‘You know what I like’: Epstein files reveal disgraced financier’s routine abuse of girls | Jeffrey Epstein

BIn the mid-2000s, sexual abuse of teenage girls by Jeffrey Epstein was commonplace. From 2002 to 2005 alone, the late financier victimized “dozens” of underage teenagers by enticing them into sexual acts for money under the auspices of massages, some as young as 14, prosecutors said.

Epstein relied on a coterie of employees and associates – including British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – to ensure a “constant supply of underage victims”. He also asked his victims to recruit other girls under the false pretense of offering them massages, prosecutors said.

Although the scale of Epstein’s crimes is well-documented, articles in investigative files recently released by the Justice Department have highlighted how he and his associates had an almost assembly line-like process for recruiting victims.

These documents – released last week by a Trump administration under intense political pressure from Democrats and Republicans – also show more clearly how girls and young women were viewed as commodities: mere bodies intended to serve the twisted predilections of a predator – and perhaps those of his associates.

A 2001 document describes how Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for contributing to Epstein’s crimes, approached three female students on a college campus in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Maxwell said she needed young, attractive, single women to answer phones and do office work at her home in Palm Beach,” a police report states. At least one of the students visited the house several times and “described the phone calls as men calling.”[ing] saying when they were going to fall[f] especially girls.”

“All three girls said Maxwell and Epstein were secretive about what was happening at the home, and at least two of the girls complained that Epstein touched them inappropriately. They said Maxwell asked for a list of other girls she could call to work on short notice,” the report continues. Maxwell “said she needed a lot of girls to call because she didn’t know how many she would need at any given time.”

Investigative notes from 2019 describe what appeared to be a crisis for Epstein: His stock of girls to abuse was low.

Notes taken by an FBI investigator during an interview stated: “Friends of [redacted] friends. Large Brazilian group. Desperate time” and “lack of girls”.

“I can’t just bring girls he doesn’t like,” apparently recounted in the interview. “I told him to keep looking for girls.” At one point, someone saw Epstein “asking for ID from a girl who wanted to make sure she was under 18 because he didn’t believe them because [redacted] wasted by bringing in more older girls.”

The interviewer also noted that the witness remembered Epstein’s comments such as “you know what I like” and “you know what I’m interested in.”

“I understood that to mean a young minor,” the interview notes also state.

Newly leaked documents also describe how victims were encouraged to seek out girls and young women for Epstein. During grand jury proceedings in the federal Maxwell case, a law enforcement officer described a victim’s memory of these demands.

This victim in fact told the law enforcement agent that Maxwell had once said: “Do you know anyone who could give him a blowjob today, I don’t want to?” The victim also recalled that when Maxwell asked her to bring other girls, “they had to at least look young.”

This victim did not bring any girls or women into Epstein’s orbit, telling law enforcement that “she didn’t want anyone else to go through this.”

Another victim told law enforcement she brought other girls to Epstein’s house. “She was told she could make more money,” the law enforcement agent told grand jurors.

The victim said this directive came from Epstein and Maxwell. “They asked her if she could bring younger girls,” the agent told the grand jury.

These slices of documents provided even more information about the potential participation of others in crimes that treated girls as objects to be used. An email dated July 7, 2019 states: “When you have the opportunity, can you provide me with an update on the status of the 10 CO conspirators? »

Besides Maxwell, one of the names mentioned in this exchange about co-conspirators is “Brunel.” Epstein was friends with a French modeling agent named Jean-Luc Brunel.

Police arrested Brunel in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on suspicion of crimes including rape and sexual assault of minors, as well as human trafficking of minor girls for sexual exploitation.

Brunel, who allegedly supplied teenagers to Epstein, was found dead in prison about two years after his arrest. Authorities said his cause of death was suicide.

The documentation also suggests that Epstein and others may have shared images of child sexual abuse. A lawyer representing a co-executor of Epstein’s estate wrote to the FBI in April 2023 for advice; they were reviewing documents and came across potential images of child sexual abuse.

“Apparently, the relevant video was shared with Epstein by an individual convicted of a child pornography-type offense and it depicted one or two topless women,” the letter states.

The potential casual transfer of child sexual abuse images was mentioned in an FBI file nearly 30 years ago. Maria Farmer, an art painter who worked for Epstein in the mid-1990s, told authorities in 1996 that he “stole” nude photos and photographic negatives from her 12- and 16-year-old siblings.

Farmer, whose sister Annie was abused by Epstein, told the FBI he “allegedly sold the photos to potential buyers.” The type of case was listed as “child pornography” in this report.

Federal authorities have not acted on Farmer’s complaint. They did not acknowledge that she had reported him for possible images of child sexual abuse; Public confirmation of this report came during the disclosure of the Epstein documents.