JACKSONVILLE, Florida - Matt Gaetz II, a politician and lawyer who has served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 1st congressional district since 2017, has recently been accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old.

According to CNN, Gaetz denied the allegations on Tuesday (March 30), saying, "no part of the allegations against me are true" and explaining that the claims were being pushed by people who are targets of an "ongoing extortion investigation."

"Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI's direction to catch these criminals," Gaetz said.

"The planted leak to the New York Times tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations," Gaetz added.

CNN reports that the Justice Department was investigating claims that Gaetz was allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl and that he may have paid for her to travel with him.

But Gaetz maintains that the allegations are false. 

During an interview on Fox News, he vehemently denied the claims made against him and explained that a former Department of Justice prosecutor was behind it all.

Gaetz divulged the name of this attorney, and said the individual had been attempting to extort him and his family in relation to the recent accusations of sexual misconduct. 

Gaetz said, "The person doesn't exist. I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false. The allegation is, as I read in the New York Times is, I have traveled with some 17-year-old in some relationship. That is false and records will bear that out to be false."

CNN says the Department of Justice declined to comment when asked about the case, and the FBI in Jacksonville issued the following statement on the matter: "The FBI declines to confirm nor deny the existence or status of an investigation. We refer you to the Department of Justice for further comment regarding this report."

The statement came after the New York Times reported that three people who were informed of the case said the US Department of Justice's investigation is part of a much larger investigation.

Federal authorities are reportedly investigating Gaetz as part of a broader probe into trafficking allegations against another Florida politician named Joel Greenberg.

Greenberg, a former county official in Central Florida, was arrested in 2020 on charges that include sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial.

CNN reports that according to a source, the investigation into Gaetz's activities was opened in the closing months of the Trump-era Justice Department and is an outgrowth of the Greenberg investigation. Public integrity prosecutors in Washington, DC, and Tampa are supervising the investigation into Gaetz, the source added.

As part of this broader probe, investigators are reportedly attempting to learn whether or not Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws -- something that could carry severe legal repercussions. 

No charges have been filed against Gaetz, according to the New York Times.