In-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research and resources.
This July 30, 2008, file photo, shows Jeffrey Epstein in custody in West Palm Beach, Fla.
A woman who claims she was abused as a minor by both Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump has given the FBI vivid accounts that include aspects of her life corroborated by the The Post and Courier through public records.
Her alleged encounter with Trump sometime around 1984 remains unproven, and the White House March 7 said there is “zero credible evidence” that the woman’s account is true.
Using archived government records and news accounts, The Post and Courier found that the woman provided verifiable details to agents about her family background and its legal entanglements. She offered the name of an Epstein business associate on Hilton Head Island who became a central figure in the drama, with specifics that are reflected in public records.
The accounts describe an early phase in themid-1980s of potential criminalconduct by Epstein that involved sexual activities with minors on Hilton Head. Thealleged victim told the FBIshe was under constant pressure from him to recruit more girls there to “come party” with him and his “disgusting” older friends. The incidents almost always involved drugs and alcohol and turned violent with hair-pulling and beatings, according to the woman.
Epstein went on to command a global sex trafficking ring that roped in hundreds of woman, including many teenagers. He faced federal charges of sexually trafficking minors when he died in his federal prison cell in 2019.
In her account about Trump, she claimed that he forced her to commit a sex act on him sometime around 1984. But she provided foggy details to FBI agents, including that the alleged encounter with Trump happened when she traveled north to New York or New Jersey with Epstein, who was a fixture in elite society then. Decades before he sought the presidency, Trump had already become a prominent presence in the New York business and social scenes.
Afriend of hers also reportedthe allegations about Trump to the FBI in 2019. The bureau cited her allegations in an email circulated within the agency and recently made public by the Justice Department. She asked that her friend be protected.
Of the details that The Post and Courier found supported by public records, none related directly to the alleged victim’s claims about Trump.
The Post and Courier is not identifying the woman in keeping with its policy on sexual assault victims. The woman did not respond to messages seeking an interview, and her attorney, Lisa Bloom, a leading sexual assault lawyer, declined comment.
To identify key players in the woman’s account and attempt to evaluate her claims, the newspaper scoured court records, police reports and old newspaper clippings in multiple states. It also deployed a reporter to the West Coast to retrace her steps in a journey that began on a tony resort island along the South Carolina coast.
The alleged victim claimed that Epstein had business contacts in Hilton Head and lived temporarily on the island in two residences. One associate, she said, was a businessman in Ohio who took over a small real estate company on Hilton Head that hired her mother as a broker in the mid-1980s. The associate, who commuted to the island from the Cincinnati area, dated her mother as well, she said.
Records show the woman’s mother bought property in Hilton Head in 1981 for $55,000. At one point, her address was steps from Coligny Beach, now the most popular oceanfront for visitors to the island beaches. She moved often, records show.
In local classified advertisements, the company that employed her mother marketed long-term rentals of homes and villas. It offered an array of lodging, from a seaside cabin to a fully furnished locale at the Four Seasons Resort, with access to a jacuzzi, tennis and handball courts.
