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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
- Two former New York Academy of Art students say that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pressured them to play games with "sexual objects."
- One of the students, Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, told Artnet that it was a frequent "party trick" of the late convicted sex offender.
- A third person confirmed that the students had visited Epstein's New Mexico ranch, but did not recall the specifics of the meeting.
- Eileen Guggenheim called the depiction of the trip a "serious mischaracterization."
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Two former art students who visited Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico ranch in 1995 said they were pressured to play games that involved "sexual objects" with Epstein and his accused co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell when they visited his home.
In 1995, per the January 27 report from Artnet, the recent graduates from the New York Academy of Art had been selected to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to study under painter Eric Fischl and to meet Epstein, pitched as a wealthy benefactor that interested in purchasing the work of new artists.
The meeting was confirmed to Artnet by three former students at the New York Academy of Art. Two of the art school graduates spoke on the record and confirmed the meeting, which one called the "weirdest dinner party I've ever been to all my life." Another source confirmed the meeting though asked Artnet to remain anonymous.
Eileen Guggenheim, then the dean of students at the New York Academy of Art and now chair of its board, who the students claim brought them to Epstein's ranch, has denied ever being in the late sex offender's home in New Mexico.
Maria Farmer, who has previously accused both the late Epstein and the hard-to-track Maxwell of sexual assault, told Artnet that the meeting at Epstein's ranch was weird from the beginning. When the students arrived, Maxwell directed them to place their coats in the closet. When they opened the door, they were greeted by a skeleton hanging inside, another student, identified only as Ursula Ruedenberg told Artnet.
"She was disappointed that we weren't frightened by that," Ruedenberg said. "She thought that we would be afraid of a skeleton - but as art students, all we do is look at skeletons."
Rudenberg said Epstein and Maxwell continued to play "pranks" on the students throughout the day, which culminated in a dinner game that required the party guests to close their eyes and identify objects in a bag they were directed to pass around.
"One was what felt like pockets of jelly; it turned out to be falsies, like you put in your bra," Ruedenberg said. "Then they demanded that we put them on."
Ruedenberg told Arnet that she refused and felt shunned for her refusal. She said that Epstein and Maxwell appeared to be testing the limits of the students to see how hard they would be pushed to fulfill their odd requests.
"It was the weirdest dinner party I've ever been to all my life," she told Artnet. "I've been around a lot of rich people in New York and many are misbehaved, but this was another level."
Farmer, who went on to work with Epstein in New York and Ohio and would eventually report the duo, claiming that Maxwell assaulted her 16-year-old sister, said that the behavior of the duo was normal. Epstein would make his guests play games with sexual objects, like condoms, and Maxwell would make comments in an attempt to "normalize" his behavior, she added.
"She had a light-hearted delivery so you never felt like-dun dun dun-you're going to be kidnapped and raped," Farmer told Artnet. "You just thought they were quirky and they love art."
Guggenheim said in an email to Artnet that she had been unaware of any student concerns with the trip.
"Had any student expressed to me their personal discomfort over actions by Mr. Epstein," she wrote. "I would have immediately addressed the situation and offered my support. At that time, however, neither I nor anyone at the New York Academy of Art had any knowledge of Mr. Epstein's predatory behavior."
Farmer said the idea that Epstein would purchase the student's artwork was dangled over their heads like a "plastic carrot" during the visit to the New Mexico ranch, though both Rudenberg and Farmer told Artnet Epstein did not purchase any of their work.
Farmer told Artnet she gave two pieces she created at the ranch to Epstein, but he never paid her for them.
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