An unknown person gained access to documents from a legal case that included depositions from a woman who said former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)—President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general—had sexual relations with her when she was 17, according to a lawyer involved in the litigation.
Attorneys involved in the civil case brought by a Gaetz associate were notified of the unauthorized access this week. according to attorney Joel Leppard, who represented a client involved in the case. The files, which had been shared between lawyers, included unredacted depositions from both the woman and a second woman who claimed she saw the alleged encounter.
The email notifying the lawyers about the apparent hack says a person named “Altam Beezley” downloaded the files and that when an attorney emailed the person to ask them to identify themselves, the email was returned because the email address was not found.
The files the person was able to access were part of a defamation case filed by a Gaetz associate against Gaetz’s onetime political ally Joel Greenberg. Gaetz was not part of the lawsuit involving the files.
Other lawyers involved in the case did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition said in a statement to news outlets that the allegations against Gaetz are baseless and intended to derail Trump’s second term. Trump told reporters on Nov. 19 that he was not reconsidering his attorney general nomination.
Gaetz has said he did not have sex with a minor or engage in any other wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors investigated allegations against Gaetz and ultimately brought no charges.
