It is the betrayal by women that Maria Farmer finds hardest to bear – that and the callous disregard with which the authorities treated her complaints about Jeffrey Epstein. Six weeks after the death of the billionaire paedophile in a New York jail, the victim, who believes she was the first to warn of his crimes, is coming to terms with the reality that he will never face justice.
An aspiring artist, Maria and her younger sister, Annie, were both assaulted by Epstein in the 1990s, after she went to work at the entrepreneur’s Manhattan mansion. She spoke exclusively to Grazia as the first lawsuit against Epstein’s estate was launched in Manhattan by a woman known only as ‘Victim-1’, and who, like Maria, is accusing two of Epstein’s female associates of facilitating the abuse she suffered at his hands. (Lawyers for one woman, Sarah Kellen, have not responded; a lawyer for the other, Lesley Groff, said: ‘At no time during Lesley’s employment with Epstein did she ever engage in any misconduct.’)
Meanwhile, it emerged that a number of high-profile educational institutions, including Stanford and Harvard, had accepted donations from Epstein, as part of his campaign to secure his role in society circles. Harvard has launched a review into the donations, while Stanford said its donation came before Epstein’s arrest. And in a separate development, a group of Florida victims failed in their legal bid to set aside a controversial plea deal which could see many of Epstein’s alleged associates avoid justice. It seems that, despite his death, the scandal swirling around Epstein will take some time to go away.
'It is the betrayal by women that Maria Farmer finds hardest to bear.'
Maria remains convinced that more could have been done to stop what she describes as a ‘paedophile ring’ led by Epstein. She first approached the FBI in 1996 to describe the shocking scenes at the townhouse where, she claims, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – his ex-girlfriend who is alleged to have acted as his procurer – supplied him with a steady stream of young girls. But she says her claims were ignored – and Epstein went on to abuse hundreds of girls for more than 20 years before his arrest earlier this year. ‘It’s not even that they didn’t listen,’ Maria says. ‘They knew it was true, they just chose to ignore me,’ she claims.
It was after she herself was attacked by Epstein and also, she claims, Ghislaine, a year after she began working for him, that Maria realised she had been caught in a web of sexual deviancy. She says she was introduced to the pair by arts patron Eileen Guggenheim (who told the New York Times she did not recall such an interaction). ‘I started working for Jeffrey because I admired him,’ Maria says. ‘I thought he was really this great entrepreneur, he was doing things for the arts. Of course, now I know he was a shyster. He did none of those things and he hurt children. I saw a lot of women, young girls – between three and eight at least a day, sometimes 10, going upstairs.’
Maria claims that she was appalled when, one night, Epstein and Ghislaine appeared in the bedroom of the house they all were visiting and began pawing and groping her. She was unaware that the billionaire had already forced her 16-year-old sister to submit to a topless massage. When she found out, she immediately approached the police to report their experiences. She then waited for action – which never came.
‘I made it very clear they were harming children. I gave them everything they needed to know,’ she says. ‘I waited 23 years thinking they were working on this and they were never working on it. It’s so disheartening to know that I was disposed of, all these other women were, and they just didn’t care.’ The FBI has not responded to Maria’s claims.
'They knew it was true, they just chose to ignore me.’
Ghislaine went into hiding after Epstein’s death, amid outcry over her alleged role in his misconduct. But while the furore is yet to die down, Maria, now 51, is concerned the Maxwell heiress will continue to evade justice. ‘I would like to know why Ghislaine is not in prison,’ Maria says. ‘She was so desperate to bring him at least eight women a day – and they weren’t women, they were children [nearly all those abused by Epstein were under 18, although Maria was 23]. She called them her “nubiles”: “I’ve got to go out and get my nubiles”.’ Ghislaine’s lawyer has denied the broad claims against her in the past, but hasn’t responded to Maria’s allegations or Grazia’s requests for comment.
Maria accuses other women in Epstein’s orbit of either helping overtly in his crimes or overlooking clear signs of his activities because he was rich and powerful. And she calls on the authorities to look further into the role of those accused of participating in the abuse, including Prince Andrew (claims he strenuously denies). Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre has claimed she and the prince had sex several times when she was only 17 – under the age of consent – in her home state of Florida, last week telling American TV that they had had sex in a toilet after he gave her alcohol at a London nightclub.
In response to the allegations, the prince has previously issued a statement saying: ‘I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behaviour.’ As Grazia went to press, Buckingham Palace had not commented on the latest claims. Maria says the day she heard Epstein had been arrested was one of the greatest of her life, so she was ‘devastated’ to learn of his death. She is sceptical about suggestions he killed himself, believing he was murdered to stop him speaking about other powerful people.
‘Jeffrey would never have committed suicide. He was a sick man, and entirely delusional. I guarantee he believed he could get out of it [the charges against him].’ To make matters worse, the news of Epstein’s death came as Maria prepared to be treated for a slow-growing brain tumour. Maria says the abuse has affected every aspect of her life – and that she can never get over the guilt of having introduced her sister Annie to her assailant. ‘He just did irreparable harm, to my health, my happiness. I’m not married. I don’t have kids. I’ve not had a lot of peace.’
'I said something 23 years ago and no one cared. And they knew I was telling the truth.'
Unfortunately, Maria and Annie are barred from following Victim-1 by bringing a civil action against Epstein’s estate as they were abused in states that have statutes of limitation on legal claims. But, with more and more respected institutions exposed as having accepted cash from the sex offender, Maria is calling on those who took money to give it to the victims.
‘When you see the victims interviewed, it tears at my heart because each one of them feels guilt. They think they should have said something. But I want them all to know it wouldn’t have mattered, because I said something 23 years ago and no one cared. And they knew I was telling the truth.'
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