More Than a Dozen Jeffrey Epstein Accusers Have Come Forward Since His Indictment
More than a dozen women have come forward with sexual abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced hedge fund manager who was arrested last Saturday on sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy charges.
In the days following Epstein’s arrest, more than four women have approached attorney David Boies with additional allegations against the disgraced financier, per the Miami Herald. At least 10 other women have approached other lawyers who have represented Epstein’s alleged victims, including Palm Beach attorneys Jack Scarola and Bradley Edwards, according to Scarola. “The people we are speaking to are underage victims in Florida and in New York. They are not individuals whose claims have previously been part of any law enforcement investigation,’’ Scarola told the paper.
Epstein was arrested last Saturday at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport after flying in from Paris. According to the indictment, which was unsealed last Monday, Epstein is accused of sexually abusing “dozens” of girls as young as 14 at his Palm Beach and Manhattan homes between 2002 and 2005. FBI agents searching Epstein’s lavish Upper East Side home also found “hundreds, and perhaps thousands” of images of “young-looking women and girls” in a safe in his home, though it is unclear whether all of the girls were underage at the time the photos were taken.
In addition to those who have come forward following Epstein’s arrest, Jennifer Araoz, a 32-year-old makeup artist living in New York City, recently told NBC News that a female friend of Epstein’s recruited her to come to the multi-millionaire’s home to give him massages in 2001 when she was 14 years old. Araoz says that Epstein paid her $300 to give him massages while she was nude or partially nude, and in 2002, he allegedly sexually assaulted her at his New York City home.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state charges of solicitation and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison, serving much of the sentence from the comfort of his Palm Beach office. The terms of the deal were largely kept secret until 2018, when the Miami Herald published a series of reports identifying nearly 80 young girls who had come forward with sexual abuse allegations against Epstein.
The Herald‘s report revealed that then-Florida U.S. attorney and now-U.S. labor secretary Alexander Acosta had approved Epstein’s plea agreement. Following intense public pressure after Epstein’s arrest, Acosta officially resigned as labor secretary on Friday.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. He is currently being held at Metropolitan Correctional Center and will appear at a bail hearing on Monday.