this is wild
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article250316759.html
A lawsuit names Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell and alleges actions sinister even by his standards
By Julie K. Brown
March 30, 2021 03:32 PM,
Perversion of Justice: A Miami Herald Investigation
The Miami Herald is partnering with the Miami Foundation to launch the Investigative Journalism Fund. With your donations, we can do more projects like Perversion of Justice, our series on Jeffrey Epstein. By Emily Michot
In early 2008, as financier Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers were waging what would become a successful campaign to get the Justice Department to drop its sex trafficking case against their client, Epstein and his purported madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, were allegedly raping a 26-year-old South Florida real estate broker who claims in a lawsuit filed last week that Epstein trafficked her to other men, including a local judge.
The story stands out among a number of civil claims that have been filed in recent months against the late financier’s estate and his co-executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn. While most of the allegations involving Epstein and his associates follow a similar pattern involving how victims were recruited and abused, the case filed March 22 involves allegations far more sinister than others.
The woman, who is identified only as “Jane Doe,” claims that Epstein and Maxwell repeatedly raped her in front of her 8-year-old son at a hotel in Naples, Florida, in early 2008; that they trafficked her to have sex with a number of other men, including an unnamed local judge; and that Epstein forced her to undergo vaginal surgery so that he could market her as a virgin to one of their “high-profile” clients.
She is represented by two teams of lawyers, one from the New York law firm Phillips & Paolicelli; and the other Coffey Burlington, based in Miami, whose founding partner, Kendall Coffey, is a former U.S. attorney in Miami.
Indyke and Kahn’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Maxwell’s longtime attorney, Laura Menninger.
A video conference on the case is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday before a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale.
Listen to today's top stories from the Miami Herald:
Doe, identified in the claim only as a real estate broker at the time who sold properties in and around Palm Beach, said she met Epstein and Maxwell sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 at a barbecue hosted by her employer, who knew Epstein well. Doe, who was approximately 26 at the time, was a native of Turkey who lived in Broward County, according to the complaint.
Her employer, who is not identified in the lawsuit, told her that Epstein wanted to rent or purchase a piece of real estate, and she ultimately found him a property to rent for $10,000 a month. The suit says he paid cash and she was directed not to identify the tenant or process Epstein’s identification.
Epstein expressed an interest in hiring her to work for him and as an inducement he gave her expensive gifts and promised to find her and her then-husband “highly-placed” employment, the suit says.
The woman claims that in the middle of 2007, Maxwell, who went by the nickname “G-Max,” took her passport for “safekeeping,’’ and Doe later learned that Epstein kept it in a locked box inside his Palm Beach estate, the lawsuit says.
About six months later, Doe, “persuaded by the persistent efforts of Maxwell,” agreed to consider working for Epstein. A trained hairdresser, Doe said she was hired to go to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion in January 2008 to cut Epstein’s hair. When she arrived, Epstein was naked and, with Maxwell’s assistance, brutally raped her, according to the lawsuit.
At the time, the woman recalls Epstein had guns in his possession which were displayed to her in order to frighten and intimidate her.
After the assault, Epstein alleged gave Doe $200.
EXCLUSIVE: Epstein victim's mother talks about first time learning of her daughter's abuse
Michelle Licata was the first victim of Jeffrey Epstein interviewed by Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown in her family's restaurant near Nashville on Dec. 11, 2017. Licata's mother spoke as well about first learning of her daughter's abuse. By Emily Michot | Julie K. Brown
She attempted to leave, telling them she intended to report the rape. Maxwell, in response, claimed that she had already called the police. Two men who claimed to be police officers arrived at Epstein’s mansion and threatened to arrest Doe for prostitution, to take away her son and deport her, according to the suit.
Then Epstein and Maxwell ordered Doe to drive with them in Doe’s vehicle, picking up her son along the way. During the trip, they pulled off the side of the road to a waterway filled with alligators.
“Epstein then ushered the plaintiff to the body of water and told her in explicit detail that — as had happened to other women in the past, according to the pair — she would end up in this body of water and be devoured should she ever reveal what Epstein had done to her,’’ the suit says.
At a hotel in Naples, over a period of days, Doe was repeatedly raped by Epstein and Maxwell in the presence of her young son, she said.
Over the next five months, until May 2008, they threatened and intimidated her by emphasizing Epstein’s influence over the FBI, the U.S. Office of Homeland Security’s Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Florida state and local law enforcement, according to the lawsuit.
Epstein is charged with sex trafficking of underage girls
Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, held a press conference on July 8, 2019, announcing that Jeffrey Epstein had been charged with sex trafficking of underage girls in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. By Emily Michot | Marta Oliver Craviotto
The woman said Epstein also promised to help find her husband a job with the FBI, and used that incentive and others as leverage to force her to have sex with other men, including an older, heavyset man named “Walter,” and another older man who identified himself to Doe as a local judge, according to the complaint.
Years later, Epstein's victims discuss the lasting impact of sexual abuse
Victims of Jeffrey Epstein share the emotional toll that sexual abuse has taken on them — even years after the abuse occurred. Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown interviewed the young women, most speaking for the first time about Epstein. By Emily Michot | Julie K. Brown
She was repeatedly photographed and videotaped naked and performing lewd activities during this time, she said.
Doe, who appeared much younger than 26, was told to tell clients that she was 17. In May 2008, she said Epstein forced her to have unwanted vaginal surgery, which was conducted “in a wealthy person’s home by a man with a Russian accent,’’ to “create the false impression that she was a virgin for a ‘high-profile’ client,’’ according to the lawsuit.
The procedure left the plaintiff mutilated and permanently damaged, the lawsuit alleges.
Doe said that in April 2008, she was directed to keep a locked box for Epstein, which she was instructed she could never open or she would be killed. She was also given burner phones and other electronic devices that Epstein was seeking to hide from law enforcement authorities, the lawsuit claims.
Eventually the box and other materials were retrieved by Maxwell in May 2008, according to the lawsuit.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged procurer of young women, was arrested July 2 in New Hampshire.
It’s not clear when the alleged abuse ended. Jane Doe said she was so traumatized by the events and fearful of Epstein’s power that she was too afraid for both herself and her son to notify authorities. She was also from a devout Muslim family and worried that the facts would bring great shame on her family, the suit says.
During the time that the assaults are alleged to have occurred, Epstein had hired a roster of powerful lawyers to help defend him against charges that he had molested and assaulted at least three dozen girls, most of them 14 to 16 years old, at his Palm Beach estate. While federal prosecutors prepared a 53-page indictment, Epstein’s lawyers, including famed prosecutor turned defense lawyer Kenneth Starr, appealed to the Department of Justice in Washington, urging them to intervene in the South Florida case.
They argued that Epstein’s offenses did not rise to the level of federal offense. The then-U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, ultimately signed off on a plea deal in which Epstein and a number of others were given federal immunity. Epstein was instead sentenced in state court on prostitution charges.
Ghislaine Maxwell arrested on charges related to Epstein scandal
The FBI says the socialite who was accused of recruiting and grooming girls for sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in New Hampshire. Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the charges. By Associated Press
The multimillionaire was sentenced on June 30, 2008, and immediately sent to the Palm Beach County jail, where he would serve 13 months, much of it on work release at a nonprofit company that Indyke helped him set up in West Palm Beach, records show. Epstein completed his sentence in 2009.
Ten years later, in July 2019, Epstein was indicted on sex trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York. Authorities said he committed suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan a month later while awaiting trial.
Maxwell was indicted in July 2020 and faces similar sex trafficking charges. Her trial is scheduled for July 2021.
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell in August 2019. The multimillionaire had been charged with sex trafficking.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article250316759.html
A lawsuit names Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell and alleges actions sinister even by his standards
By Julie K. Brown
March 30, 2021 03:32 PM,
Perversion of Justice: A Miami Herald Investigation
The Miami Herald is partnering with the Miami Foundation to launch the Investigative Journalism Fund. With your donations, we can do more projects like Perversion of Justice, our series on Jeffrey Epstein. By Emily Michot
In early 2008, as financier Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers were waging what would become a successful campaign to get the Justice Department to drop its sex trafficking case against their client, Epstein and his purported madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, were allegedly raping a 26-year-old South Florida real estate broker who claims in a lawsuit filed last week that Epstein trafficked her to other men, including a local judge.
The story stands out among a number of civil claims that have been filed in recent months against the late financier’s estate and his co-executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn. While most of the allegations involving Epstein and his associates follow a similar pattern involving how victims were recruited and abused, the case filed March 22 involves allegations far more sinister than others.
The woman, who is identified only as “Jane Doe,” claims that Epstein and Maxwell repeatedly raped her in front of her 8-year-old son at a hotel in Naples, Florida, in early 2008; that they trafficked her to have sex with a number of other men, including an unnamed local judge; and that Epstein forced her to undergo vaginal surgery so that he could market her as a virgin to one of their “high-profile” clients.
She is represented by two teams of lawyers, one from the New York law firm Phillips & Paolicelli; and the other Coffey Burlington, based in Miami, whose founding partner, Kendall Coffey, is a former U.S. attorney in Miami.
Indyke and Kahn’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Maxwell’s longtime attorney, Laura Menninger.
A video conference on the case is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday before a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale.
Listen to today's top stories from the Miami Herald:
Doe, identified in the claim only as a real estate broker at the time who sold properties in and around Palm Beach, said she met Epstein and Maxwell sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 at a barbecue hosted by her employer, who knew Epstein well. Doe, who was approximately 26 at the time, was a native of Turkey who lived in Broward County, according to the complaint.
Her employer, who is not identified in the lawsuit, told her that Epstein wanted to rent or purchase a piece of real estate, and she ultimately found him a property to rent for $10,000 a month. The suit says he paid cash and she was directed not to identify the tenant or process Epstein’s identification.
Epstein expressed an interest in hiring her to work for him and as an inducement he gave her expensive gifts and promised to find her and her then-husband “highly-placed” employment, the suit says.
The woman claims that in the middle of 2007, Maxwell, who went by the nickname “G-Max,” took her passport for “safekeeping,’’ and Doe later learned that Epstein kept it in a locked box inside his Palm Beach estate, the lawsuit says.
About six months later, Doe, “persuaded by the persistent efforts of Maxwell,” agreed to consider working for Epstein. A trained hairdresser, Doe said she was hired to go to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion in January 2008 to cut Epstein’s hair. When she arrived, Epstein was naked and, with Maxwell’s assistance, brutally raped her, according to the lawsuit.
At the time, the woman recalls Epstein had guns in his possession which were displayed to her in order to frighten and intimidate her.
After the assault, Epstein alleged gave Doe $200.
EXCLUSIVE: Epstein victim's mother talks about first time learning of her daughter's abuse
Michelle Licata was the first victim of Jeffrey Epstein interviewed by Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown in her family's restaurant near Nashville on Dec. 11, 2017. Licata's mother spoke as well about first learning of her daughter's abuse. By Emily Michot | Julie K. Brown
She attempted to leave, telling them she intended to report the rape. Maxwell, in response, claimed that she had already called the police. Two men who claimed to be police officers arrived at Epstein’s mansion and threatened to arrest Doe for prostitution, to take away her son and deport her, according to the suit.
Then Epstein and Maxwell ordered Doe to drive with them in Doe’s vehicle, picking up her son along the way. During the trip, they pulled off the side of the road to a waterway filled with alligators.
“Epstein then ushered the plaintiff to the body of water and told her in explicit detail that — as had happened to other women in the past, according to the pair — she would end up in this body of water and be devoured should she ever reveal what Epstein had done to her,’’ the suit says.
At a hotel in Naples, over a period of days, Doe was repeatedly raped by Epstein and Maxwell in the presence of her young son, she said.
Over the next five months, until May 2008, they threatened and intimidated her by emphasizing Epstein’s influence over the FBI, the U.S. Office of Homeland Security’s Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Florida state and local law enforcement, according to the lawsuit.
Epstein is charged with sex trafficking of underage girls
Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, held a press conference on July 8, 2019, announcing that Jeffrey Epstein had been charged with sex trafficking of underage girls in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. By Emily Michot | Marta Oliver Craviotto
The woman said Epstein also promised to help find her husband a job with the FBI, and used that incentive and others as leverage to force her to have sex with other men, including an older, heavyset man named “Walter,” and another older man who identified himself to Doe as a local judge, according to the complaint.
Years later, Epstein's victims discuss the lasting impact of sexual abuse
Victims of Jeffrey Epstein share the emotional toll that sexual abuse has taken on them — even years after the abuse occurred. Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown interviewed the young women, most speaking for the first time about Epstein. By Emily Michot | Julie K. Brown
She was repeatedly photographed and videotaped naked and performing lewd activities during this time, she said.
Doe, who appeared much younger than 26, was told to tell clients that she was 17. In May 2008, she said Epstein forced her to have unwanted vaginal surgery, which was conducted “in a wealthy person’s home by a man with a Russian accent,’’ to “create the false impression that she was a virgin for a ‘high-profile’ client,’’ according to the lawsuit.
The procedure left the plaintiff mutilated and permanently damaged, the lawsuit alleges.
Doe said that in April 2008, she was directed to keep a locked box for Epstein, which she was instructed she could never open or she would be killed. She was also given burner phones and other electronic devices that Epstein was seeking to hide from law enforcement authorities, the lawsuit claims.
Eventually the box and other materials were retrieved by Maxwell in May 2008, according to the lawsuit.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged procurer of young women, was arrested July 2 in New Hampshire.
It’s not clear when the alleged abuse ended. Jane Doe said she was so traumatized by the events and fearful of Epstein’s power that she was too afraid for both herself and her son to notify authorities. She was also from a devout Muslim family and worried that the facts would bring great shame on her family, the suit says.
During the time that the assaults are alleged to have occurred, Epstein had hired a roster of powerful lawyers to help defend him against charges that he had molested and assaulted at least three dozen girls, most of them 14 to 16 years old, at his Palm Beach estate. While federal prosecutors prepared a 53-page indictment, Epstein’s lawyers, including famed prosecutor turned defense lawyer Kenneth Starr, appealed to the Department of Justice in Washington, urging them to intervene in the South Florida case.
They argued that Epstein’s offenses did not rise to the level of federal offense. The then-U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, ultimately signed off on a plea deal in which Epstein and a number of others were given federal immunity. Epstein was instead sentenced in state court on prostitution charges.
Ghislaine Maxwell arrested on charges related to Epstein scandal
The FBI says the socialite who was accused of recruiting and grooming girls for sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in New Hampshire. Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the charges. By Associated Press
The multimillionaire was sentenced on June 30, 2008, and immediately sent to the Palm Beach County jail, where he would serve 13 months, much of it on work release at a nonprofit company that Indyke helped him set up in West Palm Beach, records show. Epstein completed his sentence in 2009.
Ten years later, in July 2019, Epstein was indicted on sex trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York. Authorities said he committed suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan a month later while awaiting trial.
Maxwell was indicted in July 2020 and faces similar sex trafficking charges. Her trial is scheduled for July 2021.
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell in August 2019. The multimillionaire had been charged with sex trafficking.
