now attempting to sue Greenberg, Greenberg’s wife, and the woman at the center of the child sex trafficking allegations for defamation and racketeering — and asking the court to declare that he never had sex with the woman when she was underage. But just as Barbara Streisand’s efforts to conceal a picture of her home led to more attention, the lawsuit is now drawing more attention to the old wounds — and putting the once underage sex trafficking victim on the record that Dorworth had sex with her too."

Dorworth, who previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and resigned his lucrative lobbying job as the investigation unfolded, "made the curious decision in April to sue Greenberg and the sex trafficking ring victim herself, who is referred to in the lawsuit only by her initials, 'A.B.,'" noted the report. "The young woman has taken the opportunity to lump the lobbyist in with Greenberg. Her motion to dismiss, which her lawyers filed in federal court on June 16, contains a half dozen passages that directly or indirectly accuse Dorworth of having sex with her when she was underage. The response asks the judge to toss Dorworth’s claims against her, portraying his lawsuit as a thinly disguised attempt to shield himself from his own accountability."

According to the report, Dorworth's legal team has already tried to walk back parts of the lawsuit: "On Friday, his lawyer cut six paragraphs from his initial lawsuit—all lurid accusations about the private sex life of Greenberg’s wife—pursuant to an agreement the two parties struck ahead of her own scathing motion to dismiss."

Some observers were critical of the move not to charge Gaetz as part of the sex trafficking probe. However, the report noted, the consensus among the prosecutors was that it was risky to bring the charges, with the evidence they had, against a sitting congressman as prominent and incendiary as Gaetz.