Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J.—A former aide to New Jersey ex-Gov. Jim McGreevey claims he had sexual trysts with McGreevey and his now-estranged wife while they dated before the governor took office.

Theodore Pedersen detailed multiple trysts in interviews March 16 with The Star-Ledger of Newark and the New York Post.

McGreevey’s former driver and traveling aide disputes claims by Dina Matos McGreevey that she did not know about her husband’s homosexuality when she married him in October 2000.

In her book, “Silent Partner,” she says she missed the signs that her husband preferred men. She says she didn’t learn of his homosexuality until shortly before he announced to the nation that he was “a gay American” and would resign.

Pedersen, 29, told the newspapers that the threesomes started in 1999 while McGreevey was mayor of Woodbridge and McGreevey and Dina were dating. He said they stopped when McGreevey was elected governor in 2001.

He said he only had contact with Matos McGreevey during the trysts, and wasn’t sure whether McGreevey was gay.

“In hindsight, there might have been light interest (in me),” Pedersen told the Newark newspaper. “But it didn’t seem like he was gay. It did enhance their sexual relationship having me be a part of it.”

On March 17 Matos McGreevey told ABC News that Pedersen’s claims were “completely false and were prompted by Jim McGreevey.”

Matos McGreevey said Pedersen owed her ex-husband for numerous favors, adding, “This was obviously payback time for Pedersen.”

McGreevey didn’t return calls or messages. His lawyer, Stephen Haller, declined to comment late March 16. Pedersen could not be reached for comment that night.

Pedersen’s name surfaced recently as part of the McGreeveys’ contentious divorce proceedings.

Matos McGreevey asked whether Pedersen’s trip to China last summer, in which he accompanied McGreevey and his boyfriend, Mark O’Donnell, was paid for out of a bank account the former governor and his partner share.

Pedersen told the newspapers he gave a sworn deposition about the sexual liaisons and expects to be called as a witness in the divorce trial.

In her book, Matos McGreevey refers to Pedersen as a close acquaintance but someone she didn’t always want around. On a trip to Canada during which she expected McGreevey to pop the marriage question, she insisted that Pedersen stay behind.

Matos McGreevey claims in her divorce lawsuit that her husband defrauded her by hiding his sexuality before and during their marriage. She is seeking $600,000 in damages.