Epstein grand jury records released, describe trafficker's network for 'grooming' underage girls
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Jeffrey Epstein, the sex-trafficking financier who died in federal custody while awaiting trial, had a network of groomed girls in Palm Beach, Florida, recruiting victims for him as far back as 2005, according to newly unsealed grand jury transcripts from a child trafficking case that he largely escaped with a slap on the wrist nearly 20 years ago.
The 176-page document contains new details about Epstein's crimes, including specifics about cash payouts to teens who recruited one another for Epstein's misdeeds, firsthand accounts from child sex-assault victims, and allegations of rape.
Palm Beach police initially opened the case after a fight between girls at a local high school, according to the transcript. One, just 16, had been accused of prostitution by a classmate, and a school official later found $300 in her purse, which originally came from Epstein, according to the documents.
She testified that she had been instructed to concoct a fake life story and pretend to be 18 to get $200 to give Epstein a massage before the first time she met him. Then she revealed she was asked to strip down to her underwear and had a graphic sexual encounter with him.
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Jeffrey Epstein pictured in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Sept. 8, 2004. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
In a court order authorizing the release of the documents, Circuit Judge Luis Delgado warned that the contents were disturbing.
"It is widely accepted that Epstein is a notorious and serial pedophile," the order reads. "The testimony taken by the Grand Jury concerns activity ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape – all of the conduct at issue is sexually deviant, disgusting, and criminal. The details in the record will be outrageous to decent people."
Joseph Abruzzo, who serves as Palm Beach County's court clerk and comptroller, announced the release of the documents shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday, hours after a new Florida law took effect legalizing the release of grand jury materials in certain cases. Grand jury proceedings are typically kept secret.
The transcript shows that prosecutors asked the victims if they were aware that they may have committed the crime of prostitution and did not describe Epstein as a "pedophile" in questioning before the grand jury.
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Photo from 2001 that was included in court files shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre who says Jeffrey Epstein paid her to have sex with the prince. Andrew has denied the charges. In the background is Epstein's girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. (Florida Southern District Court) (U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
An investigator on the witness stand, however, referenced a March 14, 2005, phone call from a victim's mother who was concerned about "sexual activity" involving her step-daughter.
"What had occurred was that [redacted] had gotten into a fight at [redacted] School," the doc explains. "And subsequently, after the fight, they discovered $300 in her purse."
"When questioning the $300, she had told 'em that she had received it from a man in Palm Beach."
The girl explained to a detective that she was taken to a house to massage "a wealthy man in Palm Beach," – and the documents identified the man as Epstein.
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A partially-redacted evidence photo shows various girls smiling for a picture on Jeffrey Epstein's Little St. James Island in 2006. The documents pertaining to a 2017 civil lawsuit from Epstein-accuser Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell have been made public by a federal judge. (SDNY)
On page 102 of the document, a search of Jeffrey Epstein's home found that a dildo was found in a bedroom. In earlier testimony, one of his underage accusers said he had offered her an extra $100 – on top of $200 for a massage – if she'd let him use a similar toy on her.
The documents also reveal one of Epstein's victims being interviewed about the money she was given for acts she performed.
"And I was like, I got $300," the girl said. "And I was like, kind – I was excited. $300."
One victim disclosed that she was 17 years old when she had sex with Epstein. The encounter took place on the day before her 18th birthday. Another said she was in her early teens when the financier used a sex toy on her and masturbated.
Jeffrey Epstein mugshot, 2019. (Kypros/Getty Images)
"And for my birthday he gave me, like, a couple [of] bras and panties," the victim said. She was also asked to stay in the room while Epstein had sex with Nadia Marcinko.
When asked if she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him, the victim answered no but said that it was "stupid of [her] to put myself in that situation." A juror also asked the question, "Did he take away from your person, your being, your spirit?"
"Yes," she replied. The witness also told jurors that she Epstein was well aware of her age at the time, but did not want to testify against Epstein.
"I would like to put it behind me for the most part," she said. "I was successful until about two days ago."
Jury proceedings also revealed that a witness saw Epstein sexually assault a stripper.
"When Jeffrey entered [redacted], did she ask him to stop at all?"
Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, MA on 9/8/04. Epstein is connected with several prominent people including politicians, actors and academics. Epstein was convicted of having sex with an underaged woman. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
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"She screaming no," the witness replied. The witness also added that he later apologized and offered her a thousand dollars in return.
The documents also mention former President Bill Clinton, who knew Epstein. It was in relation to a girl mentioning the former president on her blog, according to the investigator on the witness stand.
"There is a notion on one of her blogs, that she says she would like to meet Bill Clinton this week, because – and this is in quotes now – ‘Someone could be so famous for sucking his d--k; that’s how famous I could be.'"
She did not accuse the former president of wrongdoing or indicate that she'd actually met him.
Recalled to the stand, Palm Beach Detective Joe Recarey testified that investigators found evidence that one of Epstein's "assistants," as his groomers were known, recruited a 23-year-old woman for Epstein, but he turned her away.
"He told her, the younger, the better," he testified. "She brought a 23-year-old to massage him, and he told her that she was too old and he wanted someone younger."
Epstein received a lenient punishment of just 13 months for the 2005 child sex case. As a result, a group of accusers in February announced a lawsuit against the FBI, alleging it failed to properly investigate him at the time, allowing him to continue harming children and young women for years.
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