A 15-year-old victim of Jeffrey Epstein was summoned one day to his Palm Beach mansion, she said, introduced to one of his “special” friends and instructed to get naked and give the mysterious bald man a massage.
“Make sure our friend has a really good time,” Epstein’s criminal accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly told her.
The man then raped her, said the victim, who never learned his name. Afterward, she received about $1,000 in cash and Maxwell suggested she’d be introduced to other Epstein associates in the future.
Her disturbing account is one of more than a dozen potentially credible FBI interviews CNN reviewed in the Department of Justice’s Epstein files release in which victims told authorities the financier or Maxwell facilitated sexual encounters with his rich and powerful friends. They named more than a half dozen other men, including Wall Street executives, a former senator, a wealthy psychiatrist and a film producer.
To date, only Epstein and Maxwell have been charged in the US with sex trafficking in his case, and FBI Director Kash Patel has said there’s “no credible information” that Epstein trafficked his victims to others.
But CNN found that the victims’ allegations are also echoed in the files by witnesses who described seeing men at Epstein’s properties with minors. One former staffer said he observed an unnamed man on Epstein’s Caribbean island with naked girls who looked under 18, while a woman who had traveled with Epstein described how his associate Jean Luc Brunel – a French modeling agent later arrested on sex crime charges – brought a “really young girl” to the island.
Despite these vivid accounts of abuse by other men, the voluminous Epstein files lack clarity on how investigators pursued those leads. FBI interview memos redact victims’ names and don’t include corroborating information or any details of how federal agents followed up – making it difficult to assess the veracity of the claims.
To some experts, the dearth of investigative reports in the files raises doubts about the steps law enforcement took to look into them.
“I don’t see that that led to writing search warrant affidavits to obtain somebody’s computer, somebody’s personnel file, going to different places to get flight records, hotel records,” said Moses Castillo, a former detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, who listed the investigative efforts he would expect to see documented in the files. “I don’t see that any of that was done.”
A DOJ spokesperson declined to detail the efforts taken to investigate the allegations beyond a broad statement that every tip was properly looked into.
“The allegations contained in them were thoroughly investigated,” the spokesperson said. “Prosecutors at the time did not feel that the evidence was sufficient to prosecute.”
The DOJ also faced accusations of covering up some cases by initially failing to release one victim’s claims that President Donald Trump abused her, allegations the White House calls baseless and which the DOJ says were not intentionally withheld. An FBI email last year stated a victim who claimed abuse by Trump “ultimately refused to cooperate.”
Critics say the Epstein files show how Republican and Democratic administrations alike fumbled the Epstein investigation over two decades, leaving potential coconspirators uncharged.
“The fact that there were all these powerful men, many billionaires, some from other parts of the world, that were involved in the rape and abuse of children and women, and that there has been little to no accountability, especially in our country — every single American should be outraged by that,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
Multiple men accused
Epstein’s sex trafficking has been well documented. After several underage girls accused him of paying them for sex acts in the mid-2000s, he struck a controversial deal to serve about a year in prison and avoid federal charges.
In 2018, additional victims accused him of abuse, which led to a new indictment on charges of sex trafficking dozens of underage girls; Epstein died in jail before he could go to trial. A jury later found Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking and other charges.
Neither criminal case resolved a lingering mystery: whether anyone else in Epstein’s wide network of wealthy friends abused the victims.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi fanned the flames last year during an interview with Fox News in which she said she had a list of Epstein’s clients sitting on her desk to review. The DOJ later walked that back and stated in a memo that a “review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’” and “did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation” of others.
The lack of information drove Congress last year to pass the bill forcing the DOJ to release the Epstein files.
The trove of released pages hasn’t changed the Trump administration’s stance that no other Epstein-related charges are expected. But the documents do include numerous victim statements that point at other men in Epstein’s orbit.
One is Henry Jarecki, a renowned psychiatrist. He was in his late 70s when a woman said she began visiting him weekly at Epstein’s encouragement. In an interview with the FBI, she said she was about to begin college in 2010 and “became dependent” on Epstein.
Epstein told her Jarecki could help her with college. Instead, she said Jarecki “trafficked” her. She told authorities she provided Jarecki with oral sex.
In a lawsuit filed in 2024, an anonymous woman who identified herself as one of Epstein’s victims alleged she was raped by Jarecki, who denied any wrongdoing and called her allegations “ludicrous.” The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the case last year and told Fox News she had concluded Jarecki did not mean her harm and that Epstein had not referred her to him. It’s not clear if this is the same woman who spoke to the FBI.
A spokesperson for Jarecki, who has not been charged with any crime, said he can’t comment because he “has advanced dementia and is non-communicative,” adding, “That silence should not be construed as tacit approval.” The spokesperson noted that Jarecki has previously stated he has never abused anyone.
Another woman in 2020 identified a photo of film producer Harvey Weinstein as a man “balding” with “black hair” who was “older and chunky” who had sexually abused her as she massaged him at one of Epstein’s properties when she was about 15 years old, according to another FBI document.
A spokesperson for Weinstein said he “unequivocally denies the allegation described and has no recollection of any such interaction,” noting that the claims are uncorroborated.
A jury convicted Weinstein last year of a charge in his sex crimes retrial. Weinstein told The Hollywood Reporter he was not friends with Epstein though he “maybe ran into him once or twice.”
Another woman said Epstein sent her to stay at a Los Angeles hotel with former Sen. George Mitchell, and that she “complied” when Mitchell asked for sex. After the trip, she said, Epstein told her she had done well and called Mitchell a good friend. She said Epstein’s assistant sent her to Washington, DC, on another occasion where she again had sex with Mitchell. She said she angered Epstein when she abruptly left the hotel but did not go to the police at the time because she “was scared.”
Documents unsealed in 2019 contained allegations from another Epstein victim, Virginia Giuffre, who said Maxwell instructed her to have sex with Mitchell. He denied the claim at the time and said he had “never met, spoken with or had any contact” with her.
“At no time did Senator Mitchell observe, suspect, or have any knowledge of Epstein engaging in illegal or inappropriate conduct with minors,” a spokesperson for Mitchell said, adding that the former senator regrets his association with Epstein and “condemns, without reservation, the horrific harm Epstein inflicted on so many women.”
Another woman told the FBI that Epstein directed her to massage Jes Staley, a banker and former executive with Barclays and JPMorgan, who she said then sexually abused her inside Epstein’s New York home sometime between 2011 and 2012. Staley “forcefully put her hands on his crotch area. This ended in rough sex,” the report describing her interview states. She said she told Staley she “did not want this.”
An anonymous victim also alleged in a lawsuit that one of Epstein’s friends assaulted her. In a court filing, JPMorgan stated the individual described by the victim was Staley, who subsequently denied the accusation.
Last year, Staley said he didn’t know about Epstein’s involvement with underaged girls but said in court he had consensual sex with one of Epstein’s assistants. His attorney called an allegation that he had aided Epstein “baseless.”
The woman who spoke to the FBI about Staley also alleged she’d been abused by Leon Black, a billionaire and former CEO of Apollo Global Management. She said Black started “becoming sexual” during a massage Epstein had directed her to give before she ran out of the room.
Separately, a woman told the FBI in 2020 that Black raped her about six years earlier. She did not say Epstein introduced her to Black but discussed going with Black to Epstein’s home in Florida, where she said she was told to have sex with Epstein.
Black has been accused of rape in three lawsuits. A state judge dismissed one suit and the plaintiff in another agreed to drop her suit. Black has denied allegations in another, which remains pending, though the law firm representing the plaintiff withdrew from the case.
An attorney for Black said in a statement, “Mr. Black has never abused, assaulted, or raped any girl or woman and the idea of doing so is repulsive and reprehensible to him. Such allegations against him are completely false.” Black has also said that “with the benefit of hindsight” he regretted having “any involvement” with Epstein.
Unnamed men accused
Victims in multiple FBI interviews also described Epstein trafficking them to men whose names they didn’t know.
The woman who said Jarecki abused her also told the FBI she had massaged about six different men at Epstein’s townhouse. The memo summarizing her interview doesn’t name those men, but notes she said Epstein provided “sexual instructions” on “how to treat his friends.”
Another victim told authorities Epstein introduced her to a man named Bruce, whose last name she did not recall, though she remembered he had a New York apartment filled with Mickey Mouse paraphernalia. The victim said Epstein told her to meet his friend for dinner. But “Bruce wanted to do something else,” according to a memo describing her interview. The memo does not state whether any sexual activity occurred but does note that Epstein told her to be a “good little girl.”
The victim who said an unnamed bald man raped her at Epstein’s home in Florida when she was about 15 years old told authorities that Maxwell called the man a “very important client and friend.” She said about a month or two later, Maxwell directed her to massage another unnamed man, though she said Maxwell instructed her “not to mention her age” and to “leave your underwear on.” The victim said she was “confused because she normally gave the massages naked and there was normally a sexual encounter with them.”
Other victims described instances in which Epstein apparently sought to introduce them to men. A woman who told the FBI Epstein had abused her as an underage teenager noted that he once called her because “he had a friend that he wanted her to meet,” though she said she declined. Another woman who said Epstein paid her for sexual massages when she was in her 20s told authorities that he suggested “more than once” that she “see some of his acquaintances.”
Some of the most overt allegations that Epstein’s sex trafficking extended beyond him and Maxwell came from Giuffre, who said in court filings and a posthumously published memoir that Epstein forced her to have sex with several others.
“In my years with them, they lent me out to scores of wealthy, powerful people. I was habitually used and humiliated – and in some instances, choked, beaten, and bloodied,” Giuffre wrote in her book published in October. She also told the FBI Epstein arranged her sexual encounters with people she called “clients” when she was under 18, including an unnamed academic she described as “an older American male with a white beard and glasses.”
The prosecution memo released by the DOJ shows authorities had some concerns about Giuffre’s reliability. In a section in which the victim’s name is redacted but details match those publicly shared by Giuffre, the memo states her description of someone’s conduct had been “internally inconsistent” and notes she had admitted to burning handwritten notes about her experience with Epstein and misrepresenting the amount of time she spent with him.
Still, the DOJ files have renewed scrutiny on men she has accused of rape, such as former Prince Andrew, who paid her a settlement in 2022. An email appears to confirm the authenticity of a photo showing Andrew’s arm around her waist, and Steve Scully, who worked for Epstein in the early 2000s, separately told investigators he saw Andrew on Epstein’s island and “recalled him grinding against some young girl in the pool,” according to an FBI report.
The former prince has long denied allegations he sexually assaulted Giuffre. UK authorities arrested Andrew in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office and said they were reviewing claims he shared sensitive information with Epstein. He has not been charged with any crime related to Giuffre.
Following leads
Publicly released documents paint an inconsistent picture of how thoroughly authorities sought to investigate allegations involving other men.
An FBI agent wrote in a 2020 email that Prince Andrew was “not a big part of our investigation.” The agent referenced a US prosecutor publicly saying authorities wanted to talk to Andrew and wrote, “The media was all over that statement making it seem we are investigating Prince Andrew more seriously than we actually are.”
However, former Attorney General Bill Barr, who presided over the DOJ when Epstein was indicted in 2019, said in a deposition last year he believed a dispute arose between US authorities and Andrew as they sought to question him during an investigation into Epstein associates.
“They wanted to talk to him, and he wouldn’t really submit to an interview,” Barr said.
A 2019 prosecution memo, which was written months after Epstein’s death and analyzed whether some of his associates and employees may have criminal liability, includes allegations against Epstein associates like Black and Staley, noting a woman said they “engaged in sexual contact with her against her will during the massages.”
Large portions of that memo are redacted, but one section describes how investigators interviewed dozens of victims and witnesses, executed search warrants, reviewed financial records and met with attorneys for numerous people as they examined potential charges against others.
Neither Black nor Staley have been charged with crimes.
It’s often unclear how authorities followed up on witnesses who described potential crimes tied to Epstein. In the FBI memo about the victim who said an unnamed bald man raped her at Epstein’s Florida home, for example, an agent noted that she said she saw other people in Epstein’s house before the incident, including a chef and a maid. The memo does not say whether the victim provided other information about those individuals. It’s also unclear whether investigators questioned them about her allegation.
The federal agents passed at least some tips from victim interviews to local police. A federal law enforcement email from July stated four to five Epstein victims alleged other men abused them but there was “not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement.” It’s largely unclear, though, which local agencies were contacted or what they did with the information.
Sex crime cases present unique challenges and must clear multiple obstacles to move forward, including statute of limitation constraints and requirements that victims describe what happened to them with great specifity, said Deborah Tuerkheimer, a former New York prosecutor and current law professor at Northwestern.
Tuerkheimer said she believes prosecutors too frequently drop such cases even though they have discretion to pursue them based on victim accounts. She questioned whether that happened with various allegations that emerged in the Epstein case.
“I’m left thinking about how much this very exceptional case tracks very familiar patterns,” Tuerkheimer said. “This sort of short-circuiting of an investigation is not at all unusual.”
Outside of the DOJ, there are still ongoing efforts to learn more about whether others abused Epstein’s victims. The House Oversight Committee plans to hold hearings featuring testimony from victims and witnesses.
First lady Melania Trump has also called for more attention on survivors’ stories. In a statement in which she condemned what she called lies linking her to Epstein, she said Epstein victims should have the opportunity to testify under oath in public hearings. “Now is the time for Congress to act. Epstein was not alone,” the first lady said.
Attorney Spencer Kuvin, who has represented numerous Epstein victims including one he said Epstein “loaned out” to a corporate executive in Palm Beach, said the US government has repeatedly fallen short in the Epstein case dating back to the administration of President George W. Bush, when Epstein struck a non-prosecution deal.
“Subsequent administrations looked at it and said, ‘You know what? The girls got paid, settlements happened, let a sleeping dog lie,’” Kuvin said. “They just kind of looked the other way.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Anyone affected by sexual violence can reach out to the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org to receive support via confidential online chat.