The woman at the center of the Justice Department’s years-long investigation sex trafficking allegations Circuit Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the former Florida congressman had sex with him when he was 17, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.

President-elect Donald Trump met with Gaetz on Wednesday. was heard Serving as attorney general, overseeing the government body that previously conducted its own investigation of him, which ended last year without any charges being brought.

Gaetz resigned from his post after Trump’s statement. This comes at a time when the House Ethics Committee is in the final stages of its investigation, sources said, adding that the committee is preparing to meet this week to deliberate on whether to take up the matter. publish the final report relevant.

Over the summer, the House Ethics Committee subpoenaed the woman at the center of the investigation, now in her 20s, and she sat for several days to testify, where she testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her. Sources close to the investigation said there was an underage child at the high school.

In response to ABC News’ reporting, Gaetz said, “These allegations are fabricated and would constitute false testimony to Congress.” “This false slander, which follows a three-year criminal investigation, should be viewed with great suspicion.”

The Justice Department spent years investigating allegations against Gaetz, including allegations of obstruction of justice, before notifying him last year that this would happen. not to bring blame.

Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing regarding the Justice Department investigation. In September, he reiterated his denial of the allegations, publishing a detailed response to questions sent to him by the House Ethics Committee, which is investigating allegations of sexual abuse and illegal drug use.

“Your September 4 correspondence asks whether I have ever engaged in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18. The answer to that question is absolutely NO. You can apply this answer to any version of this question, to any forum,” Gaetz said. he said. He published his statement on his social media account.

Regarding the former Seminole County tax, Gaetz added: “The committee’s star witness, Joel Greenberg, is a murderous liar who implicates others in his lies… Greenberg was originally charged with attempting to falsely frame a teacher at a local high school as a pedophile.” collector Joel Greenberg has admitted to falsely accusing a teacher who ran against him of a sex crime.

The woman’s allegation about Gaetz became part of the investigation following allegations by Greenberg, Gaetz’s former friend who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence. reach agreement He pleaded guilty with investigators in May 2021 to multiple federal charges, including sex-trafficking the woman when she was a minor and introducing her to other “adult men” who had sex with her when she was a minor.

According to Greenberg’s plea agreement, the woman, who ABC News did not identify, met Greenberg online in 2017 and began meeting him at hotels and homes in the Central District of Florida, where she “introduced Minor to other adult men,” court documents said. “Commercial Sex Acts with a Minor in the Central District of Florida,” it stated.

The then-minor “was representing that he was an adult” on the website where he met Greenberg, and according to his plea agreement, he admits that he “acted with reckless disregard for the fact that the minor was under 18 years of age” and underage when he engaged in commercial sex acts. He had “a reasonable opportunity to observe” that it was not.

During its investigation, the House Ethics Committee half a dozen women He was the person who allegedly attended parties at which the Florida congressman was present and was paid by Greenberg, a onetime close friend of Gaetz, sources told ABC News. While some witnesses were subpoenaed by the committee, others agreed to cooperate, sources said.

Parliamentary Ethics Committee was also summoned to court Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend Sources said he took the stand and appeared for an interview earlier in the year. As ABC News previously reported, the ex-girlfriend previously testified before a grand jury in the sex trafficking investigation.

The committee also received a sworn written statement from Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend, in which she listed the Florida congressman as one of the attendees of a July 2017 party attended by the woman with whom Gaetz allegedly had sex. Sources said the child was a minor.

ABC News previously reported that the committee received written testimony from a separate woman, who said that in July 2017, when she was 20, she attended a party in Florida that Gaetz attended and that an underage woman also attended. at the time and where drugs, including cocaine, were available.

Greenberg, a key witness in the Justice Department investigation, is cooperating with the House Ethics investigation, sources said. He gave written testimony to the committee while serving time in a Florida federal prison earlier this year, sources said.

Sources said some witnesses were shown Venmo payments they allegedly received from Gaetz.

As ABC News previously reported, a woman who said she attended a party with Gaetz in 2017 and who ABC News did not identify told the committee that the payment from Gaetz was for sex, multiple sources told ABC News. Others said they were paid to attend parties they said Gaetz attended and that these parties involved drugs and sex, the sources said.

Gaetz has long denied all allegations, including paying for sex, and has previously denied the allegations, claiming “someone is trying to reclassify my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more unsavory.”

Earlier this year, the committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for records related to the investigation into the Florida congressman, sources said. It is unclear whether these records were transferred.

But the committee obtained some Venmo records from Gaetz after subpoenaing the company, sources told ABC News. During the Justice Department’s investigation of Gaetz, public reporting, including The Daily Beast, largely focused on Greenberg’s Venmo records; Greenberg used his account to “pay for commercial sex acts” with women he introduced, according to his plea agreement. others.