The U.S. House Ethics Committee has found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs and sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, U.S. media reported on Monday, citing a final draft of the panel's report.
 
Gaetz, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned from the House of  Representatives last month after he was selected by president-elect Donald Trump to be attorney general. He withdrew from consideration in the face of an uphill confirmation battle in the Senate.

In a bid to prevent the report's release, expected on Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit against the Ethics panel saying 
damage to his reputation and professional standing would be "severe and irreversible."

Denied all wrongdoing

The panel investigated transactions Gaetz personally made, often using PayPal or Venmo, to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, CNN reported. 

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A report from the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz violated 'House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,' according to reporting from CBS and CNN, who say they have obtained a final draft of the investigative report.

"The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favours or privileges, and obstruction of Congress," panel investigators wrote, according to CNN.

The report found that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 US to 12 different women, payments the Ethics panel determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and drug use, CBS reported.

The Ethics panel received testimony that Gaetz had sex twice with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as "Victim A," at a party in 2017, CBS reported.

"Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex," CBS quoted the report as saying. "Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age."

Gaetz was the subject of a three-year FBI investigation into allegations of sex trafficking that produced no criminal charges.

The Ethics panel said there was not sufficient evidence that the three-term congressman violated the federal sex trafficking statute, CBS reported.

All of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, according to CBS.

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However, one woman told the committee that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have "impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent."

Another woman told the committee: "When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated."

The report found that Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct banning prostitution, statutory rape and drug use, CBS reported.

'Substantial evidence'

It also found "substantial evidence" Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use, CBS reported. It accused him of accepting gifts of luxury travel in excess of permissible limits with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, CBS added.

In a statement Gaetz released on X last week after CNN reported that the committee had voted to release the report, Gaetz denied having sex with a minor or paying women for sex.

"In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated — even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years," Gaetz said. "It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."