The US House of Representatives Ethics Committee has found that former Florida congressman Matt Gates paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs and sex, including a 17-year-old, Reuters reported, citing US media familiar with the final version of the committee's report.
Gates, who denies any wrongdoing, resigned from the House of Representatives (the lower house of the US Congress) last month after being selected by President-elect Donald Trump as his nominee for attorney general. He withdrew from consideration of his candidacy because he would face an uphill battle to confirm his election in the Senate (the upper house of the US Congress).
In an attempt to prevent the release of the report, which is expected to happen today, Gates filed a lawsuit against the House Ethics Committee, saying the damage to his reputation and professional authority would be "serious and irreversible".
Reuters could not immediately reach Gates for comment.
The report found that Gates paid more than $90,000 to 12 different women, with the ethics committee saying the payments were likely related to sexual contacts and drug use, CBS News reported. CNN also reported similar details about the report. Both media outlets said Gates' actions were in violation of Florida state law.
The ethics commission received testimony that Gates had sex with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as "Victim A", twice at a party in 2017, CBS reported.
"Victim A recalls receiving $400 in cash from Congressman Gates that evening and understanding that the money was payment for sex," the report, cited by CBS, said. "Victim A stated that she did not inform Congressman Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age", the text also says.
Gaetz was the subject of a three-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on allegations of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, which did not result in criminal charges, Reuters notes.
The Ethics Commission said there was insufficient evidence that the congressman violated the federal human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation law, CBS reported.
According to the American media, all the women who testified before the commission said that their sexual contacts with Gaetz were consensual. But one of the women told the committee that drug use at the parties and events they attended may have "impaired their ability to understand what was really going on or to give full consent." Another woman told the committee: "When I think back to certain moments, I feel coerced." In his lawsuit, filed today in federal court in Washington, D.C., Gates claims the committee violated his constitutional due process rights "by threatening to publish an investigative report containing potentially defamatory allegations." The committee's report says that Gates violated House rules and other codes of conduct prohibiting prostitution, rape and drug use, CBS reported. It said it had found "comprehensive evidence" that Gates was involved in illegal drug use. The text states that Gates accepted a luxury trip to the Bahamas in 2018 as a gift, which was above the allowable standards, CBS added.