Unknown person accessed documents on Matt Gaetz misconduct allegations

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An unknown person accessed copies of confidential testimony in a lawsuit involving allegations of sexual misconduct by Matt Gaetz, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general pick, a lawyer involved in the case said on Tuesday.

The lawyer, Joel Leppard, told Reuters that the person accessed documents including transcripts of testimony from witnesses in the lawsuit, which was brought by a Gaetz associate.

The New York Times, which first reported the story, characterized the incident as a hack, but the file sharing service involved said that the documents were improperly shared to the open internet, leaving them open to being downloaded by "anyone."

Leppard said that he learned of the incident through an email sent to lawyers involved in the case.

Leppard represents two women who told a House panel investigating Gaetz that they were paid for sex with the former Republican congressman and that one of the women witnessed Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was then 17, at a house party in 2017.

The documents accessed include sworn testimony from the woman who claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Gaetz as a minor and a second woman who testified she witnessed it, according to a report by the New York Times, which cited an unidentified source.

Leppard declined to comment on that report.

Leppard said the person accessed a computer file shared among lawyers involved in the lawsuit. There is no indication the documents have been published and the person's motive was unclear.

ShareFile, the file sharing service cited in the lawyers' email, said in a statement that "this was not a breach or unauthorized access to any ShareFile system, but rather use of the product inconsistent with best security practices."

The lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, involved many of the same incidents known to have been investigated by the Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee.

Gaetz, 42, resigned his seat in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday, hours after Trump identified him as his pick to lead the Justice Department, which investigated Gaetz for almost three years over allegations of sex trafficking.

Gaetz said prosecutors told him that probe ended without charges and has denied wrongdoing. The future of a separate probe by the House Ethics Committee has become unclear since his resignation from Congress. Some Senate Republicans - whose votes he would need to be confirmed to a Cabinet-level post - have said they want to see the committee's findings.

Gaetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A lawyer for the woman who alleges Gaetz had sex with her while she was a minor also did not immediately respond.

A spokesperson for the Trump transition has said the allegations are baseless and designed to derail the incoming Trump administration.

ETHICS COMMITTEE TO MEET

The Ethics Committee is expected to meet on Wednesday, according to sources familiar with its plans.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who heads the committee charged with confirming or rejecting the Gaetz nomination, declined to say on Tuesday whether he wanted to see the committee's findings.

"I'm not going to make a decision on what information (we) need, but I'm saying to the people that want any cabinet person to get through, not just Gaetz, but it's going to be a lot faster if you give us all the information that we want," Grassley told reporters.

Trump himself faced a pair of federal prosecutions since leaving office in 2021, one for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and one for mishandling classified documents after leaving office.

He has denied wrongdoing, described those prosecutions and two others he faced as politically motivated and vowed to use the Justice Department to go after political enemies when he returns to power on Jan. 20.

The lawsuit that produced the testimony was brought by Christopher Dorworth, a Florida businessman and associate of Gaetz, who accused Joel Greenberg, a former Florida county official, and others of falsely implicating Dorworth in illegal activity.

Gaetz was not named in the lawsuit, but the complaint from Dorworth accuses Greenberg of attempting to induce prosecutors to charge Dorworth and “other prominent current and former government officials with crimes.”

Greenberg is serving an 11-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to underage sex trafficking and other crimes.

Dorworth dropped the lawsuit in September, according to court filings.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, additional reporting by AJ Vicens and Bo Erickson; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Stephen Coates)