A victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse has revealed she was raped by the disgraced financier while he was under house arrest after avoiding prison time for prior sex crimes.
The woman, identified only as Roza, spoke publicly for the first time alongside a number of Epstein’s victims at a field hearing convened by Democratic politicians in the US.
Roza told the session that she had been recruited from an impoverished background in Uzbekistan as a teenager by Jean-Luc Brunel, Epstein’s associate and a modelling agent.
She told the hearing she was introduced to Epstein by Brunel in July 2009, lured with the promise of work “to help me with my financial troubles”, and then raped repeatedly over the following three years.
The unofficial hearing was held in Palm Beach, where Epstein’s crimes first came to light, on Thursday by Democrats from the US House oversight committee and local Democratic members.
The committee, which has a Republican majority, is investigating Epstein’s crimes. Its Democratic members have focused on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
During the hearing, Robert Garcia, a Democratic representative, pointed out that it was being held close to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The US president was an acquaintance of Epstein but has denied wrongdoing in relation to allegations against the paedophile.
The hearing carried no legal weight, but was designed to keep the Epstein case in the public eye. The Democrats have long accused Mr Trump and the White House of a cover-up for not releasing the files with original documents late last year.
Democratic representatives heard how Epstein and his accomplices escaped accountability for years, and how the justice system repeatedly failed his victims.
During her testimony, Roza revealed that her name was accidentally published in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice.
She said that news reporters “from across the globe” now contact her, while the rich and powerful remain protected by redaction.
Roza said she was 18 when she met the late Brunel in 2008. He “promised a modelling career beyond my dreams”.
“Coming from a financially unstable background, I was a perfect target for coercion,” she said.
By May 2009, she was in New York on a visa.
That July, she met Epstein at his West Palm Beach home while he was serving his house arrest sentence, the same arrangement that had allowed him to leave custody for up to 16 hours a day, six days a week, following his 2008 conviction.
Epstein offered her a role at his Florida Science Foundation, the organisation he had used as cover during that initial plea deal.
“One day his masseuse called me into his room where I was molested for the first time by Jeffrey,” Roza told the hearing. “For the following three years I was subject to ongoing rape.”
She added that because the abuse took place when Epstein was under house arrest, it “made justice feel impossible”, but she “eventually found the courage to reach out for help”.
Epstein died in a New York prison cell on Aug 10, 2019, awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His 2008 conviction had been for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was placed on the sex offenders register.
A report published by Democratic oversight committee members on Tuesday found that the controversial plea deal negotiated by Epstein’s lawyers in 2008 had allowed him to “continue his abuse and trafficking activities for almost another decade”.
