A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein has testified that she was raped by the late financier while he was under house arrest in Florida, as she came forward publicly to address the first-ever congressional hearing for victims of his abuse.
Democrats on the committee also announced that they would be releasing a series of reports looking into why state prosecutors failed to convict Epstein on wider sex-trafficking charges, allowing him to go on to abuse the survivor and countless other women.
A model who was trafficked from Uzbekistan and sent to Epstein, identifying herself only by her first name Roza, told the committee how she was assaulted by Epstein over a three-year period in which he was supposed to have been serving a prison sentence for sex offences.
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Roza said she was brought to the US aged 18 on a talent visa secured by a model agency with connections toEpsteinand his associate, the late French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel.
“I did not have the documentation to earn that visa, I’m 100 per cent sure of that,” she said. “I was promised a modelling career beyond my dreams. Less than a month after arriving in the United States, my agency sent me to the home of a registered sex offender. He was meant to be in a jail cell but I met him in his house here in West Palm Beach. He was not in a jail.”
Roza said she was held in Epstein’s orbit for many years, where she was sexually abused and coerced. “Jeffrey was under house arrest for the molestation of underage girls at the exact time he was abusing me,” she said, tearfully.
Roza spoke before Democratic members of the House oversight committee investigating the late financier and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking operation.
The hearing was moved from Washington to Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a mansion and from where he operated his vast sex-trafficking ring. His Palm Beach “playbook” was described in the hearing as a “blueprint” for his abuse across America, the UK and Europe.
“Palm Beach is whereJeffrey Epstein’s crimesfirst came to light, and where prosecutors offered Epstein a sweetheart deal that allowed him to continue his crimes,” said Robert Garcia, a Democratic ranking member of the committee. Garcia said state prosecutors’ failure to indict him on wider sex-trafficking charges allowed Epstein to go on to abuse countless other women.
From 2005 through 2007, law-enforcement officials in Florida investigated Epstein’s web of alleged crimes in and around Palm Beach. Investigators compiled a 53-page indictment based on evidence from 34 victims.
However Epstein was granted a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) by federal prosecutors in Florida, a controversial plea deal that allowed him to avoid federal sex-trafficking charges.
