Matt Gaetz
MIAMI – A South Florida activist has filed a new ethics complaint against former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, asking The Florida Bar to investigate whether a social media post identifying women he suggested were suing him violated professional conduct rules.
T. Chaz Stevens filed the 18-page complaint October 19, four days after two women sued Gaetz in federal court on sex-trafficking allegations. The complaint focuses on Gaetz’s response to the lawsuit – a post showing three women on a beach with Instagram account information visible – rather than the underlying trafficking allegations.
Stevens
A Deerfield Beach-based entrepreneur, consultant and First Amendment advocate, Stevens is founder of the code-enforcement complaint platform JoeSnitch.com.
The women filed under the pseudonyms Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2. Gaetz’s post on X included a screenshot of a September 2018 Instagram photograph and the caption: “Jane Doe Strikes Again! Two adult women sued me today alleging they were sex trafficked to the Bahamas. I’m shocked nobody responded to their repeated cries for help, posted to instagram.”
Gaetz has denied wrongdoing in the trafficking case. The Miami Herald reported that he said he was not certain whether the photograph showed either plaintiff.
“I look forward to taking the plaintiffs’ depositions because much of the conduct alleged against me is false,” Gaetz said in a statement reported by the Pensacola News Journal. “The lawsuit relies almost exclusively on a Congressional Committee report that didn’t allow me to confront my accusers. Now I will finally have that chance.”
Stevens’ complaint argues that publishing the account information could expose anonymous plaintiffs or people incorrectly identified as plaintiffs to unwanted attention and interfere with the litigation. It cites rules governing trial publicity, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, criminal conduct reflecting adversely on a lawyer’s fitness and violations of professional conduct rules. Those are Stevens’ allegations, not findings by the Bar.
Spencer Kuvin, an attorney representing the women, described the post as an intimidation tactic, according to reporting reproduced in the complaint.
“We’re not going to allow these intimidation tactics to distract from the serious allegations that we have in this lawsuit, and we will address them in court where they belong,” Kuvin said.
The complaint renews scrutiny of the Bar’s handling of allegations against Gaetz after an earlier matter ended without disciplinary charges. The Florida Record previously reported on that decision.
Central to Stevens’ latest filing is an August 15, 2025, letter of advice from a Bar grievance committee. According to the letter’s language reproduced in the complaint, the committee urged Gaetz to reflect on his responsibilities as an officer of the court.
“Never forget that ‘a lawyer is a lawyer is a lawyer’ and you do not take that hat off regardless of what other roles you may fulfill,” the letter said.
Stevens acknowledges in his complaint the letter was not discipline and expressly stated that it did not constitute a disciplinary record. He argues instead that it put Gaetz on notice that his professional responsibilities continued outside his work as an attorney.
Stevens criticized both Gaetz’s post and the Bar’s previous response.
“The Bar told Gaetz in writing that ‘a lawyer is a lawyer is a lawyer,’” Stevens told The Florida Record for this story. “Hours after two women sued him in federal court, he posted the naked derrieres of three women and captioned it ‘Jane Doe Strikes Again!’ …
“That’s a strip-mall lawyer’s move, not the vice chair of a $1.5 billion board’s. Just when you think Matt’s hit rock bottom, he reaches down and finds a trap door. My complaint asks the Bar one question: do its rules apply to him or don’t they? Fifth time asking. Still counting.”
Gaetz is vice chairman of Triumph Gulf Coast, according to the organization’s meeting minutes. The board oversees the distribution of $1.5 billion in BP oil-spill settlement money for economic development in eight Florida Panhandle counties. Its website lists his board term as beginning July 1, 2026.
Stevens says this is his fifth complaint against Gaetz and that the Bar closed his first four in May 2025. His latest filing asks the Bar to investigate, refer the matter to a grievance committee and pursue formal charges if probable cause is found.
It also requests that any committee review take place outside the First Judicial Circuit, where Gaetz’s law practice is based. Stevens describes that request as a way to avoid questions about appearances, not an allegation of impropriety by local Bar officials.
The complaint says Stevens has no connection to the federal lawsuit or its parties and relies on documentary evidence, including screenshots and published reporting. It does not allege that a crime has been established.
Gaetz remains a Florida Bar member in good standing, according to the directory record included in the filing. It is unclear if the Bar has opened an investigation into the latest complaint. The Florida Bar generally keeps pending disciplinary investigations confidential.
