Feds are investigating whether Matt Gaetz discussed running a sham candidate in a Florida Senate election to deprive a political rival of votes, report says

• Feds are investigating whether Gaetz discussed running a fake candidate in a state race, The Times said.
• The race's GOP candidate, Jason Brodeur, a Gaetz ally, ultimately won.
• Funding "ghost candidates" could be considered a violation of campaign-finance law, the report said.

Federal prosecutors investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz over sex-trafficking allegations are also considering whether he talked about running a fake candidate in a Florida Senate election to skew the results, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

In November, the GOP candidate in the race, Jason Brodeur, an associate of Gaetz, beat the Democratic candidate, Patricia Sigman, to win a seat in the state Senate.

The Times reported that investigators had been told about a conversation in which Gaetz and Chris Dorworth, a prominent Florida lobbyist, discussed running a fake third candidate to siphon votes from Sigman and boost Brodeur's chance of winning.

A third-party candidate, Jestine Iannotti, did run in the race. Brodeur ultimately beat Sigman by more than 7,000 votes, more than Iannotti got.

The Times' sources said that this line of inquiry was in its early stages. Gaetz's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Dorworth told The Times that he did not recall such a conversation with Gaetz and that he had never met Iannotti.

"I never met the woman who did run," Dorworth said. "Never spoke to her, communicated by any written device, gave her any money or anything else."

Getting a so-called ghost candidate to run in a race to pry votes from other candidates is not illegal, but paying such a candidate to run could be considered a violation of campaign-finance laws, The Times reported.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her travel in violation of sex-trafficking laws. Gaetz has denied breaking any laws.

That investigation is part of a larger one that centers on Joel Greenberg, a tax collector from Florida and an associate of Gaetz.

Greenberg has been indicted on 33 counts, including one charging him with carrying out the sex trafficking of a minor between the ages of 14 and 17. His lawyers said on Thursday that he was likely to accept a plea deal.

Two of Gaetz's aides have quit amid reports of the investigation, and several politicians have called on him to resign.