A Denver cardiologist now serving 158 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting women was reported again and again to the dating apps he used — and nothing stopped him, according to a sweeping new lawsuit.

The civil complaint, filed Tuesday in Denver court, accuses the companies behind Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, Plenty of Fish, and other major dating platforms of knowingly allowing Dr. Stephen Matthews to continue meeting women through their apps while complaints piled up that he was drugging and raping his dates.

Matthews was convicted in August 2024 of more than 30 criminal counts related to sexual assaults of 11 women between 2019 and 2023. Prosecutors described his crimes as a calculated pattern: meet women online, lure them to his home, drug them, and assault them while they were unconscious or blacked out.

The lawsuit claims the dating platforms knew.

According to the filing, Matthews was flagged to the apps as early as September 2020. Women reported that they had been assaulted after dates arranged through Hinge and other services. Rather than alerting law enforcement or permanently banning him, the companies allegedly allowed him to remain active — and even continued recommending him to other women.

The suit names IAC, Inc. and Match Group Inc., the multibillion-dollar conglomerates that control roughly two-thirds of the global dating app market. Six Jane Doe victims are bringing the case, alleging negligence, failure to warn, consumer protection violations, misrepresentation, and sexual battery.

One of those women, identified as Jane Doe No. 5, says her assault followed a now-familiar script.

She met Matthews online and agreed to a date in a public park in October 2022. He arrived with his “adorable dog.” He suggested brunch — but first, a quick stop at his nearby townhouse to drop the dog off.

Inside, Matthews made Bloody Marys. She drank one.

Her next clear memory is vomiting. Then waking up in his bed without her pants. She has no recollection of leaving his home or driving herself back. She woke up alone in her own bed.

According to the lawsuit, this was Matthews’ routine. He used his dog as bait. He mixed drinks with unknown pharmaceuticals. He played games like Jenga, sometimes asking women to sign blocks. Then he assaulted them when they were incapacitated.

Despite multiple reports, the complaint alleges the apps’ safety systems were “essentially useless.” Even when Matthews’ profiles were taken down, he could simply create new ones using a different email or phone number — sometimes reusing the same photos, including one where he posed in a white physician’s coat.

In one documented case, a woman reported Matthews to Hinge after waking up naked on his floor following a drink he made that “tasted off.” A rape exam later confirmed sexual intercourse. Hinge responded that it took abuse reports seriously and would take “immediate steps.”

Three months later, the app recommended Matthews to her again.

The lawsuit alleges Match Group has known since at least 2016 that sexual predators exploit its platforms and that its apps lack effective tools to prevent banned users from migrating between services. While some platforms under the Match umbrella developed systems to automatically block users based on shared phone numbers, photos, or identifiers, the complaint says those safeguards were never implemented at Hinge.

A spokesperson for Match Group said the company is continuing to invest in safety tools and called reports of sexual assault “heartbreaking,” but the lawsuit argues those promises came years too late.

Over half of adults under 30 use dating apps, the complaint notes, and studies show a disproportionate number of sexual predators do too. In cases involving dating apps, the perpetrators were men 100 percent of the time, according to data cited in the filing.

For the women who reported Matthews and were ignored, the damage was already done.

The lawsuit paints a grim picture of an algorithm-driven dating economy that prioritized engagement and growth while a serial predator kept swiping — uninterrupted — until a criminal jury finally stopped him.

By then, prosecutors said, at least 11 women had already paid the price.