Maria Farmer claimed that Epstein assaulted her and stole photos of her sisters while she was staying at his home in Ohio.
Epstein accuser speaks of abuse and manipulative tactics
Epstein accuser Lisa Phillips has told how Jeffrey Epstein groomed and manipulated young girls into silence and abuse.
The FBI received a complaint about Jeffrey Epstein in 1996, nearly a decade before it investigated his activities in Florida and more than two decades before the Justice Department filed sex trafficking charges.
the complaint was made publicc As part of a larger document released on Dec. 19 under the Epstein File Transparency Act. Although the document was redacted to prevent the plaintiff’s name from being revealed, Maria Farmer and her attorney quickly identified it as hers.
“The complainant stated that she was a professional artist and took photographs of her sisters, ages 12 and 16, for her own personal work,” the FBI complaint said in a handwritten note without an agent’s signature. “Epstein is believed to have stolen the photos and sold them to potential buyers.
“At the time, Epstein requested (edited) photos of young girls in a pool,” the memo continued. “Epstein is now threatening to burn down his house if he tells anyone about the photos (redacted).”
This document is dated September 3, 1996. Jeffrey Epstein is specifically identified as the subject of the charges, and the case is listed as “child pornography,” the legal term for child sexual abuse material.
Farmer, who has accused Epstein and his colleague Ghislaine Maxwell of sexual assault, said in a statement that the day the documents were released was one of the best days of her life.
“I’m crying for two reasons,” said Farmer, now 56. “I want everyone to know that I’m not only crying tears of joy for myself, but also tears of sadness for all the other victims of the FBI’s failures.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
maria Farmer claims Epstein and Maxwell stole images of sisters
Possession of child sexual abuse materials has been a federal crime in the United States since 1978, and Congress strengthened the law in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan. By 1996, the Internet was becoming more widely used for distributing materials.
Jennifer Freeman, Farmer’s attorney, said Farmer had nude or semi-nude hard-copy photographs of his two younger sisters for the purpose of anatomical study in a graduate school art class. Freeman said Farmer cataloged the items in a locked box so he would know when they went missing.
According to the lawsuit filed by Farmer in May, while she was working for Epstein as an art scout in New York City in 1996, Epstein and Maxwell encouraged her to spend the summer at Epstein’s property in Ohio as artist-in-residence. According to the complaint, Epstein’s property was located on or adjacent to property owned by Victoria’s Secret mogul Les Wexner.
The complaint alleges that Ms. Farmer was sexually assaulted by Mr. Epstein and Mr. Maxwell while in Ohio in late July or early August 1996. Freeman said she discovered that a locked box she had hidden in her basement containing photos of her sisters was broken open and the photos were gone. “Epstein and Maxwell flew these images from Ohio to New York for their own and possibly others’ sexual gratification,” the complaint says.
Freeman said Farmer reported all of this information to the FBI.
According to the Department of Justice, moving child pornography from one state to another is a federal crime. Freeman said uploading the material to a computer would also be a federal crime.
According to Epstein’s flight records, he made multiple flights in August and September 1996 from Columbus, Ohio, the airport closest to his Ohio properties, including to Teterboro, New Jersey, outside New York City.
USA TODAY has reached out to Maxwell’s attorney for comment. The Department of Justice has appeared in court for the case but has not yet filed a response to the negligence claims, according to court documents.
According to the complaint, Ms. Farmer first reported her sexual assault, crimes she believed Mr. Epstein and Mr. Maxwell had committed against minors, and serious charges of child sexual abuse to the New York City Police Department on August 29, 1996. A copy of the police report is cited. Police advised her to call the FBI, and she called two different offices at least twice, according to the complaint. The FBI complaint, released Dec. 19, is stamped with a date of Sept. 3, 1996.
Epstein was not charged with child pornography
Freeman said the federal government should have investigated and prosecuted Epstein for child pornography-related crimes decades ago. He said the FBI has a responsibility to be on the lookout for child pornography allegations, and that those types of crimes are easier to prove than sexual assault or human trafficking.
“Rather than trying to get a witness to say this or that, you usually have evidence, either video or still images,” said Freeman, who is also chair of CHILD USAdvocacy. “Prosecution is relatively easy because we actually have the evidence.”
Ten years later, in 2007, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Marie Villafagna made multiple attempts to remove computers and hard drives from Epstein’s property, according to a 2020 report from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
The report said Villafaña knew from personal experience that people who exploit minors often possess child sexual abuse materials. Her colleagues commented that it was unusual that someone of Epstein’s caliber did not video record their encounter with Epstein, according to the report.
The report said Epstein’s lawyers are fighting efforts to hand over the computers and hard drives and are working to ensure the case is prosecuted at the Florida state level. But in September 2007, his lawyers signed a now-infamous non-prosecution agreement, allowing him to plead guilty to two low-level state crimes: solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution from a minor.
The Justice Department indicted Epstein in 2019 on sex trafficking charges for alleged crimes in New York and Florida, but the indictment did not include child pornography charges. In July, the Justice Department and FBI announced that files related to Epstein included “more than 10,000 downloaded videos and images of illegal child sexual abuse material and other pornography.”
Earlier this year, Marina Lacerda, who identified herself as the anonymous underage victim who was first recruited in 2002, revealed her identity at Epstein’s home on the 71st.cent The streets of New York City were filled with cameras, and I had an entire office dedicated to them in front of my house.
Maria Farmer still fighting for papers
Freeman said he tried multiple times to obtain a copy of the 1996 child pornography complaint from the FBI without success. A response to her latest Freedom of Information Act request expected a response in November 2027.
In May 2023, she asked the FBI, Justice Department Inspector General, and Attorney General to investigate how law enforcement handled the Epstein case. The inspector general released a similar report on the handling of the sexual abuse case involving USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted on state and federal charges of sexual assault and child pornography, respectively.
Freeman said he was not satisfied with the following response from the Department of Justice in December 2024: she said deemed Farmer’s concerns resolved without conducting a similar investigation. In May of this year, he filed a civil lawsuit alleging negligence on the part of the government. They are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Freeman said that even though he feels vindicated by the release of the 1996 documents, there are still more documents that need to be released. According to Farmer’s complaint, she called “at least two different offices” to report allegations that went beyond child sexual abuse, including sexual assault.
Specifically, Farmer’s lawsuit alleges that Farmer told the FBI about explicit images of children that Epstein kept in his home, a binder in a safe that appeared to contain child sexual abuse material, and that Epstein had “recording devices and sophisticated computer surveillance” throughout his New York City home.
According to the complaint, the FBI hung up on her midway through her sentence. Documents proving the second exchange were not produced during the Dec. 19 document release, the deadline for the Justice Department to release all Epstein files.
“This seems like a different kind of abuse,” Lacerda said. “Our voices weren’t being heard.”
