Epstein survivors sue estate over CSAM collection, cite Palm Beach investigation failures

byGrace Bellinghausen

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) —Survivors are suing Epstein’s estate over the handling of images of them as children, while the lawsuit revisits what investigators found — and missed — in Palm Beach.

The lawsuit was filed Sept. 15, infederal court in New Yorkby two anonymous women who say images of them as children were part of Epstein’s collection. They are seeking to represent more than 40 people depicted in the material.

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The complaint alleges Epstein’s abuse of children through images stretched back decades, including activity at his Palm Beach residence.

According to the lawsuit, when law enforcement searchedEpstein’s Palm Beach homeafter his first arrest in the mid-2000s, his computers were conspicuously missing, with wires left dangling as if the devices had been removed in a rush.

The complaint says investigators were told Epstein’s attorneys or other agents had the computers.

See also:Boca woman pleads guilty to defrauding fund for Jeffrey Epstein victims

The lawsuit also alleges that investigators believed those computers were likely to contain evidence of Epstein’s solicitation of minors and possibly child pornography. But efforts to access the computers during the Florida investigation were abandoned after Epstein entered into anon-prosecution agreementwith theU.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

No access to the computers was provided at the time, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint points to another alleged incident at Epstein’s Palm Beach home involving a teenage girl. According to the lawsuit, a 16-year-old victim told law enforcement that Epstein wanted sexually explicit photographs taken of her.

The lawsuit alleges she traveled to Epstein’s Palm Beach home, where hisassistant Sarah Kellenused a digital camera to photograph the girl nude in several locations on the property. The girl was paid $500 for the photographs, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit also alleges that few, if any, of the people whose images were found in Epstein’s collection were told that those photographs were still in the hands of federal investigators.

The lawsuit says the Florida investigation ultimately failed to uncover the full extent of the material Epstein possessed. When federal agents searched his properties again in 2019, investigators found substantial child pornography, child erotica and other CSAM on computers, in safes and elsewhere, according to the complaint.