Matt Gaetz, Texas congressman named in defamation lawsuit brought by Dallas man

Matt Gaetz — now there’s a name we hadn’t thought about in a while. 

You remember Gaetz. He served as a Florida congressman from 2017 through 2024, then resigned after he was teed up for the attorney general seat in President Donald Trump’s cabinet. Not too long after, he had to withdraw his name from consideration after it became clear his path to Senate confirmation would be more chaotic than Matt Damon’s journey back to Ithaca; at the time, Gaetz was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations that he’d paid women for sex, including a 17-year-old girl. 

And so, at the end of 2024, Gaetz kind of disappeared. Unless you’re a frequent watcher of the far-right One America News Network on cable, that is. 

For the last year and a half, Gaetz has headlined “The Matt Gaetz Show” during evening prime time on OANN. The show is exactly what you’d expect: everything from fear-mongering about undocumented immigrants voting in elections to good old-fashioned dunking on the Dems. 

A March newscast, though, may have landed Gaetz and Texas Congressman Lance Gooden in the hot seat. 

A civil lawsuit filed earlier this week in a Dallas County federal court accuses Gaetz and Gooden of defaming a Dallas philanthropist, Mark Patrick, during a newscast that accused Patrick of committing “perhaps the largest financial charity fraud in the history of this country.” The broadcast, which aired in March 2026, claimed that Patrick personally enriched himself using money meant for charity. 

The allegations stem from a lawsuit Patrick faced last year, which claimed that Patrick improperly moved funds from a Cayman Islands charitable foundation, ultimately hurting the organizations the money was meant to aid, such as the DFW Charitable Foundation. Patrick, though, argued that the restructuring was done to protect the funds from a third party, and the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands ruled that there was “no serious issue to be tried” concerning the financial maneuver. 

“The judicial officer was ‘unpersuaded that there is real risk that [charitable] assets will be diminished or otherwise unlawfully dealt with,’” the lawsuit states. 

Despite that ruling, Gaetz and Gooden used words like “criminal,” “fraudster” and “confidence man” to paint the picture of corruption during the broadcast. (Gooden appeared in a pre-recorded interview during the show to discuss the story.) Additionally, photographs of Patrick were used in the news show and he was identified as a resident of Dallas. The lawsuit adds that after being identified as a Dallas resident, Patrick had to initiate a complaint with local law enforcement to investigate the alleged tampering with his vehicle. 

“[The broadcast] caused Mr. Patrick to suffer shame, embarrassment, humiliation and severe mental pain and anguish,” the lawsuit says, further adding that the allegations “interfered” with his organization’s “charitable mission.” The lawsuit states that because the Grand Court’s ruling came out a month before the broadcast, Gaetz had every ability to know that Patrick had not been charged with or convicted of any wrongdoing.

It’s perhaps worth noting that Gooden, the four-term representative who resides in Dallas County (Sunnyvale), came under investigation by the House Ethics Committee this week. While the committee did not reveal the nature of the investigation, Gooden went on Fox News, where he described the charges as “bogus spending allegations.” 

Congressmen and their glass castles.