<ul class="summary-list"><li>Prosecutors are almost done presenting their child-sex-trafficking case against <keyword id="12069583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ghislaine-maxwell" source="Orion">Ghislaine Maxwell</keyword>.</li><li>Thursday was supposed to be the day the state rested its case, but it went terribly for them.</li></ul>On Thursday, prosecutors in <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-sex-trafficking-charges-jeffrey-epstein-connection-explained-2021-11">the Ghislaine Maxwell trial</a> were supposed to put one of their star witnesses on the stand.<keyword id="12705292" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="annie-farmer" source="Orion">Annie Farmer</keyword>, one of four accusers cited in the indictment against Maxwell, was expected to close out the prosecution's case with a bang. Unlike the three accusers who've already testified, Annie wasn't planning to testify anonymously, and her story has been widely publicized.In April 1996, a then-16-year-old Farmer flew from her home in Arizona to now-dead pedophile <keyword id="11957148" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jeffrey-epstein" source="Orion">Jeffrey Epstein</keyword>'s New Mexico ranch. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">Farmer has said in interviews</a> that at the ranch, Maxwell directed her to take off her top and gave her a sexualized massage.According to Farmer, the trip included numerous instances of physical contact from Maxwell and Epstein that she found inappropriate. (Annie's sister, <keyword id="12705293" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="maria-farmer" source="Orion">Maria Farmer</keyword>, has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html">leveled more serious allegations against Epstein and his former client Leslie Wexner</a>, which the Victoria's Secret mogul denies, but she is not a party in Maxwell's criminal trial.)Prosecutors were expected to rest their case not long after presenting Farmer's testimony to the jury in Manhattan federal court. They also planned to call an FBI agent to testify about certain pieces of evidence in order to advance their argument that Maxwell trafficked girls to Epstein for sex, and in some cases sexually abused them herself.But Annie Farmer didn't testify Thursday, and none of that happened.Instead, US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversees the case, adjourned the trial at 10:34 a.m.One of the attorneys involved in the case required medical attention, Nathan announced, and the jury was told to go home early. Journalists in the room noticed that Lara Pomerantz, an assistant US attorney leading the case, was absent from the prosecution's table when Nathan made the announcement. Nathan assured people in the courtroom that the medical issue wasn't COVID-related.It was a bad day for the prosecution. Rescheduling a witness isn't the end of the world, but the two hours of argument and witness testimony that Nathan squeezed in before sending the jury home went poorly for the lawyers trying to put Maxwell behind bars.<h2>Prosecutors haven't shown clear evidence that Maxwell sent accusers lingerie</h2>Before Farmer's anticipated testimony, prosecutors called Tracy Chapell, a FedEx paralegal, who testified about Epstein's invoices.Prosecutors <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-opening-statements-prosecution-2021-11">have accused Maxwell of trafficking girls for Epstein to sexually abuse</a>. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-defense-lawyers-opening-statements-epstein-relationship-overstated-2021-11">her defense attorneys have argued that the Justice Department went after her as a proxy for Epstein</a>, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on similar charges.Chapell seemed to prove the defense attorneys' point, and it was head-scratching that prosecutors presented her as a witness.Throughout the trial, prosecutors have repeatedly referenced these FedEx records. In opening statements last week, Pomerantz told jurors that the records would prove "Epstein sent a gift to one victim when she was just 15 years old." And <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-accuser-says-18-was-too-old-for-epstein-2021-12">in testimony on Tuesday</a>, an accuser who went by her first name, Carolyn, said she remembers receiving Victoria's Secret lingerie in the mail while living in West Palm Beach, Florida. It stuck in her mind, she said, because the package was sent from New York, where she grew up. Prosecutors even hauled in her ex-boyfriend, Shawn, as a witness on Wednesday. He also talked about the FedEx packages.<div type="image" title="ghislaine maxwell carolyn" height="2268" width="3024" msid="88196420" hostid="261"></div>But Epstein is dead, as Maxwell's attorneys' noted. If prosecutors wanted to prove to jurors that Maxwell facilitated Epstein's <keyword id="11910913" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sexual-abuse" source="Orion">sexual abuse</keyword> of Carolyn through those packages, they failed to do so.Chapell testified that she dug up hundreds of pages of Epstein's FedEx invoices out of storage boxes kept in a warehouse, pursuant to subpoenas from prosecutors and Maxwell's lawyers.She reviewed some of those pages, and indicated that packages were sent from Epstein's office at 457 Madison Avenue in New York to a person named "Carolyn" — though partially redacted copies shown to the public showed her name was often misspelled — in West Palm Beach in late 2002. The Carolyn who testified earlier this week said Epstein began sexually abusing her that year.None of those packages were sent by Maxwell, according to the records. The records demonstrated that all the packages were sent by Epstein himself, a person named Cecilia Steen, or Sarah Kellen, another of the financier's assistants who several other Epstein accusers have also accused of misconduct.<div type="image" title="tracy chapman fedex ghislaine maxwell trial" height="674" width="899" msid="88196421" hostid="261"></div>Things got worse for the prosecution when Maxwell's attorney, Christian Everdell, best known as a former prosecutor who helped bring down drug kingpin El Chapo, presented dozens more pages of FedEx records from the same time period.The records showed that Maxwell did send FedEx packages from the very same Madison Avenue office on the very same days that Epstein's other employees sent packages to Carolyn. According to the FedEx records, Maxwell sent packages to investment banker Ron Burkle, to artificial intelligence scientist Danny Hillis, and to her sister Isabelle, who was in court Thursday morning and gave Maxwell a glance when her name was read aloud.But Maxwell was not listed as a sender to Carolyn, nor "Caroline," "Cardine," nor any of the other possible misspellings for the West Palm Beach resident.Everdell also pointed to a package that appeared to be sent to "Jane" — <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-sexual-abuse-14-years-old-2021-11">the pseudonym for another accuser in the trial</a> — and indicated that Epstein, not Maxwell, was listed as the sender on the package.At the end of Chapell's testimony, Everdell entered around 50 more pages of FedEx records into evidence for the jury to review. Presumably, those records don't show that Maxwell sent accusers any packages that would indicate she facilitated sexual abuse.<h2>Prosecutors are planning to close up shop early</h2>The snafus with Annie Farmer and the FedEx records might have been easy for the jury to gloss over if prosecutors continued to pile on evidence against Maxwell. Before the trial began, they told Nathan that they would need around three weeks to present their case.On Tuesday, prosecutors told Nathan that they expected to rest by Thursday or Friday, cutting their case down by a full week.The timeline adjustment is understandable in some respects: One witness, a brother of "Jane," broke court rules by talking to Jane after her own testimony, so prosecutors elected not to call him to the witness stand to corroborate parts of her story. A tight case isn't necessarily a bad thing. Focusing on <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-sex-trafficking-charges-jeffrey-epstein-connection-explained-2021-11">the charges in the indictment against Maxwell</a>, without diving deeply into the many rabbit holes of Epstein's high-flying life and powerful connections, can make it easier for the jury to process the most relevant evidence.<div type="image" title="Maurene Comey" height="1333" width="1778" msid="88196422" hostid="261"></div>But in curtailing their case prosecutors have <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article256438281.html">left lingering questions for the jury</a>.Why not indict Sarah Kellen as a co-defendant, or call her to testify? (A representative for Kellen couldn't be reached for comment, but she has denied wrongdoing in response to civil lawsuits against her over her work for Epstein.)And what's going on with Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein and Maxwell accuser <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-accuser-says-18-was-too-old-for-epstein-2021-12">whose name has come up several times in the trial</a>? (Giuffre is <a href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-lawsuit-led-to-criminal-case-ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-2021-11">involved in separate civil litigation against Maxwell</a> that formed the basis for perjury charges against the socialite, but the jury doesn't know that.)The prosecutors in Maxwell's case, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10281765/Team-battling-Ghislaine-Maxwell-bars-faces-94-year-experience-gap-defense.html">who are all much younger than her defense attorneys</a>, also appeared to be outfoxed on another legal issue Thursday. Before Chapell's testimony began, Assistant US Attorney Andrew Rohrbach told the judge about anticipated testimony from Michael Buscemi, an FBI agent. Rohrbach wanted Buscemi to go through several handwritten message pads found in Epstein's home in Palm Beach, Florida, to show the jury that Carolyn often made calls there.But as Maxwell's lawyer, Jeffrey Pagliuca, pointed out, Buscemi wasn't one of the agents who got the message pads from Epstein's home. If prosecutors wanted to have a witness read through the messages, the proper procedure would have been to do it through one of Epstein's household staffers, who testified earlier in the trial.Nathan sided with Maxwell's lawyers. If prosecutors wanted to point out the details in the message pads, she said, then they'd have to wait until the end of the trial.

Prosecutors are almost done presenting their case at the Ghislaine Maxwell trial — but they just had a terrible day

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Epstein accuser <keyword id="11509411" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="maria-farmer">Maria Farmer</keyword> says Epstein and <keyword id="7971251" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ghislaine-Maxwell">Ghislaine Maxwell</keyword> lied to her about being married.</li><li>Farmer recounts thinking they were a "weird couple" when she first met the duo.</li><li>"I believed they were a married couple that really were into philanthropy and education," she said.</li></ul>Maria Farmer, one of<a href="https://time.com/5662688/jeffrey-epstein-accusers-court/"> over 20 women</a> who have <a href="https://www.insider.com/timeline-jeffery-epstein-sexual-abuse-cases-2019-7">accused </a><a href="https://www.insider.com/timeline-jeffery-epstein-sexual-abuse-cases-2019-7">Jeffrey Epstein </a><a href="https://www.insider.com/timeline-jeffery-epstein-sexual-abuse-cases-2019-7">of sexual assault</a>, said that despite thinking the late financier and Ghislaine Maxwell were "weird" at first, Farmer grew to feel "comfortable" around the two because they lied to her about being a married couple.Farmer first opened up about her experience with the duo, who she says assaulted her in 1996 when she was in her 20s, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">a 2019 New York Times report</a>. The artist repeated her allegations in the newly-released three-part docu-series titled "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell," which premiered on <keyword id="6413152" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="peacock">Peacock</keyword> on Thursday.Farmer also delved deeper into how she met and got to know the two in the 1990s when she was a recent college graduate."I just remember thinking they were kind of a weird couple. I thought they were strange," Farmer said in the <keyword id="35012" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="documentary">documentary</keyword> about her first impression of Epstein and Maxwell, his alleged confidante and co-conspirator."Jeffrey was all smiley and a little bit too much, you know?" she continued. "Very gregarious, warm, affable guy."Maxwell, Farmer said, "was just, kind of, standing there, you know, pretending to be nice."<div type="image" title="ghislaine maxwell jeffrey epstein michael bolton" height="1285" width="1714" msid="83873579" hostid="261"></div><h2>Farmer said Epstein and Maxwell pretended to be a married couple</h2>Farmer said in "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell" that despite a lukewarm first impression, she went on to feel comfortable around Maxwell and Epstein because the two told her they were married. "I believed they were a married couple that really were into philanthropy and education," she said. Though Maxwell and Epstein met in the 1990s and <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-alleged-madame-2019-7#after-fleeing-to-new-york-maxwell-rubbed-elbows-with-some-of-the-citys-highfliers-including-the-real-estate-developer-donald-trump-2">were romantically involved for some time</a> (although it's unclear for exactly how long), they were <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/15/ghislaine-maxwell-refusing-reveal-identity-secret-husband-court/">never married</a>.Insider previously reported in July 2020 that Maxwell is currently married, <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-married-but-not-identifying-spouse-prosecutors-say-2020-7">but she declined to reveal the identity of her spouse</a>, according to prosecutors. (Maxwell <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/style/who-is-scott-borgerson-ghislaine-maxwell.html">has been linked to tech CEO Scott Borgerson</a>, although there is <a href="https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/ghislaine-maxwell-husband-scott-borgerson">no official record of the two getting married</a>.)The former socialite <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jailed-mdc-brooklyn-danger-rough-conditions-2020-7">is being held in a New York jail without bail</a> while awaiting trial in connection with accusations that she recruited minor girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. The producers for "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell" noted in the documentary that Maxwell didn't respond to their request for an interview. Farmer's statements in the documentary were provided in a sworn affidavit.Insider separately reached out to Maxwell's legal representatives for comment on Farmer's allegations, but had not heard back at the time of publishing.<h2><div type="image" title="jeffrey epstein new york manhattan townhouse mansion" height="1666" width="2223" msid="83873582" hostid="261"></div>Farmer said Epstein 'created a job' for her</h2>In "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell," Farmer described how, after meeting at an art exhibit in 1995, Epstein first approached her to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">acquire artwork on his behalf</a> before tasking Farmer with supervising the front desk at his Manhattan townhouse. Epstein "moved a big, white desk into the 71st Street mansion," according to Farmer. "That was my job ... to watch that door. I had a big white book and I signed people in."Farmer said that during one of her first visits to his Upper East Side home, when Epstein gave her a tour of the place, she noticed Maxwell and Epstein "recording everyone who ever came and went," including a lot of "little girls" along with "all these dignitaries ... and presidents."Insider previously reported in 2019 that investigators found "hundreds" of <a href="https://www.insider.com/nude-photos-underage-girls-jeffrey-epsteins-mansion-investigators-2019-7">nude pictures of young girls</a> at the home along with some peculiar items like <a href="https://www.insider.com/jeffrey-epstein-nyc-mansion-decorations-interior-photos-2019-8">a painting of former president Bill Clinton</a> wearing a blue dress.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell gained an accuser's trust by lying and claiming they were married, new documentary says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Epstein accuser <keyword id="11509411" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="maria-farmer">Maria Farmer</keyword> doesn't think alleged co-conspirator <keyword id="7971251" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ghislaine-Maxwell">Ghislaine Maxwell</keyword> is in jail.</li><li>Farmer says she wants "proof" and thinks Maxwell "may very well be in <keyword id="6354862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trump">Trump</keyword> Tower."</li><li>Farmer has accused Epstein and Maxwell of sexually assaulting her in 1996.</li></ul>Maria Farmer, one of <a href="https://time.com/5662688/jeffrey-epstein-accusers-court/">the over 20 women</a> who have <a href="https://www.insider.com/timeline-jeffery-epstein-sexual-abuse-cases-2019-7">accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual assault</a>, doesn't believe that Epstein's confidante and alleged co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is actually in jail.Maxwell, a former socialite, <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jailed-mdc-brooklyn-danger-rough-conditions-2020-7">is being held in a Brooklyn, New York, prison without bail</a> while awaiting trial in connection with accusations that she recruited minor girls for the disgraced financier to sexually abuse.Farmer, however, voiced doubts about Maxwell's whereabouts in a newly-released three-part docuseries, titled "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell," which premiered on <keyword id="6413152" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="peacock">Peacock</keyword> on Thursday. "Forgive me, after this 'giant conspiracy theory' I've lived that I don't believe anything," Farmer said in the <keyword id="35012" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="documentary">documentary</keyword>. "I want proof. I'd like to see her.""She may very well be in Trump Tower," she added.While there is no evidence to suggest that Maxwell is indeed living at Trump Tower, Epstein and the man behind the Manhattan skyscraper, former president Donald Trump, had a well-documented friendship <a href="https://www.insider.com/trump-epstein-friendship-timeline-history-2019-7#trump-told-new-york-magazine-in-2002-that-he-had-known-epstein-for-15-years-suggesting-they-met-around-1987-in-the-profile-trump-said-epstein-was-a-lot-of-fun-he-also-said-epstein-liked-beautiful-women-as-much-as-he-did-and-that-many-of-them-were-on-the-younger-side-the-pair-are-seen-here-in-palm-beach-florida-in-1992-1">that began in the late 1980s</a>, according to Trump.Although the politician said in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-epstein-had-falling-out-havent-spoken-in-15-years-2019-7">2019 that he "wasn't a fan" of Epstein</a>, Trump and Epstein <a href="https://www.insider.com/trump-epstein-friendship-timeline-history-2019-7#in-2000-trump-melania-epstein-and-maxwell-were-photographed-together-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-resort-according-to-the-new-york-times-epstein-was-never-a-paying-member-but-trump-made-sure-epstein-was-treated-like-a-close-friend-10">were photographed alongside Maxwell and Trump's wife, Melania, on at least one occasion</a> in 2000. "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell" also features <a href="https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1151456109007450113">a clip of Trump and Epstein laughing together</a> at a party in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1992. The producers for "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell" noted in the documentary that Maxwell didn't respond to their request for an interview. Farmer's statements in the documentary were provided in a sworn affidavit.Insider separately reached out to Maxwell's legal representatives for comment on Farmer's allegations, but had not heard back at the time of publishing. Insider also reached out to representatives for Trump, but didn't immediately hear back.<div type="image" title="Ghislaine Maxwell" height="2268" width="3024" msid="83824630" hostid="261"></div> "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell," which focuses on Maxwell, investigates <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-testimony-jeffrey-epstein-released-2020-10">her close ties to Epstein</a> while providing a deeper look into her <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-father-real-estate-assets-foundation-2019-8">family background and social life</a>. The series features over a dozen interviews with accusers, journalists, lawyers, and former friends of Maxwell.It also includes Farmer's account of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">getting to know Epstein and Maxwell, a former couple, in the 1990s</a>. Farmer said in the docuseries that Epstein initially offered her, then a recent college graduate artist, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">a job acquiring art pieces on his behalf</a> before tasking Farmer with supervising the front desk at his Manhattan townhouse. However, the relationship between Farmer and the older pair turned sour when, Farmer alleges, Maxwell and Epstein sexually abused her in 1996.Farmer first publicly opened up about her experience with Maxwell and Epstein in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">a 2019 New York Times report</a> in which Farmer's younger sister, Annie, also recounted accusations of Maxwell giving a then-minor Annie an inappropriate massage while Epstein watched.Annie's separate encounter with Maxwell and Epstein, combined with her own sexual assault, prompted Farmer to report the former couple to the FBI in 1996, but Farmer alleges that the federal authorities didn't seriously investigate her claims.In response to the 2019 report, the FBI <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">declined to reveal to the Times</a> whether the federal agency had records of any calls from Farmer in 1996. <h2>Maxwell previously complained about the conditions inside her jail cell</h2>While Farmer may have her doubts about whether Maxwell is actually in prison, Maxwell has <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-lawyers-and-bureau-of-prisons-clash-over-conditions-2020-12">repeatedly tried to get out of jail</a> before her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/03/ghislaine-mawell-trial-postponed-delayed">trial later this year</a>, citing poor living conditions. Insider previously reported that in <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-says-living-conditions-jail-fit-for-hannibal-lecter-2021-4">a bail application filed in April</a>, Maxwell's lawyers said that the conditions <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jailed-mdc-brooklyn-danger-rough-conditions-2020-7">inside her Brooklyn jail</a> are "fitting for Hannibal Lecter but not a 59-year old woman who poses no threat to anyone."Bobbi Sternheim, Maxwell's lawyer, added in the same letter that Maxwell was being given "often cloudy" water to drink and improperly microwaved food to eat. Maxwell was also not able to sleep properly because of facility staff shining a flashlight into her cell every 15 minutes, Sternheim said.<div type="image" title="ghislaine maxwell panel" height="1421" width="1895" msid="83824634" hostid="261"></div>Sternheim said in another letter to US District Judge Alison J. Nathan <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-vermin-poop-falling-in-jail-2021-6">filed to the court on June 15 and viewed by Insider</a> that "raw sewage permeated" the walls of Maxwell's cell and that vermin droppings fell from air vents. Maxwell's older brother, Ian, echoed Sternheim's statement's about Ghislaine's poor living conditions in an ABC <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> interview clip included in "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell.""Why is Ghislaine Maxwell being treated differently?" he continued in the ABC News interview. "She's a patsy for Epstein, is the answer, who they lost on their watch and they're taking it out on my sister."

Jeffrey Epstein accuser says she doesn't believe Ghislaine Maxwell is actually in prison and thinks she 'very well may be in Trump Tower'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The names of more than 170 Jeffrey Epstein associates are set to be unsealed.</li><li>Powerful people like Bill Clinton, Glenn Dubin, and Jean Luc Brunel are expected to be among the names. </li></ul>A federal judge in New York is set to unseal the identities of more than 170 associates of Jeffrey Epstein as part of a long-running lawsuit between one of his accusers and his sex-trafficking partner Ghislaine Maxwell.Former President Bill Clinton is perhaps the biggest name expected to be disclosed in the documents. He was previously identified as "Doe 36" and was named in dozens of redacted court filings. He didn't object to unsealing the documents naming him, and the documents aren't expected to level any new accusations of wrongdoing against him.The documents also bring fresh scrutiny to Prince Andrew, a longtime friend of Epstein who said he cut ties with him in 2010. Another Doe whose name is expected to be unredacted is Johanna Sjoberg, one of Epstein's victims who previously said the prince fondled her at his Manhattan mansion.Many on social media and cable news have speculated that the list contains a comprehensive secret cache of the dead pedophile's friends — and perhaps descriptions of their lurid acts — but the reality is more complicated.The names are to include some powerful people tied to Epstein. But the list is expected to include the identities of some of his victims, household staff, and other people whose names incidentally came up in the course of a long-running court case between Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Maxwell. In court documents, these people were previously identified as a John or Jane Doe.One of the Does, for example, identified as "J. Doe 005" in court documents, is Carolyn Andriano. Andriano testified against Maxwell at her criminal trial, describing in excruciating detail how she <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-accuser-says-18-was-too-old-for-epstein-2021-12">trafficked her to Epstein for sex</a> beginning when she was 14 years old. She said in court that Epstein engaged in sexual activity with her more than 100 times and that he said she was "too old" for him after she turned 18.Andriano testified using only her first name but gave her full name in an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-told-epstein-accuser-slept-with-prince-andrew-report-2022-1">interview with the Daily Mail</a> after the trial. The 36-year-old mother of five <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/carolyn-andriano-epstein-victim-who-testified-against-ghislaine-maxwell-has-died">died of an apparent overdose</a> in May, The Daily Beast reported.Another previously sealed name, "Doe 185," is Courtney Wild. She led a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epstein-victims-plea-deal-scrapped-2019-8">legal battle to invalidate Epstein's controversial 2007 plea deal</a> with federal prosecutors and has given multiple media interviews about her experience with Epstein.Two other Does — 63 and 64 — are Annie and Maria Farmer, two sisters who have accused Epstein of sexual abuse. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/annie-farmer-says-ghislaine-maxwell-gave-her-topless-massage-16-2021-12">Annie Farmer testified at Maxwell's trial</a>, and both have given <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-married-maria-farmer-2021-6">media interviews about their experience</a>.<h2>We've seen a lot of these records before</h2>Epstein died in a Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. Maxwell, one of his ex-girlfriends, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-sex-trafficking-trial-verdict-reached-2021-12">was found guilty at trial</a> in late 2021 of trafficking girls to Epstein for sex and sexually abusing some of them herself. She's serving a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-sex-trafficking-jeffrey-epstein-2022-6">20-year prison sentence</a> in Tallahassee, Florida.Before the criminal charges, Giuffre brought civil lawsuits against both of them, accusing them of trafficking her. Epstein settled <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-settlement-doesnt-name-prince-andrew-2022-1">her lawsuit against him in 2009 for $500,000</a>.The lawsuit against Maxwell, brought later, was settled in 2017, but not after a pitched court battle that included numerous depositions and a discovery process that dredged up emails, flight manifests, news articles, and other <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epstein-giuffre-v-maxwell-unsealed-thousands-documents-defamation-2019-8">records related to Epstein, Maxwell, and Giuffre</a>.Since the settlement, the civil case has experienced a long afterlife as various parties have sought to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-lawsuit-led-to-criminal-case-ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-2021-11">unseal the records</a>.<div type="image" title="virginia roberts giuffre" height="2067" width="3000" msid="106492300" hostid="261"></div>Alan Dershowitz has sought to get numerous filings unsealed, arguing they would disprove Giuffre's misconduct accusations against him as well (the two <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/dershowitz-accuser-giuffre-drops-defamation-lawsuit-2022-11-08/">settled a large number of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits</a> against each other and their lawyers in 2022, with Giuffre stating she "may have made a mistake" saying Epstein trafficked her to Dershowitz).The Miami Herald litigated to unseal documents, some of which were used for its explosive series about how Epstein negotiated a light plea deal on misconduct accusations around 2007 with prosecutors in Florida. The right-wing influencer and conspiracy theorist Michael Cernovich also hired a lawyer to try to unseal documents that he had posted on social media.US District Judge Robert Sweet, who originally oversaw Giuffre's lawsuit against Maxwell, died in 2019, leaving the task of unsealing documents to US District Judge Loretta Preska, who took over the docket.The process has been a yearslong slog. Preska has weighed different priorities, including the public's presumption of access to court documents versus the privacy interests of people whose names have come up in litigation.In December, for example, she ruled that Andriano, Wild, and the Farmer sisters waived any rights to privacy after giving media interviews.During the efforts to unseal this batch of records, Preska gave the Does a January 1 deadline to raise any new objections to unsealing their identities. Now that that deadline has passed, lawyers for Giuffre and Maxwell have been ordered to confer and then publish unsealed versions of the documents on the court docket.<h2>The Epstein Doe names include some powerful people</h2>Many documents in the Giuffre v. Maxwell lawsuit have been unredacted in different places at different times.The result is that some documents — which can be as benign as an already-public Daily Mail article about Epstein's former friend Prince Andrew or as explosive as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-questions-dodged-unsealed-deposition-2020-10">one of Maxwell's deposition transcripts</a> — form a sort of puzzle where journalists can put together more complete versions by looking at unredacted portions in different places on the court docket.That means that journalists have been able to figure out the identities of many Does even before they were officially unsealed.As Business Insider previously reported, "Doe 183" — whose lawyer fought vociferously in secret court filings to keep his identity under wraps — was connected to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doe-183-ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-case-sealed-documents-2023-1">Les Wexner</a>, the billionaire former L Brands CEO who gave Epstein billions of dollars in the 1990s and 2000s.(Wexner has said he wasn't aware of Epstein's misdeeds and cut off ties with him when he was convicted of soliciting girls for prostitution in 2007.)<div type="image" title="jeffrey epstein ghislaine maxwell back angle" height="2752" width="3669" msid="106492301" hostid="261"></div>Many of the Doe parties turned out to be victims. In a previous round of unsealing, Preska disclosed that two of them were <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/judge-unseals-john-doe-identities-in-ghislaine-maxwell-litigation-2022-11">Emmy Taylor and Sarah Ransome</a>. It didn't make sense for their identities to remain private, Preska said, because Taylor has filed lawsuits related to her status as an Epstein victim, and Ransome has written a book about her experience being trafficked by Epstein.The current unsealing round comes after Preska announced on December 18 that she would unseal the largest batch yet, listing about <a target="_blank" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1315.0.pdf">50 pages of Does</a> going up to "Doe 187." Since the identities of some of those Does have been previously made public — including "Doe 183" — that left about 170 Does remaining to name.Preska said she'd give 14 days from her December 18 ruling to allow any Does to come forward and contest the unsealings. According to the public docket, only one has come forward: "Doe 107." Her lawyer says she lives in "a culturally conservative country and lives in fear of her name being released."Among the unsealed names is expected to be Dershowitz ("Doe 24"), who <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/alan-dershowitz-david-boies-lawsuit-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-virginia-giuffre-case-2019-7">has said for years</a> that documents related to him should be made public.As the Daily Mail previously reported, "Doe 162" was identifiable as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12881277/Pedophile-Jeffrey-Epstein-associates-named-unsealed-court-document.html">Johanna Sjoberg</a>, who gave interviews that corroborated some of Giuffre's claims about Prince Andrew and said the British royal fondled both of them at Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2001. Prince Andrew has denied the allegations and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-reach-settlement-in-sexual-assault-lawsuit-2022-2">settled a civil sexual-misconduct lawsuit</a> Giuffre brought against him in 2022.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article283358378.html?s=09">The Miami Herald previously reported</a> that powerful people whose names would be unsealed included Glenn Dubin, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prominent-hedge-fund-family-had-epstein-for-thanksgiving-after-jail-2019-7">the hedge fund executive with a close relationship to Epstein</a> (his wife <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=ghislaine+maxwell+dubin+testimony+business+insider&amp;oq=ghislaine+maxwell+dubin+testimony+business+insider&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigAdIBCDY1MDlqMGo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">testified in Maxwell's defense at her trial</a>), and Jean-Luc Brunel, the modeling agent who also killed himself in jail, in France, before his rape trial.Some of the Does appear to be linked to Epstein's powerful associates but do not necessarily mean they were implicated in wrongdoing."Doe 5," for example, appears to be Doug Band, a former aide for Bill Clinton. Preska pointed out that he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/confessions-of-a-clintonworld-exile">gave a long interview with Vanity Fair</a> about his interactions with Epstein. In the interview, Band said that he sought to push Epstein out of Clinton's orbit but that Clinton continued to spend time with him anyway.

A judge is set to unseal the names of over 170 Jeffrey Epstein associates. Many of them are his victims.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Four victims confronted <keyword id="12069583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ghislaine-maxwell" source="Orion">Ghislaine Maxwell</keyword> at her sentencing on sex-trafficking charges on Tuesday.</li><li>The victims told similar stories of being ensnared in <keyword id="11957148" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jeffrey-epstein" source="Orion">Jeffrey Epstein</keyword>'s orbit by the charming Maxwell. </li></ul>Several of Ghislaine Maxwell's victims confronted her in person in court Tuesday just before a judge <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-sex-trafficking-jeffrey-epstein-2022-6">sentenced the British socialite to 20 years in prison for sex-trafficking minors</a> as part of Jeffrey Epstein's pedophile sex ring.Four victims spoke in person, while a fifth — Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who lives in Australia and is dealing with a health issue — had her lawyer speak on her behalf. The five women told similar stories of how Maxwell lured them into Jeffrey Epstein's orbit, where they proceeded to suffer "horrific" sexual abuse that has had lifelong repercussions on their mental health. Many of the women spoke about being introduced to Epstein by Maxwell herself, including Giuffre, who said Maxwell procured her for Epstein after spotting her at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when she was just 16 years old. "I want to be clear about one thing: without question, Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible pedophile. But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you," Giuffre said in the statement, read out by her lawyer. "For me, and for so many others, you opened the door to hell."Annie Farmer, who testified at the trial about being massaged by Maxwell when she was 16 years old for Epstein's sexual enjoyment, broke down in tears as she described the "ripple effect" that abuse had on her family, which has also had to deal with her sister being a victim of Maxwell and Epstein as well.<div type="image" title="Ghislaine Maxwell" height="3840" width="5760" msid="92529763" hostid="261"></div>Following the sentencing hearing, Farmer told Insider she was satisfied with Maxwell's 20-year sentence. She said at a press conference that she hopes it sends a message to sexual abusers that they'd be held accountable."I just hope that this sentence is another sign that victims are coming together and saying 'no more,'" Farmer said. "If you commit these crimes, you will be punished. If you facilitate these crimes, you will be punished. If you are a bystander that looks the other way, you will not be allowed to continue to be put in a position of power."Perhaps some of the most graphic descriptions of grief came from Sarah Ransome, who wasn't a victim included in the indictment but was allowed to make a statement to the court nonetheless. Ransome said that after Maxwell introduced her to Epstein with the promise of helping her get into the Fashion Institute of Technology, she became "nothing more than a sex toy." She said Maxwell "ensnared" her "into the upside-down, twisted world of rape, rape, rape." While she eventually escaped Epstein and Maxwell's grip, Ransome said she's dealt with nightmares and flashbacks that have left her waking up in a cold sweat. She has a hard time trusting people, and has never married or had children — "something I always wished for as a girl."Ransome also said that she's attempted suicide multiple times, and has had numerous relapses of her alcoholism. "Only by the grace of God do I continue to live," Ransome said. To Maxwell, she said: "You broke me in unfathomable ways."<div type="image" title="Annie Farmer Ghislaine Maxwell sentencing" height="1665" width="2220" msid="92532234" hostid="261" sizebytes="133456"></div>Annie Farmer's sister, Maria Farmer, submitted a written impact statement to the court in the days before Maxwell's sentencing, as well as another victim, Theresa Helm.All of the victims requested that Maxwell get a hefty sentence."You deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell," Giuffre wrote in her statement. One victim, who was identified only by the pseudonym "Kate" at the trial, said Maxwell's "lack of remorse" was the "final insult." She called Maxwell a "manipulative, cruel person" who needed to be "held accountable" for the hurt she caused. Referring to Maxwell's lawyers' argument that she should receive a light sentence because of her overbearing father and loss of family prestige, Kate pointed out that she also had a bad childhood and never sex-trafficked anyone."Having a difficult childhood is irrelevant to her crimes," she saidVictim Liz Stein spoke about Maxwell introducing her to Epstein the day they first met in 1991, while she was an 18-year-old college student working at the luxury fashion brand Henri Bendel. That night was the first time that Stein says Maxwell and Epstein abused her, but she says she was "assaulted, raped, and trafficked countless times" by the pair. She said the abuse caused emotional, mental, and physical damage that has made it impossible for her to lead a normal life. When she looks at her siblings, who have careers and relationships, the only difference she sees in their life is that she met Maxwell, and they didn't. Stein said that Epstein and Maxwell's arrests "helped me immensely" but she feels like she's just starting her life at the age of 48."I felt like I was in prison," Stein said.She added that now it's Maxwell's turn.

Ghislaine Maxwell's victims confronted her at her sentencing, describing how she and Jeffrey Epstein left them broken in 'unfathomable ways'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The fourth and final accuser in <keyword id="12069583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ghislaine-maxwell" source="Orion">Ghislaine Maxwell</keyword>'s child-sex-trafficking <keyword id="11899412" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trial" source="Orion">trial</keyword> took the stand Friday.</li><li>Annie Farmer testified about Maxwell fondling her breasts during a visit to Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16.</li></ul>The fourth and final accuser in <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-sexual-abuse-14-years-old-2021-11">Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial</a> told her story on Friday, testifying that Maxwell massaged her after instructing her to take off her top during a visit to <keyword id="11957148" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jeffrey-epstein" source="Orion">Jeffrey Epstein</keyword>'s vast New Mexico ranch in 1996.The woman, Annie Farmer, is the only accuser in the trial to testify under her full name. Another, <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-accuser-says-18-was-too-old-for-epstein-2021-12">Carolyn, testified using her first name,</a> and two other accusers testified earlier in the trial under the pseudonyms "Jane" and "Kate."Prosecutors rested their case Friday afternoon following Annie's testimony. But before she took the stand, US District Judge Alison Nathan told the jury that Annie's testimony should not be considered evidence of "illegal sexual activity" as prosecutors had alleged in the original indictment. Nathan gave similar instructions regarding Carolyn's testimony earlier in the trial.Farmer has told her story publicly before, to media outlets and in filings for civil lawsuits. She first met Epstein at the age of 16, when she flew from her home in Arizona to New York City to visit her older sister, Maria Farmer, at the end of 1995 and beginning of 1996. Maria Farmer, then 25 years old, lived in a 500-square-foot apartment in Manhattan's West Village and had been hired by Epstein, then a wealthy financier, for art commissions. In a journal entry Annie wrote before the trip, which was shown in the courtroom Friday, she said she hoped Epstein — who had expressed interest in giving children a good education — would help her get into colleges and obtain scholarships. Annie was a junior in high school at the time, and testified that money had been tight in her mother's household after her parents got divorced.Annie's first meeting with Epstein was at his Upper East Side mansion, where she testified that Epstein asked about her college plans and recommended she travel internationally to help with college applications. Epstein then dispatched his driver to bring the Farmer sisters to the theater district for a performance of "Phantom of the Opera," Annie said.Annie had another interaction with Epstein on that trip. She, Maria, and Epstein all watched "12 Monkeys" at a movie theater. Maria and Annie were seated on either side of Epstein, Annie testified, and throughout the movie he caressed her hands, feet, and arms. Annie said she felt "sick to my stomach" over her interactions with Epstein.In another journal entry shown in court, dated January 7, 1996, the same day Annie returned to Arizona, she expressed ambivalence about the movie-theater caresses. On the page, she wrote that although she was "weirded out" by Epstein's touch, she didn't want to jeopardize her sister's employment and opted not to tell anyone about what happened. (Maria has leveled her own misconduct allegations against Epstein and his associates, but is not being called as a witness in Maxwell's criminal trial.)"I was trying to come up with excuses to make it seem OK," Annie told the jury Friday.<h2>Annie said Maxwell persuaded her to accept a topless massage</h2>Annie didn't meet Maxwell in New York. She testified that she met Maxwell on another trip in April 1996, after flying to Epstein's massive Zorro ranch in New Mexico, which sprawls over thousands of acres. Epstein had spoken to Annie at least twice over the phone in the months since the New York trip, she testified, and appeared interested in helping her get into a good college.Annie said she was nervous to go on the weekend-long trip, but felt calmed because she believed Maxwell would be at the ranch. She testified that she didn't think Epstein would make advances on her because she thought Maxwell was his girlfriend. Later, when Annie's mother, Janice Swain, was called to the stand to corroborate her daughter's story, Swain said that Epstein had told her that his wife, Maxwell, would be chaperoning Annie on the trip.When she got to the ranch, Annie learned that Epstein, Maxwell, and herself would be staying in the same house, she testified. She said they were the only ones there overnight, as Epstein's ranch staffers slept in other buildings."It seemed unusual, seeing how I was a teenager," she said Friday.<div type="image" title="Jeffrey Epstein Ghislaine Maxwell" height="1500" width="2000" msid="88216534" hostid="261"></div>Annie, who is now a therapist, identified Maxwell for the jury by her light brown sweater. Maxwell, who has generally sat unmoving through witness testimony in the trial, appeared to visibly gulp in response, and later seemed to leer at Farmer.Prosecutors <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-sex-trafficking-charges-jeffrey-epstein-connection-explained-2021-11">have accused Maxwell</a> of procuring girls for Epstein, grooming them for sexual abuse, participating in that sexual abuse, and lying about her actions in a deposition. They've said that Maxwell and Epstein often sexually abused girls through the guise of massages. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges.In New Mexico, Epstein and Maxwell took Annie to watch a movie, she testified. Annie said they watched "Primal Fear," which involves a pedophile priest and the sexual abuse of an altar boy and a teenage girl.The movie theater Maxwell and Epstein took Annie to was located in a mall, and she noted that Epstein and Maxwell behaved immaturely there. The two adults were joking around, and Maxwell at one point pulled Epstein's pants down, which Annie testified that she found "odd."Annie said she had hoped watching the movie in New Mexico would be different than her outing with Epstein in New York, because Maxwell was around. But she testified that Epstein touched her throughout the film, grabbing her hand and caressing her arm and leg.When they returned to the ranch after the movie, Maxwell told Annie to massage Epstein's feet, and she testified that she complied even though she felt "uncomfortable." Afterward, Annie said, Maxwell told her that she'd personally give Farmer a massage.Maxwell set up a massage table in the bedroom where Annie was staying and told her to fully undress under a sheet on top of the table, Annie testified. Partway through the masssage, Maxwell told her to flip over and lie on her back, at which point Maxwell pulled down the sheet and touched her breasts, Annie said."When she pulled down the sheet, I was kind of frozen," she testified. "I wanted so badly for the massage to end."Annie said she believed Maxwell left the door open during the massage, and that Epstein would be able to see her topless.<h2>"He said he wanted to cuddle"</h2>The morning after the massage, Annie said, Epstein "bounded into the room" as she woke up."He said he wanted to cuddle," she testified. "So he got into bed with me."Epstein caressed Annie and put his arms around her, she said. Her voice cracking on the witness stand, Annie said she told Epstein that she needed to go to the bathroom and slipped out of bed. She said that, aware she was alone in a house with two people who were essentially strangers, she waited in the bathroom until Epstein was gone."I just wanted the week to be gone," Annie said.<div type="image" title="ghislaine maxwell trial" height="2268" width="3024" msid="88216536" hostid="261"></div>Maxwell's and Epstein's behavior towards Annie was part of a "pattern of them confusing my boundaries," she told the jury. The pair made her question what she believed "was right or not right," with the "ultimate goal of sexually abusing me," she testified.When she returned to Arizona after the New Mexico trip, Annie didn't write anything about the weekend in her journal. "I just really wanted to get it out of my mind," Annie testified.Her mother also testified that when she picked Annie up from the airport after the trip, her daughter was "very quiet" and "withdrawn." Swain said she tried to talk to her daughter later about what happened on the trip, but Annie repeatedly said she didn't want to get into it. "She always said, 'I'm just not going to let it ruin my life,'" Swain testified. Annie said that she accepted funding from Epstein to go on a cultural service trip to Vietnam and Thailand that summer, which she thought would help with college applications. But she did not see Epstein or Maxwell at any point after accepting the funding, she testified.She said she didn't tell anyone about her experience in New Mexico until the fall, when she disclosed some information to a boyfriend, David Mulligan, who also took the witness stand Friday.Mulligan told the court that Annie told him about what happened on the New Mexico trip after they started dating. Annie described Maxwell as a "very charming and pretty" person who greeted her and took her shopping, Mulligan said. But he said Maxwell's massage left his former girlfriend feeling "fearful, awkward, and helpless."Annie told the jury that her experiences with Maxwell and Epstein were "very upsetting and confusing," and that for a long time she "didn't want to think about it," but it kept "coming up again and again.""At a certain point, I felt compelled," Annie said. "Because if I could help with accountability, or if these people could be stopped, it would be worth it in some way.""I'm here hoping Ghislaine Maxwell is held accountable for the harm she's caused," she added. During her testimony, Annie talked about how she kept a pair of $100 cowboy boots Epstein purchased for her while she was shopping with Maxwell. In opening statements at the beginning of the trial, Maxwell's attorney, Bobbi C. Sternheim, said the fact she kept the boots proved that Annie wasn't "scarred by what happened."Annie said she shoved the boots into the back of her closet when she returned to Arizona, but dusted them off some years later and began wearing them."It was a dark memory. I had been taken advantage of," she said, adding: "By using the boots, I was somehow changing that. Reclaiming it in some way."

Epstein accuser Annie Farmer testifies that Ghislaine Maxwell told her to remove her top and gave her a massage when she was 16

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An anonymous "Doe 183" wants to keep documents sealed in a case regarding Ghislaine Maxwell.</li><li>The judge hinted Doe 183's relationship with Epstein "has been a subject of intense media coverage."</li></ul>At a November 18 court conference, US District Judge Loretta Preska announced she would unseal the identities of eight "Does" trying to stay anonymous in a long-running lawsuit between Ghislaine Maxwell, the pal of Jeffrey Epstein who's been convicted of sex trafficking, and Virginia Giuffre, their most prominent accuser.The exception, <a href="https://www.insider.com/judge-unseals-john-doe-identities-in-ghislaine-maxwell-litigation-2022-11">Preska said</a>, was "Doe 183," whom she identified as someone with ties to Epstein and whose name appeared repeatedly in Maxwell's criminal trial."That Doe's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has been a subject of intense media coverage, and Doe 183's name has appeared in numerous places in unsealed portions of Ms. Maxwell's criminal trial transcript," Preska said. "In the court's view, there's no reason to redact Doe 183 from the documents."But, Preska noted, Doe 183 wanted to appeal her ruling. So, she said, their name would remain secret for now.The lengths that Doe 183 has gone to in order to hide their identity are unusual. They have been fighting for months — perhaps years — to keep their name out of public court documents.Every court filing they've submitted in the case has been under seal. Nothing from them appears on the public court docket. Even lawyers for Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter who intervened in the case to bring documents about Epstein to light, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1248.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have not been permitted to see them</a>.What we do know, however, is that every document they object to unsealing seems to be related to one of Epstein's longtime friends and benefactors: Leslie Wexner.We also know that Doe 183 and Wexner have the same lawyer. And when Insider asked that lawyer about his work for Doe 183, a representative for Wexner responded, declining to comment.The documents feature deposition testimony from Maxwell, discussions of whether Maxwell and Epstein gave "massages" to girls on Wexner's properties, and more accusations of wrongdoing against Epstein and Maxwell.There are also swaths of blacked-out pages and paragraphs that we can't understand without the proper context.The public docket doesn't show any appeals filed yet. But if Doe 183 wins their fight to keep the documents redacted, their name and the context surrounding it would remain behind those blacked-out lines.<h2>Leslie Wexner made Jeffrey Epstein rich</h2>Wexner, the billionaire founder of L Brands — which once controlled Victoria's Secret, Bath &amp; Body Works, and Pink — was Epstein's main patron for more than a decade.Before his arrest on sex-trafficking charges and his eventual death in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial, Epstein claimed to be a financial savant who advised only billionaires how to invest their wealth.His only known client was Wexner, who between the 1980s and 2000s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-jeffrey-epstein-les-wexner-relationship-reports2019-8">gave him</a> millions of dollars, put him on the board of his personal foundation, and gave him power of attorney. It was Wexner's money that allowed Epstein to live his jet-setting lifestyle — literally, on a private plane Wexner sold him. Epstein flew girls to his Palm Beach mansion, his New Mexico ranch, his compound in the Virgin Islands, and the eight-story Upper East Side Manhattan mansion that Wexner also sold him, and raped them. Upon his death, Epstein's estate was valued at $630 million, of which $125 million went to <a href="https://www.insider.com/inside-jeffrey-epstein-victims-compensation-program-fund-2022-1">a compensation fund</a> for 136 victims.Epstein even posed as a recruiter for Victoria's Secret to get close to girls in order to eventually abuse them, several women said in lawsuits. Carolyn Andriano, who testified in Maxwell's 2021 sex-trafficking trial, described getting lingerie from Victoria's Secret in the mail during <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-accuser-says-18-was-too-old-for-epstein-2021-12">a period of time when Epstein serially raped her</a>. Another accuser, <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-sexual-abuse-14-years-old-2021-11">who testified with the pseudonym Jane</a>, described going shopping at one of the company's stores with Epstein and Maxwell and buying underwear."He said, 'Well, you know, I know everybody. I know all the agents. I know all the photographers. I know the owner of Victoria's Secret,'" Jane testified, quoting Epstein. "'So I can make things happen, but you just have to be ready for it.'"<div type="image" title="sarah kellen jeffrey epstein ghislaine maxwell trial exhibit" height="2142" width="2857" msid="96800259" hostid="261"></div>In testimony for Maxwell's trial, Larry Visoski, one of Epstein's private jet pilots, described flying Epstein to Columbus, Ohio, where the financier maintained a home and office near Wexner. Maria Farmer, another Epstein accuser, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html">said in an affidavit</a> for a separate case that Epstein and Maxwell raped her in Wexner's compound in New Albany, on the outskirts of Columbus."I believe they were friends," Visoski said of Epstein and Wexner.After Epstein's 2019 indictment in New York, Wexner <a href="https://www.wexnerfoundation.org/letter-from-les/">said in a letter to his employees</a> that he'd cut ties with Epstein 12 years earlier, when Epstein was convicted of soliciting girls for prostitution in Florida, and that he regretted ever crossing paths with him. Epstein had further "misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family," Wexner wrote.Now Doe 183 is trying to keep documents, including some related to Wexner's relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, out of the public eye.<h2>A judge is methodically unsealing the names of anonymous 'Does'</h2>Leading up to the criminal charges against Epstein in 2019 and Maxwell in 2020, their victims filed numerous lawsuits against them. The most prominent among the accusers is Virginia Giuffre, who sued Maxwell in 2015. The case <a href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-lawsuit-led-to-criminal-case-ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-2021-11">produced thousands of pages</a> of depositions, flight logs, emails, an unpublished memoir, and other evidence — almost all under seal.After Giuffre and Maxwell settled their lawsuit, in 2017, Giuffre and her lawyers began the long process of trying to get filings from the case to the public. If you've read a story about newly unsealed Epstein files, <a href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-lawsuit-led-to-criminal-case-ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-2021-11">it's probably from that case</a>.Other interests got involved in the case over the years, including Alan Dershowitz, a former friend of Epstein's who <a href="https://www.insider.com/alan-dershowitz-david-boies-lawsuit-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-virginia-giuffre-case-2019-7">faced his own accusations from Giuffre</a> in litigation that <a href="https://www.insider.com/virginia-giuffre-drops-defamation-lawsuit-alan-dershowitz-2022-11">recently settled</a>.Preska, the judge now overseeing the case, reasoned that the litany of names Maxwell and Giuffre discussed in their original court filings had privacy rights of their own and that their names should be redacted.<div type="image" title="Ghislaine Maxwell Jeffrey Epstein intimate" height="1678" width="2238" msid="96800261" hostid="261"></div>Many of these "Does" have stepped into the litigation, arguing to keep their names private. Pundits have widely speculated that the Does are rich and powerful associates of Epstein who were complicit in the sex trafficking and abuse of girls.Some have turned out to be victims of Epstein; their names remain hidden. Others, whose identities Preska made public, were people who were merely mentioned in court filings incidentally. Some occupy the gray area of having been accused of recruiting victims for Epstein but also identified as victims themselves.A few names turned out to be Epstein's powerful friends after all. In April, Preska ruled that the names of the hedge-fund giant Glenn Dubin and his wife, Eva Andersson Dubin, <a href="https://www.insider.com/judge-unseals-glenn-eva-dubin-docs-in-ghislaine-maxwell-suit-2022-4">should be unsealed</a> in the filings. While he was alive, Epstein <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prominent-hedge-fund-family-had-epstein-for-thanksgiving-after-jail-2019-7">maintained a close friendship with the couple</a>. Eva Andersson Dubin, who dated Epstein in the 1980s, <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-defense-wraps-up-with-eva-andersson-dubin-testimony-2021-12">testified in Maxwell's defense during her trial</a>.And then there's Doe 183.<h2>The Doe 183 documents all seem related to Wexner</h2>In a December 21 interview with Insider, Marion Little, an attorney representing Wexner, said he was unfamiliar with the fight to unseal the identity of Doe 183 in the Giuffre v. Maxwell case. Little had represented Wexner in a separate case between Dershowitz and Giuffre where <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/08/12/les-wexner-agrees-to-give-written-deposition-in-epstein-related-case/">Dershowitz subpoenaed Wexner for testimony</a>.But on December 27, Insider obtained an official court transcript of the November 18 conference in the Giuffre v. Maxwell case in which Little spoke three times. While he never identified himself verbally, the transcript's cover sheet identifies him as an attorney representing Doe 183.After Insider reached out to Little again for a follow-up interview, a representative for Wexner contacted Insider and said Little was unable to comment on the Doe 183 case because "the whole protocol process is confidential."Little, through the representative, declined to comment on whether Doe 183 and Wexner are the same person.There are 21 docket entries that mention Doe 183's true identity. All contain redactions, some with several pages blacked out. Wexner's name and references to him can be seen in unredacted portions of many of the documents.Of those 21 documents, there are seven docket entries where Doe 183 is the sole Doe mentioned. Those seven files have been partially unsealed, with some redactions. Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump were among the powerful men mentioned in Maxwell's trial. Looking through the Doe 183-linked filings, it's clear that Wexner is a common thread.<div type="image" title="Les Wexner" height="1116" width="1488" msid="96800263" hostid="261"></div>One docket entry where Doe 183 is the sole Doe mentioned is <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1295.1.pdf">the deposition of Maxwell</a> taken in July 2016. It includes a discussion of whether Epstein "shipped off" Farmer to Wexner's property in Ohio.Another contested entry, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1296.3_1.pdf">a 23-page excerpt from that same deposition</a>, happens to zero into the discussion about Wexner's Ohio compound.Yet another filing where Doe 183 is the sole Doe mentioned is <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1295.2_1.pdf">an argument from Giuffre's lawyer Sigrid McCawley</a> asking the judge to force Maxwell to sit for another deposition because she didn't adequately answer several questions, including ones regarding Wexner's property.We hear from Giuffre in another docket entry linked to Doe 183. It's <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1090.16.pdf">a mostly unredacted transcript of a conversation</a> from 2011 between her and two of her lawyers in other litigation, Brad Edwards and Jack Scarola. Scarola asked her if Wexner would have information about Epstein's behavior toward underage girls."I think he has relevant information, but I don't think he'll tell you the truth," Giuffre said of Wexner.Years later, in 2019, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&amp;v=2403959823155915">Edwards said</a> Wexner's denials of having knowledge about Epstein's sexual proclivities were "very highly likely to be true."Doe 183 has claimed that unsealing certain documents would cause the public to assume they are guilty of wrongdoing and that they would suffer reputational damage, according to an April memo filed by McCawley, representing Giuffre in the litigation.McCawley said the public has an interest in seeing the sealed documents."The public is more than capable of evaluating all the facts to which it is entitled, and making its own judgments about Doe 183's proclaimed innocence," she wrote.Correction: January 6, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated that L Brands controls Victoria's Secret, Bath &amp; Body Works, and Pink. L Brands dissolved in 2021.

A mysterious 'Doe 183' is trying to keep Jeffrey Epstein documents under seal. Could it be Les Wexner?

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e30593f5bc79c4b9d4f3474-763/5d23bfdfb44ce7744d377f99-960-480.jpg" alt="Ghislaine Maxwell" />Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesJeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two former New York Academy of Art students say that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pressured them to play games with "sexual objects." </li><li>One of the students, Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, told <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/epstein-ranch-art-students-1760265">Artnet</a> that it was a frequent "party trick" of the late convicted sex offender.</li><li>A third person confirmed that the students had visited Epstein's New Mexico ranch, but did not recall the specifics of the meeting. </li><li>Eileen Guggenheim called the depiction of the trip a "serious mischaracterization." </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>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 <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/epstein-ranch-art-students-1760265">Artnet</a>, 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 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epstein-accuser-victorias-secret-les-wenxer-new-albany-assault-2019-10">previously accused</a> both the late Epstein and the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/where-is-ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-suicide-conspirator-lawsuit-a9059041.html">hard-to-track Maxwell</a> 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 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/epstein-farmer-sisters-maxwell.html">eventually report</a> 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. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-officials-want-to-interview-prince-andrew-about-jeffrey-epstein-2020-1">US officials want to interview Prince Andrew about Jeffrey Epstein, but he hasn't responded to them</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saturday-night-live-adam-driver-jeffrey-epstein-hell-cold-open-2020-1">Adam Driver appeared as Jeffrey Epstein in hell during his 'Saturday Night Live' cold open and joked about murder conspiracy theories</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surviving-jeffrey-epstein-docuseries-lifetime-summer-2020-1">A 'Surviving Jeffrey Epstein' documentary series is set to air on Lifetime this summer</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-private-islands-caribbean-real-estate-portfolio-photos-2019-7">A new lawsuit says Jeffrey Epstein trafficked and sexually abused dozens of young girls on one of his private islands in the Caribbean. Here's an inside look at the islands.</a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ces-tech-product-launch-events-trade-show-2018-12">Apple forever changed the biggest tech event of the year by not showing up</a></h3> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/ej8zTmEs-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>

Art students say Guggenheim relative brought them Jeffrey Epstein's ranch where he pressured them to play with 'sexual objects'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Following <keyword id="12069583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ghislaine-maxwell" source="Orion">Ghislaine Maxwell</keyword>'s conviction, accusers said they hoped more Epstein associates would be brought to justice.</li><li>But prosecutors won't charge <keyword id="11957148" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jeffrey-epstein" source="Orion">Jeffrey Epstein</keyword>'s associate <keyword id="12745199" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lesley-groff" source="Orion">Lesley Groff</keyword>, her lawyers told Insider.</li></ul>Federal prosecutors have no plans to bring charges against Lesley Groff, an associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who was reportedly under criminal investigation for sex trafficking, according to her attorneys.Groff's lawyers, Michael Bachner and Jon Whitcomb, said Thursday in a statement provided to Insider that prosecutors in Manhattan would not file an indictment against their client."After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein's conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff," Bachner and Whitcomb said.The attorneys added that Groff "never witnessed anything improper or illegal."<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell.html">The New York Times first reported in 2019</a> that federal prosecutors were considering sex-trafficking charges against Groff, who worked as an executive assistant for Epstein for nearly 20 years. A spokesperson for Groff told Insider that she was cooperating in the investigation.Groff was one of four Epstein employees named in <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6184602-Jeffrey-Epstein-non-prosecution-agreement.html">a non-prosecution agreement</a> the financier signed with federal prosecutors in Florida in 2007. The agreement, which has been widely criticized, allowed Epstein to serve a lenient sentence in Palm Beach County jail in Florida on prostitution solicitation charges rather than face a federal sex-trafficking indictment. The document also said that federal prosecutors would not bring criminal charges against Groff and the other women, who it described as "potential co-conspirators."Federal agents arrested Epstein in August 2019 following <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article238237729.html">an investigation from Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown</a> that exposed the scope of the agreement. He died in his jail cell while awaiting trial. In 2020, the FBI arrested Ghislaine Maxwell on suspicion of sex-trafficking girls to Epstein and sexually abusing them herself.Prior to her conviction, Maxwell argued that the same non-prosecution agreement protected her from all federal prosecution. US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw her case, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21116907-alison-nation-order-on-maxwell-attempt-to-dismiss-indictments-and-epstein-non-prosecution-agreement">rejected that argument</a>.Bachner had previously indicated that Groff would avoid prosecution, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Perversion-Justice-Jeffrey-Epstein-Story/dp/006300058X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=perversion+of+justice&amp;qid=1640905469&amp;sr=8-1">telling Brown for her book "Perversion of Justice"</a> that federal prosecutors "do not intend to bring criminal charges against Lesley Groff."A representative for the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which is conducting the investigation into the conduct of Epstein and his associates, declined to comment to Insider on the decision of whether to charge Groff.<h2>'The tip of the iceberg'</h2><a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-sex-trafficking-trial-verdict-reached-2021-12">A jury convicted Maxwell at trial on Wednesday</a>. Maria Farmer, whose sister Annie Farmer testified against Maxwell at the trial, told Insider that while her family was "elated by the verdict," the case was "only the tip of the iceberg.""As thrilled as I am by this arrest, it is only the tip of the iceberg," she said. "There should be many to follow."Virginia Giuffre, who has also accused Epstein, Maxwell, and other associates of sexual misconduct, also said Wednesday that other people in their orbit must face justice."I hope that today is not the end but rather another step in justice being served," she said. "Maxwell did not act alone. Others must be held accountable. I have faith that they will be."<div type="image" title="ghislaine maxwell trial" height="2268" width="3024" msid="88602338" hostid="261"></div>Groff's name came up several times in Maxwell's trial. One woman, <a href="https://www.insider.com/woman-testifies-ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-befriended-her-as-teen-2021-12">who testified under the pseudonym "Kate" and said Epstein sexually abused her for years</a>, said that Groff was one of Epstein's office assistants who booked flights for her to travel to his residences in New York, Palm Beach, and the US Virgin Islands. Larry Visoski and David Rodgers, two of Epstein's longtime private jet pilots, both said Groff was a secretary who worked for Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s, and who scheduled flights for Epstein.According to her attorneys, Groff's job included "making appointments for Epstein as directed by him, taking his messages, and setting up high-level meetings with CEOs, business executives, scientists, politicians, celebrities, charitable organizations, and universities."In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/05/business/working-for-top-bosses-on-wall-st-has-its-perks.html">a 2005 interview with the New York Times</a>, Groff described herself as an extension of Epstein's brain."It comes down to the bond," she told the Times. "I know what he is thinking and I know when I need to be fast. It's a nice roll we are on."In the same article, Epstein described Groff as so valuable that, when she became pregnant in 2004, he paid for a full-time nanny and brought her a Mercedes-Benz so that she could keep working for him."There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood," Epstein told the Times.<h2>Epstein victims accused Groff of facilitating sexual abuse</h2>Civil lawsuits filed against Groff, all of which have since been dropped, depict her as one of Epstein's enablers.One lawsuit, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.568030/gov.uscourts.nysd.568030.1.0.pdf">filed in October by an anonymous "Jane Doe,"</a> alleged Groff "facilitated Epstein's trafficking and sexual abuse of Jane, including by purchasing plane tickets, sending money, making appointments, and sending various communications." The suit, also filed against the executors of Epstein's estate, says Epstein sexually abused Jane in New York, France, the US Virgin Islands, and Florida between 2017 and 2019, up until Epstein was arrested. Groff also paid Jane cash after sexual encounters, the lawsuit alleges.Jane and Groff <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.568030/gov.uscourts.nysd.568030.39.0.pdf">jointly agreed</a> to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit with respect to Groff on Wednesday night, shortly after the verdict against Maxwell. The lawsuit is still pending with respect to the executors of Epstein's estate over the late financier's alleged misconduct.<div type="image" title="Jeffrey Epstein Ghislaine Maxwell" height="1025" width="1367" msid="88602341" hostid="261"></div>An attorney for Jane didn't immediately respond Thursday to Insider's request for comment. Bachner and Whitcomb said they were "not surprised" the case was dropped."Our hearts truly break for any person victimized by Epstein but the truth is — Lesley had no knowledge of and no participation in any of the illegal conduct alleged in the lawsuit," the attorneys said in a statement.At least two other accusers, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell.html">Sarah Ransome</a> and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21161287-429326141-jennifer-araoz-s-amended-complaint">Jennifer Araoz</a>, previously brought civil lawsuits against Groff. Both women dropped their litigation once they accepted money from the Epstein Victims' Compensation Program, which was established by Epstein's estate after his death to pay compensation to his victims. But <a href="https://www.insider.com/jeffrey-epstein-victims-compensation-program-accusers-cant-sue-ghislaine-maxwell-2021-12">as Insider previously reported</a>, the program required claimants to abandon civil claims against the estate and Epstein's former employees, including Groff and Maxwell.Groff denied wrongdoing in Ransome and Araoz's lawsuits as well. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21161287-429326141-jennifer-araoz-s-amended-complaint">Araoz's lawsuit</a> had accused Groff of scheduling "massages" with Epstein, who sexually abused Araoz on those encounters."Participation in the Victims' Compensation Program requires permanent discontinuance of all legal actions against former employees of Jeffrey Epstein, including Ms. Groff," Araoz's attorney, Eric Lerner, <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-epstein-victim-groff-lawsuit-20201202-g6dpollubvatrgxrtcblko2vaq-story.html">told the New York Daily News at the time</a>. "My client maintains the truth and veracity of all of the allegations in her pleadings."

Prosecutors won't charge Jeffrey Epstein's former assistant Lesley Groff, who accusers say booked 'massage' appointments and flights, her lawyers say

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d98de4252887921ad3c9594-1470/screen shot 2019-10-05 at 21700 pm.png" border="0" alt="les wexner epstein" data-mce-source="L Brands, Associated Press" data-mce-caption="A composite image of L Brands CEO Les Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein." />L Brands, Associated PressA composite image of L Brands CEO Les Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>In the summer of 1996, Maria Farmer, then 26, says the late Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged "madam," Ghislaine Maxwell, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">sexually assaulted her</a> in New Albany, Ohio.</li><li>Farmer, an artist, had been offered a two month-stay in a home deeded to Epstein by the L Brands CEO Les Wexner, who owns Victoria's Secret, and developed much of New Albany.</li><li>Wexner says he had never heard of Farmer before her allegations surfaced, but she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">told The Washington Post</a> that while living on the billionaire's heavily guarded estate she had to get permission from Wexner's wife Abigail to even leave the house.</li><li>Farmer also said that after Epstein and Maxwell assaulted her Wexner's security guards, some of whom she was told were contracted from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, tried to prevent her from leaving.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>In the summer of 1996, Maria Farmer was a 26-year-old artist whom the late Jeffrey Epstein offered her a two-month stay at a New Albany, Ohio estate that she says ended with him and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell sexually assaulting her.Farmer, now 50, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">told The Washington Post</a> that she had been commissioned to create two large paintings for the movie "As Good As It Gets," and that Epstein's friend and close business associate Les Wexner had a 336-acre property in the Ohio farmlands that she could live in while she worked.Wexner, the CEO of L Brands - which owns The Limited, Abercrombie &amp; Fitch, and Victoria's Secret - had recently developed a town of 400 people outside Columbus, Ohio, into a neighborhood of Georgian-style mansions and white picket fences. He says that, before her allegations surfaced, he had never even heard of Farmer.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-virginia-giuffre-prince-andrew-ghislaine-maxwell-alcohol-2019-9">A victim of Jeffrey Epstein says Prince Andrew bought her vodka at a London club when she was 17 before having sex with her</a>She told the Post that she never met Wexner during her stay, but that she communicated frequently by phone with his wife Abigail, whose permission had to be granted before Farmer could leave the 10,600 square foot house that summer. She never met Abigail in person, either.Wexner employed a security team that included deputies contracted from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, and Farmer says after Epstein and Maxwell assaulted her, she was held in the home against her will until her father came to pick her up.Farmer <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">told the Post</a> that she holds Wexner "responsible for what happened to me," because he deeded the home where the assault took place to Epstein, his closest financial adviser, and it was Wexner's guards who prevented her from leaving after the assault."Les loves me. He'll let me do anything," is what Farmer recalls Epstein saying to her about the billionaire, who has since distanced himself from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-jeffrey-epstein-les-wexner-relationship-reports2019-8">his long history</a> with the late financier, who died by suicide in federal prison after being charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy.<h2>How Epstein used Wexner's New Albany estate to his advantage, trapping Maria Farmer and sexually assaulting her</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5617e636bd86ef175c8b58c5-960/4804775345585432425232069472410n.jpg" border="0" alt="New Albany, OH" data-mce-source="Facebook/New Albany, Ohio Government" data-link="https://www.facebook.com/NewAlbanyOhio/photos/a.367207919977587.86779.158474950850886/534558543242523/?type=3&amp;theater" /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewAlbanyOhio/photos/a.367207919977587.86779.158474950850886/534558543242523/?type=3&amp;theater">Facebook/New Albany, Ohio Government</a>The town of New Albany, largely developed by Les Wexner with Georgian-style homes and white picket fences.</div></div></div>A representative for the Wexners told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">the Post</a> that they never had any contact with Farmer, and did not elaborate on whether she had spent those two months in the home deeded to Epstein next to their New Albany estate, under continuous watch by Wexner's security team.The same representative did not comment to the Post on how Farmer had obtained an Ohio driver's license during her stay that listed her address as the Wexner's. Wexner's representative didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-jeffrey-epstein-les-wexner-relationship-reports2019-8">Inside the relationship between Victoria's Secret head Les Wexner and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, from 'close personal friends' to severed ties</a>Wexner has also claimed that he was never aware of Epstein's crimes and that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-jeffrey-epstein-les-wexner-relationship-reports2019-8">their relationship</a> had already dissolved upon his arrest in 2019 - in part because he said Epstein "misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family." In 2008, Epstein was convicted on two counts of soliciting prostitution from underage girls in Palm Beach, Florida.Farmer is one of Epstein's well-known accusers, in part due to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/maria-farmer-affidavit/34faddfa-7d8d-466b-a082-b925b5528a69/">her affidavit</a> detailing her experiences with him and Maxwell that was submitted in addition to Virginia Giuffre's case against the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who Giuffre says sexually assaulted her along with Epstein.Both Farmer and her younger sister Annie, who has been present at the most recent trial for Epstein in 2019, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/maria-farmer-affidavit/34faddfa-7d8d-466b-a082-b925b5528a69/">say they were assaulted</a> by Epstein and Maxwell. While Maria was in New Albany, Annie, who was 15 at the time, was flown to Epstein's New Mexico ranch, where she says he and Maxwell molested her.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bda0ae00d7c673a0049728d-900/gettyimages-538742650.jpg" border="0" alt="Les Wexner" data-mce-source="Getty/Astrid Stawiarz / Stringer" />Getty/Astrid Stawiarz / StringerElizabeth Musamanno, Les Wexner, and Stella Maxwell pose at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards presented by Hearst Magazines.</div></div></div>When Epstein initally proposed spending two months in New Albany, her other option was her own small walk-up apartment in Greenwich Village. Upon accepting, she moved into a home that had been deeded to Epstein by Wexner four years prior. It was next to Wexner's own home, in clear view.Epstein's house was effectively a "guest house" of Wexner's, and former security personnel who worked there told the Post that armed guards and dogs monitored the premises. Farmer wasn't even allowed to run outside, and jogged around the mansion instead.Farmer told the Post that she was not allowed to enter and exit the property by way of the Wexner's large, gated driveway, though. She used an alternate entrance. She obtained an Ohio driver's license while there, so that she could pick Epstein and Maxwell up from the airport, as they visited several times. On their last visit, she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">told the Post</a> they assaulted her.After being assaulted, she told the Post she recalled calling 911, being put on hold, and then being hung up on. She also called the Franklin County sheriff's office, which was when someone told her "We work for Wexner." Over a 12-hour period, during which her father drove from Kentucky to pick her up, she says she begged security officers to let her leave, and they refused.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mit-media-lab-under-scrutiny-for-epstein-connection-dumped-chemicals-2019-9">MIT Media Lab, already under scrutiny for Epstein connections, dumped chemicals in excess of legal limit</a>The Franklin County sheriff's office has no records of Farmer's 911 call, and denied that it happened, but the office also doesn't keep records of that kind for more than two years. Upon arriving home to New York, Farmer filed a police report and was encouraged to speak to the FBI, which she did - she would not hear back until 2006, when the investigation into Epstein's Palm Beach crimes began.Farmer told the Post she has no intention to sue Wexner, who currently remains atop L Brands. However, he is being subjected to an investigation ordered by the company's board through an outside firm into the extent of his relationship with Epstein. L Brands has suffered financially over the past few years, with its stop dropping from $100 to $19 a share. In a meeting with shareholders, Wexner addressed his relationship with Epstein himself, saying that he had cut ties with the convicted sex offender more than a decade before his death. "At some point in your life we are all betrayed by friends. If we haven't, we are really fortunate to have led a perfectly sheltered life," Wexner said to the shareholders, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epstein-accuser-holds-victorias-secret-billionaire-responsible-as-he-keeps-his-distance/2019/10/05/1b6baf6c-d0d3-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html#comments-wrapper">the Post reported</a>. "But at the end of the day, people that have secret lives, have secret lives. And they're secret because they're so good at hiding those secrets."

A Jeffrey Epstein accuser blames Victoria's Secret owner Les Wexner for sexual assault that she says occurred on his Ohio property

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a5f7fcd28eecc1e008b5541-2000/les wexner.jpg" border="0" alt="Les Wexner" data-mce-source="Nicholas Hunt/Getty" />Nicholas Hunt/GettyLes Wexner is the CEO and founder of Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>New York-based financier <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/jeffrey-epstein">Jeffrey Epstein</a> was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of sex trafficking minors. He pleaded not guilty on July 8.</li><li>Epstein's life has been put under the microscope over the past few days. This has included <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/famous-people-jeffery-epstein-money-manager-sexual-trafficking-connected-2019-7">his relationships with high-profile figures</a> such as President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and Les Wexner, CEO and founder of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/victorias-secret">Victoria's Secret</a> owner L Brands. </li><li>Wexner was reportedly one of Epstein's first clients and gave him the power of fiduciary over all of his private trusts and foundations.</li><li>Epstein lived in one of Wexner's former homes in Manhattan. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>66-year-old financier Jeffrey Epstein was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-arrested-sex-trafficking-minors-charges-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">arrested</a> outside an airport in New Jersey on Saturday on suspicion of sex trafficking underage girls in the early 2000s. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-charges-court-documents-2019-7">indictment alleges</a> that Epstein molested dozens of underage girls between the years of 1999 and 2005, paying them for "massages" that turned into sexual abuse. Epstein pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday.Epstein's life has been put under the microscope over the past few days. This has included his relationships with high-profile figures such as President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and Les Wexner, CEO and founder of Victoria's Secret owner L Brands. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-financier-jeffrey-epstein-made-his-fortune-2019-7">How Jeffrey Epstein, the mysterious hedge-fund manager arrested on sex-trafficking charges, made his fortune</a>Wexner is a particularly pertinent character in the story as <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303">he is reportedly one of Epstein's only known clients</a> and is considered to be part of the reason that Epstein rose to prominence. <h2>'People have said it's like we have one brain between two of us: each has a side'</h2>Epstein left New York-based investment bank Bear Stearns 1981 to start his own firm, which exclusively managed the money of billionaires."I was the only person crazy enough, or arrogant enough, or misplaced enough, to make my limit a billion dollars or more," he has frequently said, according to a <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303">Vanity Fair</a> report from 2011. While Epstein denied that Wexner "made him," Wexner was one of his first clients; the two men came into contact in the mid- to late 1980s, when Wexner was already a well-established <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword> leader and had built up a $3 billion business, according to Vanity Fair.Epstein was responsible for managing Wexner's money and was later given the power of fiduciary over all of his private trusts and foundations."Wexner saw in Jeffrey the type of person who had the potential to realize his [Jeffrey's] dreams," a person who worked closely with both men told Vanity Fair. "He gave Jeffrey the ball, and Jeffrey hit it out of the park.""People have said it's like we have one brain between two of us: each has a side," Epstein previously said, according to Vanity Fair. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d24b7eda17d6c09e005b9c0-1701/gettyimages-589140344.jpg" border="0" alt="jeffrey epstein" data-mce-source="Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Jeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday evening on charges of sex trafficking of minors." />Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty ImagesJeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday evening on charges of sex trafficking of minors.</div></div></div>It was a relationship so strong that Wexner reportedly passed on his Manhattan home to Epstein. The house, which was recently valued at $77 billion by Bloomberg and is believed to be the largest private residence in Manhattan, was bought by Wexner for $13.2 million, through one of his trusts, in 1989. Epstein later moved in after Wexner and his wife, Abigail, moved to Ohio, where L Brands' headquarters is based, in 1996. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-08/the-mystery-around-jeffrey-epstein-s-fortune-and-how-he-made-it">Bloomberg,</a> Wexner's trust transferred ownership of the house to Epstein in 2011 - for $0.Epstein lived in this Manhattan townhouse up until the time of his arrest, and prosecutors are in the process of seizing the house.A spokesperson for L Brands did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the relationship between Wexner and Epstein. However, in 2018, the company told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2019/07/08/why-sex-offender-jeffrey-epstein-is-not-a-billionaire/#47f2c16515c7">Forbes</a> that Wexner had cut ties with Epstein more than a decade earlier. In April, Maria Farmer claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Epstein and his alleged madam, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, on different occasions in the 1990s, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-accuser-sues-alan-dershowitz-over-alleged-sex-ring">The Daily Beast reported</a>. Farmer said that one of these occasions was while she stayed at Wexner's Ohio mansion. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-spot-fake-designer-goods-2018-12">An authentication expert at The RealReal showed us how to spot fake designer accessories</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Anp29mIJ-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

The CEO of Victoria's Secret's parent company reportedly had close ties to Jeffrey Epstein

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d50edbecd9784445a531103-2400/f0eef647142d40a092f5b3fe9321f480.jpg" alt="FILE- In this July 30, 2008 file photo, Jeffrey Epstein appears in court in West Palm Beach, Fla. Epstein has died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, says person briefed on the matter, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Palm Beach Post, Uma Sanghvi, File)" />Associated PressFILE- In this July 30, 2008 file photo, Jeffrey Epstein appears in court in West Palm Beach, Fla. Epstein has died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, says person briefed on the matter, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Palm Beach Post, Uma Sanghvi, File)<ul class="summary-list"><li>In August, a mysterious man using the pseudonym Patrick Kessler met with top lawyers David Boies and John Pottinger and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">told them</a> he had access to a vast archive of the late Jeffrey Epstein's files.</li><li>Kessler said the archive included the vast amount of personal-security footage that Epstein filmed inside his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-net-worth-a-multimillion-real-estate-portfolio-2019-7">various properties</a>, and that it included incriminating shots of the financier's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/famous-people-jeffery-epstein-money-manager-sexual-trafficking-connected-2019-7">famous associates</a>.</li><li>With the lure of grainy photographs that Kessler claimed showed men like Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel, and Alan Dershowitz, Boies' <a href="https://www.insider.com/alan-dershowitz-david-boies-lawsuit-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-virginia-giuffre-case-2019-7">legal nemesis</a>, having sex with the women Epstein coerced and trafficked, the supposed whistleblower convinced the two lawyers he was worth their time.</li><li>Over months of encrypted correspondence and back-and-forth between interested parties, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">including The New York Times</a>, Kessler's promises led to a failed plot for Boies and Pottinger to generate millions.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>A mysterious man told two of the country's most powerful lawyers that he could <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">give them access</a> to the late Jeffrey Epstein's data, including incriminating evidence of the financier's famous associates with the women - many of whom were underage - that Epstein was accused of coercing and trafficking.Under the pseudonym Patrick Kessler, the man was successful in leading the two lawyers, David Boies and John Pottinger, along for months. He even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">got The New York Times</a> involved.The evidence Kessler claimed to have access to never materialized, and the grainy photos he claimed showed men, including Alan Dershowitz and Ehud Barak, having sex with women connected to Epstein were never verified. Both Dershowitz and Barak denied to The Times that they were in the photos, and Boies and Pottinger went from calling Kessler a "whistleblower" to a "fraudster."But the lead-up to the eventual disappointment revealed that the two lawyers were willing to represent both sides of Epstein's sex trafficking case to generate millions of dollars. They say that some of the money they hoped to win from the men incriminated by Kessler's evidence would go toward the victims, but they would each have also received boosts, both financially and in PR.The Times' <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">own investigation</a> showed that the lawyers and Kessler told wildly different stories to different sources, as Epstein's legal legacy continued to unfold.<h2>How an 'informant' led powerful lawyers astray with promises of Epstein's evidence that never materialized</h2><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a020c993dbef425008b460f-1500/david boies.jpg" alt="David Boies" />AP Photo/Carolyn KasterDavid Boies, the attorney representing former AIG Chairman and CEO Maurice Greenberg, arrives at federal court in Washington, Friday, Oct. 10, 2014.In August, Kessler, who drank "like a fish" and had a large, commanding presence, first contacted a lawyer who had access to Epstein's accusers - Brad Edwards, the Florida-based attorney who represents a number of the late financier's victims. Edwards referred Kessler to his New York partner, Pottinger. In initial discussions with Pottinger, who looped in Boies - another well-known representative of Epstein's accusers - Kessler claimed to have access to encrypted files from Epstein's many properties that showed seven powerful men having sex with women connected to Epstein. In some cases, he said the men were committing rape.Those seven men included Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel, along with Dershowitz, Boies' <a href="https://www.insider.com/alan-dershowitz-david-boies-lawsuit-jeffrey-epstein-accuser-virginia-giuffre-case-2019-7">legal nemesis</a>, Prince Andrew, three billionaires, and a prominent CEO. The Times reported there is no evidence to substantiate the claims that any of those men were caught on video having sex with women at Epstein's residences. Pottinger gave Kessler a draft of an agreement for him to sign on as his client (it was never signed). Both Pottinger, who was interested in elevating his firm, and Boies, who was looking for redemption after representing Harvey Weinstein, found Kessler trustworthy enough to investigate his claims further. <h2>Boies and Pottinger devised a plan to squeeze the incriminated, wealthy men for private settlements to aid victims</h2><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d522946cd97846c254bf2d2-1024/gettyimages-1154615733.jpg" alt="jeffrey epstein" />Stephanie Keith/Getty ImagesA protest group called "Hot Mess" hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Federal courthouse on July 8, 2019 in New York City. According to reports, Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.Kessler told them that he had been molested as a little boy, and that he joined forces with an online hacking community that sought to combat pedophilia. He said that he was introduced to Epstein in 2012 and that the financier hired him to set up encrypted servers that would hold his digital archives, including 24/7 camera footage. Pottinger communicated with Kessler over the encrypted messaging app Signal, and Pottinger told the informant that he planned to meet with an Israeli newspaper magnate about the photo Kessler claimed was of Barak, in time for the Israeli election. Pottinger later <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">told The Times</a> he pulled the idea out of his "behind" and was trying to play into Kessler's plan to expose the seven men. Boies said the meeting never occurred.Boies and Pottinger also discussed creating a charity to support victims of abuse that would be bankrolled by private legal settlements from the men incriminated by Kessler's supposed evidence.Over the encrypted messaging app Signal, Pottinger encouraged Kessler to dig up the pertinent files regarding the "hot list" of men who the lawyers then planned to approach. Then, in September, they began disclosing some of the evidence Kessler claimed to possess <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">with The Times</a>. The threat of a major publication having access to the footage would put further pressure on the seven men, once the two lawyers decided to proposition them.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ad69cdecad047d3c2702b3-2400/2dershowitz.jpg" alt="Alan Dershowitz" />Reuters/Andrew Innerarity Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz discusses allegations of sex with an underage girl leveled against him, during an interview at his home in Miami Beach January 5, 2015. After the planned session with the lawyers, Kessler, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">and The Times</a>, Kessler arranged another secret meeting with reporters from the paper. Privately, he complained that he felt Boies and Pottinger were more interested in financial gains than exposing wrongdoing. He showed the reporters grainy photographs of the other members of the "hot list" that his lawyers had planned to keep quiet at that point. Kessler also told The Times he found financial ledgers showing that Epstein possessed vast amounts of Bitcoin and cash in the Middle East and Bangkok, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in gold, silver, and diamonds. He never presented any proof, and as The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">began to investigate</a> his claims, his stories failed to add up or correlate to fact.Two of Epstein's most prominent victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre (represented by Boies) and Maria Farmer, both said Epstein showed them or they found evidence of him recording surveillance footage of his residences. When police search Epstein's Palm Beach residence in 2005, they found two hidden cameras. But no evidence of an encrypted archive existing, or of Kessler having access to it, has emerged.In late September, Boies and Pottinger met <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">with The Times</a>, sans Kessler, and said they planned to send a team overseas to download the files from Kessler's servers, as they were tired of waiting for their whistleblower to deliver. They offered to share the information with The Times, on the condition that they could decide which men would be exposed and when, so as not to interfere with their own legal proceedings. The Times reported that the newspaper didn't commit to the proposal.At around the same time, Kessler called Dershowitz and shared his story with the lawyer he claimed to have incriminating evidence on. He told Dershowitz that he didn't have any footage of him at Epstein's residences, despite <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">showing The Times</a> and his own lawyers the grainy photograph he claimed was of Dershowitz having sex. When The Times showed Dershowitz the photo, his wife said it couldn't be him, because he doesn't wear his glasses "doing that."<h2>Kessler's plot fizzled out after he claimed a fire destroyed his servers and he needed to flee the foreign country he held them in</h2><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d656f712e22af07283c5dc4-2400/2019-08-27t143334z1425780414rc1b6f2a78f0rtrmadp3people-jeffrey-epstein.jpg" alt="Lawyer David Boies arrives with his client Virginia Giuffre for hearing in the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein, who died this month in what a New York City medical examiner ruled a suicide, at Federal Court in New York, U.S., August 27, 2019." />REUTERS/Shannon StapletonLawyer David Boies arrives with his client Virginia Giuffre for hearing in the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein, who died this month in what a New York City medical examiner ruled a suicide, at Federal Court in New York, U.S., August 27, 2019.In October, Kessler said he was ready to send the Epstein files <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">to The Times</a>, along with very specific instructions to obtain them, lest they self-destruct. On the morning that the files were supposed to be sent, Kessler texted to say that a fire had consumed the servers and that he had to flee to Kyiv. The same day, he contacted Pottinger, sans his story of fire and escape. Kessler said he hoped they could net $1 billion from the "hot list" with the evidence he had. He asked Pottinger what the hypothetical legal plans would be. Pottinger said there were two hypotheticals: settlements could be reached, and the money could be divided among the seven mens' victims, the foundation, Kessler, and the lawyers.The other scenario would involve the lawyers first representing the victims, then approaching the seven men and being hired as their lawyers, ensuring that the "hot list" would avoid lawsuits but have to pay out generous sums for the victims' foundation. Pottinger said neither scenario would occur unless both the seven men and the victims could be identified and retained after the footage was delivered. Pottinger <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/david-boies-pottinger-jeffrey-epstein-videos.html">told The Times</a> that his plans would not have been carried out in the way he articulated to Kessler, but Boies stressed that it wouldn't be illegal to work for the victims first, and later, the abusers. The lawyers could have earned to 40% of the settlements, but Boies said he didn't plan to accept it - he currently represents some of Epstein's victims pro bono. But the footage never arrived.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-uk-police-wont-pursue-case-prince-andrew-ghislaine-2019-11">British police won't pursue criminal charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-jail-guards-lawyers-scapegoated-2019-11">Lawyers for the guards accused of napping the night Jeffrey Epstein died say their clients are being unfairly blamed for the jail's dysfunction</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-kill-himself-poll-2019-11">Almost half of Americans now believe the conspiracy theory that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was murdered</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/queen-reportedly-cancels-prince-andrew-birthday-jeffrey-epstein-interview-2019-11">The Queen reportedly canceled Prince Andrew's 60th birthday party in the wake of his controversial interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein</a></li></ul>If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit <a href="https://hotline.rainn.org/online">their website</a> to receive confidential support.

You Searched For "maria farmer" and got 12 results

Prosecutors are almost done presenting their case at the Ghislaine Maxwell trial — but they just had a terrible day

Jacob Shamsian

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell gained an accuser's trust by lying and claiming they were married, new documentary says

Debanjali Bose

Jeffrey Epstein accuser says she doesn't believe Ghislaine Maxwell is actually in prison and thinks she 'very well may be in Trump Tower'

Debanjali Bose

A judge is set to unseal the names of over 170 Jeffrey Epstein associates. Many of them are his victims.

Jacob Shamsian

Ghislaine Maxwell's victims confronted her at her sentencing, describing how she and Jeffrey Epstein left them broken in 'unfathomable ways'

Ashley Collman,Jacob Shamsian

Epstein accuser Annie Farmer testifies that Ghislaine Maxwell told her to remove her top and gave her a massage when she was 16

Jacob Shamsian,Ashley Collman

A mysterious 'Doe 183' is trying to keep Jeffrey Epstein documents under seal. Could it be Les Wexner?

Jacob Shamsian

Art students say Guggenheim relative brought them Jeffrey Epstein's ranch where he pressured them to play with 'sexual objects'

Connor Perrett,Connor Perrett

Prosecutors won't charge Jeffrey Epstein's former assistant Lesley Groff, who accusers say booked 'massage' appointments and flights, her lawyers say

Jacob Shamsian

A Jeffrey Epstein accuser blames Victoria's Secret owner Les Wexner for sexual assault that she says occurred on his Ohio property

Kat Tenbarge

The CEO of Victoria's Secret's parent company reportedly had close ties to Jeffrey Epstein

Mary Hanbury

2 powerful lawyers reportedly planned to use videos of Epstein associates to rake in millions - but it appears they were duped

Kat Tenbarge