Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell has been accused of sexually abusing two young sisters after helping to draw them into the pedophile’s orbit in the 1990s.
When the damning and disturbing sex abuse allegations against Epstein began flowing out at an unprecedented rate last year, Maxwell was initially painted as merely a ‘friend’, ‘ex-girlfriend’ and ‘associate’ of the millionaire financier.
As the story progressed a darker imaged emerged as Maxwell was accused of actively helping to recruit young girls by promising to promote their careers if they joined him at his various lavish properties across the US and abroad.
The darkest portrayal yet emerged this week in a New York Times profile on Annie and Maria Farmer, who met Epstein and Maxwell in 1996.
The sisters both vividly recall being groped by Epstein and Maxwell in the summer of 1996, when Maria was 25 and Annie was 16.
Their attempts to report the alleged abuse were met by vicious threats from Maxwell and disbelief from law enforcement and members of the community she and Epstein had significant influence in.
I did not want another young lady to go through what Annie went through,’ Maria said of her attempts to get justice.
‘I could handle what happened to me. I could not handle what happened to her.’
More than 20 years later, Maria is still reeling from her time in Epstein’s circle. It wasn’t until after he died earlier this month and she moved to a new home out of the public eye that she felt safe enough to revisit the full story.
Maria said she was a 25-year-old New York Academy of Art student when she was introduced to Epstein and Maxwell at an exhibit shortly before her graduation in 1996.
She said Epstein offered her a job acquiring art for his personal collection and managing the entrance to a townhouse he was renovating.
In the months that followed she got a front row seat to Epstein’s ‘odd life’, as the Times puts it.
Maria described Maxwell as a charming and friendly presence who made the women surrounding Epstein feel safe. She also recalled Maxwell frequently heading out and saying: ‘I’ve got to go get girls for Jeffrey.’
‘They had a driver, and he would be driving along, and Ghislaine would say, ‘Get that girl,’ she said. ‘And they’d stop, and she’d run out and get the girl and talk to her.’
Maria said Maxwell referred to the recruits as ‘nubiles’.
She recounted a time that Epstein hosted several girls and young women for what Maxwell told her was modeling auditions for a Victoria’s Secret supplier.
She also remembered Donald J Trump visiting the financier’s office and ‘eyeing her’ before Epstein told him: ‘She’s not for you.’