2 days Ago By Skyler Swisher | Orlando Sentinel
An apparent hack of a computer file containing potentially damaging witness testimony against former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz became the latest dramatic turn Tuesday in the controversy surrounding Gaetz’s nomination by President-elect Donald Trump as U.S. attorney general.
The hacked file, part of a civil lawsuit, contains 24 exhibits, including unredacted deposition transcripts, a lawyer familiar with the case confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel. One of the depositions is said to be from a woman who testified she had sex with Gaetz when she was 17. An “unauthorized” user with the name Altam Beezley accessed the file, according to a notice provided to lawyers.
So far, it does not appear the hacker has made the information public, but the breach, first reported by The New York Times, raises questions about what may become public in coming days. The hacked documents are confidential filings in a civil defamation lawsuit brought by Chris Dorworth, a Central Florida lobbyist close to Gaetz, against former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, who is serving an 11-yearprison sentence after pleading guilty to sex-trafficking and other federal charges. The hack came amid mounting calls that a House ethics committee make public its findings against the North Florida Republican, who resigned from Congress last week after Trump picked him to become the nation’s top prosecutor.
The panel — which has been investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by Gaetz — meets on Wednesday. Joel Leppard, an Orlando lawyer representing two women who testified to the committee, called upon lawmakers to release the report, saying his clients deserve to have their voices heard. “They have been through heck,” he told the Orlando Sentinel in a Tuesday interview.
“They are two incredibly strong women who testified to the House about what they went through. This is not a hit job.” The two women testified that Gaetz paid them for sex, and one of the women said she witnessed Gaetz having sex with her 17-year-old friend at a July 2017 Orlando-area house party, Leppard said.
Her understanding was that Gaetz didn’t know her age and learned later she was underage, he said. The payments for sex were made through Venmo or other online applications, including from an account affiliated with Nestor Galban, who Gaetz has referred to as his “adopted son,” Leppard said. Leppard’s account of the testimony was first reported by ABC News.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and Trump is standing behind his attorney general pick, who has long been one of his most outspoken and loyal defenders. “Matt Gaetz will be the next Attorney General,” Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for the Trump transition, said in a statement released Monday. “He’s the right man for the job and will end the weaponization of our justice system.
These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration.” Gaetz resigned from Congress on Nov. 13, immediately after Trump announced his pick, meaning that the House ethics panel no longer had jurisdiction over him even though it had already prepared a report of its investigation and was mulling its release.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN on Sunday he doesn’t think the report should be made public since Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress. Leppard has been on a national media blitz since Monday, pushing for the House committee to release the report. Gaetz faces a rocky road to confirmation in the U.
S. Senate, and Leppard said his clients don’t want to have to go through the painful process of telling their story again. At least one prominent senator has raised the prospect that Gaetz’s accusers will be asked to testify in his confirmation hearing.
“There is a feeling of frustration that everything they have been through is for nothing,” he said. “It is ridiculous and inefficient to ask the Senate to go through a process that has already been done in a much more thorough way.” For two years, the U.
S. Department of Justice investigated allegations that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl but did not bring charges. Justice Department officials didn’t explain their decision.
The former Florida congressman has a checkered history in Central Florida. Gaetz’s name emerged during the Greenberg probe, first prompting investigators to look into whether Gaetz had sex with an underage girl and used illicit drugs. In 2023, Dorworth, a former state lawmaker, filed a federal defamation suit alleging Greenberg tried to ruin his reputation by falsely accusing him and Gaetz of sexual misconduct.
A number of women who alleged they were paid to attend sex and drug parties attended by Gaetz, Greenberg and others gave testimony during the lawsuit proceedings. Dorworth dropped the federal lawsuit in September but vowed to continue with a state lawsuit..
