Epstein files place renewed attention on US authorities’ failure to stop him | Jeffrey Epstein

TThe Justice Department’s release of millions of records on Jeffrey Epstein not only raised questions about his crimes, but also renewed attention on authorities’ failure to arrest him after an accuser reported him in 1996.

This new cache of Epstein records has shed light on whether authorities knew about the allegations against him in the years since, including the period between his plea deal in 2008 and his federal arrest nearly six years ago.

Although it is known that attorneys for accuser Virginia Giuffre met unsuccessfully with federal prosecutors in 2016 about Epstein, newly disclosed records indicate that detailed information was provided to federal authorities years before that meeting. This included allegations against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; documents indicate he appeared on the FBI’s radar about 15 years ago.

A woman, whose name is redacted from these documents, gave an interview to FBI agents about Epstein and Maxwell in 2011, with a federal prosecutor present by telephone; her account echoes Giuffre’s public and legal allegations against sex traffickers.

The United States Embassy in Australia told the country’s national police: “The Federal Bureau of Investigation Miami (FBI Miami) is assisting the Palm Beach Police Department in Florida with an ongoing investigation into JEFFREY EPSTEIN, a United States citizen. »

The accuser, who learned of Epstein’s plea deal in late 2008 when she turned out to be one of his victims, contacted federal authorities in South Florida three years later. Federal agents questioned her at the U.S. consulate in Sydney on March 17, 2011.

This woman provided a detailed account of Epstein’s abuse and the alleged involvement of co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other men, when she was a teenager in the late 1990s. The woman, who described her suffering at the hands of several predatory men after leaving a rehabilitation center, told agents that her father, a maintenance worker at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, found her a job as a attendant. changing rooms.

The woman, then an aspiring massage therapist, was reading a book on this subject. Maxwell approached her and claimed she was looking for a traveling masseuse.

Shortly afterward, the woman went to Epstein’s Palm Beach home, where he abused her. She told officers she eventually traveled, the sexual abuse continued and he trafficked her to other men.

Giuffre, who committed suicide last spring, had long claimed that Epstein and Maxwell forced her to have sex with the former Duke of York, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The former prince, who was sidelined from royal life because of his relationship with Epstein, was arrested in England on Thursday; he strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls into Epstein’s predatory orbit, insisted she was innocent. Epstein died in prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.

FBI documents relating this interview also detail the threatening actions against this woman. She told federal agents that she had received phone calls from men claiming to be FBI agents seeking information about her knowledge of Epstein.

She said a lawyer and Epstein called her by phone a few weeks after the men contacted her, and that he said “if she didn’t tell the investigators, he would take care of her.”

The release of information about that 2011 interview comes as victims and advocates continue to show that law enforcement officials had multiple opportunities to hold Epstein and Maxwell accountable before their arrests in 2019. The timeline makes clear that if Epstein had been banned, others would not have suffered abuse.

Maria Farmer, a painter who worked for Epstein in 1996, filed a report with the FBI stating that he “stole” nude images of her siblings. This FBI report states that Farmer took artistic photos of his younger sisters for his personal work.

“Epstein stole the photos and negatives and allegedly sold the photos to potential buyers,” the report states.

The document also states that Epstein requested “photos of young girls in swimming pools” and threatened Farmer, stating “that if she tells anyone about the photos, he will burn her house down.”

Epstein served a brief period in a Palm Beach prison for state-level prostitution charges in Florida, including procuring a person under the age of 18, as part of his sweetheart plea deal. He was granted leave from work.

Officials said Epstein abused others between that plea deal, which allowed him to avoid federal prosecution, and his arrest years later. An adult victim claimed she was abused at Epstein’s office during the day off.

The Virgin Islands sued Epstein’s estate in January 2020, saying flight logs from 2011 to 2019 show he brought underage girls and young women to his private island “where they were falsely subjected to sexual servitude, forced to engage in sexual acts, and coerced into commercial sexual activity and forced labor.”

“As recently as 2018, air traffic controllers and other airport personnel reported seeing Epstein leave his plane with young girls, some of whom appeared to be between 11 and 18 years old,” the lawsuit states. The Virgin Islands where “Epstein trafficked and abused these girls, and others, in the Virgin Islands until 2018.”

Spencer Kuvin, who did not represent Giuffre but is an attorney for several of Epstein’s victims, questioned why federal agents didn’t take action after the 2011 interview.

“If this information was credible – and there is every reason to believe it – then the obvious question is why no significant action followed,” Goldlaw’s Kuvin said. “Survivors have done their part. They have spoken. When institutions fail to act on these revelations, it is the system – not the victims – that must answer.

“This is deeply disturbing. Survivors like Virginia have shown extraordinary courage in coming forward,” he also said. “The lack of urgency is institutional. Accountability must include examining why these opportunities were missed.”

Asked what happened after the 2011 interview, the FBI said it “refuses to comment.” The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a question about what happened after that interview.