This archive report was first published on 14 August 2019.
As I stepped into Jeffrey Epstein's mansion on the Upper East Side in the fall of 2001, I was just 14 years old. The first thing I noticed were the security cameras. They were hard to miss, with small TVs playing the footage in real time inside the front door. The message was clear: I was in the house of someone important, and I was being watched.
It was a feeling I would come to know all too well. Epstein's recruiters had been circling me, preying on my vulnerability as a young girl with big dreams. They promised me a chance to meet influential people who could help me break into modeling, but what they really wanted was to exploit me for their own twisted desires.
Epstein's estate and accomplices are now facing a civil action, filed under New York's Child Victims Act. This law, which went into effect on August 14, 2019, allows survivors to revive claims that had previously expired due to the statute of limitations.
Epstein's recruiters were relentless, using my family's financial struggles to lure me into their trap. They promised me help, but what they delivered was abuse. I was forced to give Epstein massages, which quickly escalated into assault. For over a year, I visited his home once or twice a week, feeling trapped and helpless.
It wasn't until I was raped by Epstein during my sophomore year that I finally found the courage to escape. I quit the performing arts school I had been attending and transferred to a new school in Queens, but the trauma lingered. It took me years to tell anyone about what had happened, and even then, I struggled with anxiety and shame.
But I'm not alone. There are countless other survivors who have been victimized by Epstein's sex trafficking scheme. And now, with the Child Victims Act on our side, we have a chance to hold him and his accomplices accountable.
It's not going to be easy. The power structure was stacked against me, and it still is. But I'm no longer afraid. I'm no longer alone. And I'm no longer silenced.
