Episode 4- Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1): Intro to the Island

Hey Sinister Listeners…

We know you’ve been waiting for this one.

Covering a case that has unfolded over more than twenty years isn't so simple, especially when new information is still coming out. Even now, files continue to be released, photos uncovered, and names exposed. There are simply too many stories, victims, and connections to responsibly cover in a single episode.

Because of that, we made the decision to split this case into two parts—the first multi-part episode SP has ever done! This choice was made to do the case justice and avoid condensing decades of harm into a single, overwhelming episode.

Part 1: Intro to the Island lays the groundwork from the very beginning:

Epstein’s early life

 The first victims to come forward

 The formation of a deeply corrupted network designed to protect him

Part 2 will shift focus to what came after his arrest—what followed within the American justice system, the government response, and the ongoing release of files—so you’re fully caught up on where this case stands today.

This case is disturbing, complex, and still unfolding. This episode required extensive research and difficult conversations, and we approached it with care and empathy for the victims at the center of this story. We want to acknowledge that there are many victims whose experiences we are unable to tell in full. This decision was made to keep the episode focused, respectful, and accessible—not to diminish their suffering. 

We encourage you to listen intentionally, protect your mental well-being, and reach out for support if needed. Above all, we center the victims whose stories deserve to be heard.

— S & G

_______________________________________________________Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t just a wealthy financier.

He was the center of a decades-long web of sexual exploitation, abuse of power, and institutional failure—one that continues to unravel even after his death.

In this two-part series, Sinister Psyche hosts Gabi and Sonia examine how Epstein built his influence, how victims were silenced, and how powerful systems enabled his crimes. 

⚠️ Trigger Warnings: Sexual abuse Sexual exploitation of minors Human trafficking Institutional corruption Abuse of power and manipulation

🕊️ Support Resources:

If this episode brings up difficult emotions, help is available.

National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN):

📞 800-656-HOPE (4673)

🌐 https://www.rainn.org (https://www.rainn.org/)

🎧 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/24WiyH9NGPJZgyvfvSPiU0

🍎 Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sinister-psyche-podcast

📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@sinisterpsychepod

📸 Instagram: instagram.com/sinisterpsychepodcast

Transcript

Gabi 0:00

Hey Sinister listeners and welcome to Sinister Psyche Podcasts. I'm Gabi.

Sonia 0:04

I'm Sonia.

Episode Begins

Gabi 0:05

And this is where true crime meets the twisted corners of the human mind. Listener discretion is strongly advised. Before we start today's episode, Sony and I just wanted to very quickly offer our deepest condolences and our love and support for the victims and the families of the victims of both the Bondi Beach shooting that happened on the 14th of this month, as well as the shooting at Brown University, which happened just the day before on the 13th. A really strong call now, more than ever, I think, for gun control. So it's really important that we keep bringing awareness to these situations, that we keep talking about the victims, that we keep putting pressure on our politicians, and that we continue to speak out. And before we forget, Sonia and I have some quick little sinister psyche updates for you guys. Our website is currently under construction. We plan to launch sometime in the spring of 2026. So hopefully that will be up very, very soon. We're so excited about it. We will obviously talk about it in later episodes as we continue to work on creating the website and such, but it's gonna be so good. It's gonna have a full episode discography with photos, descriptions, case details. It's gonna have a page of organizations and charities and like victim advocacy groups to donate to, or if you just want more information on them, we're gonna have a missing persons page. But yeah, we will definitely give you guys more updates on that as the website progresses. So stay tuned for that. Also, in some really exciting news, Sony and I are officially opening the fan mail for the podcast. So you'll be able to submit your case request, or if you have some thoughts, some reactions, or just personal stories relating to the episode, you can submit that to us as well. There's gonna be a link in every episode description as well as on the website. So please, guys, write us, give us your case requests. We might turn it into an episode, you never know. And we also just kind of want to hear your theories and your thoughts. Thank you guys so much for the downloads on episode three. If you guys want to be able to follow along with our growth, including where sinister listeners are tuning in from, you can follow along with the Sinister Psyche stats on our Instagram highlights. Sonia and I just love going onto Buzz Sprout and seeing what countries our listeners are from or what new cities in the US we've hit. It's really exciting. After episode two, we got some new listeners in Connecticut, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. Thank you guys so much for listening. And then after our last episode, which was our Halloween special edition episode for episode three, we got new listeners in California, Maryland, Illinois. And also, strangely enough, we got a new listener in Alberta, Canada, which we've been gaining a lot of traction for Canadian listeners ever since we did the Ken and Barbie episode. You guys went crazy up there in Canada. Absolutely did your big ones on those downloads. So big shout out to our Canadian listeners. You guys are awesome. We'll definitely have to look into more Canadian true crime for future episodes. This episode could not have been made possible without several sources, but especially not without me burning through my contacts to read Filthy Rich, A Powerful Billionaire, The Sex Scandal That Undid Him, and All the Justice That Money Can Buy by James Patterson, John Connolly, and Tim Malloy. It's a really great read if you want some more of like the behind-the-scenes details on the case, or if you want to hear more about the victim's experiences. So today we've got a crazy case to crack open. It's a true story of exploitation, manipulation, and eventually corruption. But with all the information with this case and the new information coming in practically every day, I mean I go on my phone and there's more news, more pictures have been released, more emails have been transcribed, flight logs, etc. There's a lot of victims. There's so many, unfortunately, that we won't be able to talk about them all and tell their individual stories. There are so many moving parts in this case and people involved. So the best way that Sonia and I thought to go about this case was to have the very first Sinister PsyDe multi-part episode. So if you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years and you don't know much about the Epstein case, in this part one, we're going all into who Epstein was, how he built his career, going over the first victims to come forward in the early investigation. It's gonna be very intro friendly. And then when we come back for part two, we will be tying the case to what's kind of going on more currently, the trial, of course, the files, the government shutdown, his co-conspirators, and finally where we are today in the aftermath. So it should make it a lot easier for you guys to follow along with the case. So without further ado, this is part one of Jeffrey Epstein Intro to the Island. Jeffrey Epstein was born January 20th, 1953, which makes him a Capricorn. It's like you just have to be a Capricorn man. Epstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to Seymour and Pauline Epstein, a quiet working middle-class family group. His father worked for the city's parks department, and his mom stayed at home most of the time, or would work temporarily as a school aide. His parents viewed education as the way out for both him and his younger and only brother Mark. I didn't know Epstein had a brother. Right? Didn't never know he had a brother. Jeffrey was a very smart, ambitious child. He started playing the piano when he was only five. Um he later on went to Brooklyn Lafayette High School. As a child, Jeffrey was crazy good with numbers. He excelled in science and math classes and studies at Cooper Union before transferring shortly after to NYU, where he goes on to study the mathematical physiology of the heart. Jeffrey found such success in academia that he goes on to become a teacher at Dalton at just 20 years old, where he taught calculus and physics at a private school for the Manhattan Elite. So very gossip girl, like he's a teacher at a rich school. Epsy had been to bring the son of Ace Greenberg, who was the chairman of Bear Stearns, who persuaded Epstein to instead turn his interest from teaching into investing and begin working at his company. Now Bear Stearns was successful because it wasn't your typical investment firm that hired your suit and tie Ivy League legacies. Greenberg sought out what he called PSDs, which stands for poor, smart, and desperate individuals. Or instead of desperate, he would say a deep desire to become rich. Epstein fit that mold because he had grown up lower middle class. Epstein was, from a business standpoint, charming to the investors and he found huge success at Bern. He made limited partner in just four years. His salary shot up to $25,000 a year, which is about $140,000 a year in today's terms. So things were looking really good for Epstein at the time. But one day the HR department comes knocking until senior executive and Epstein supervisor Michael Tenenbaum, after reviewing his resume and reaching out to both schools that Epstein attended, they learned that Jeffrey Epstein has actually never graduated from either school. Tennebaum confronted Epstein on this, who simply said that he lied because he knew he wouldn't be given a chance as a college dropout. Any other employee would have been fired, but Tenenbaum gave Epstein a second chance. Later on, Michael Tenenbaum would go on to say that he regrets the day he chose not to end Epstein's career. So Epstein was looking at a very bright future ahead. In 1980, Barry Stearns made him a limited partner, which is just one level below a full partner. And Epstein, who was 27 at the time, claimed that he was the youngest in the firm's history to join the partnership. Now he was pulling in about $200,000 a year. But remember, this is in 1980. So according to the New York Times, that would have been the equivalent of $800,000 today. So now having reached a whole new level of wealth and status, Jeffrey doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink, he doesn't do drugs, he eats very wealthy. He's a rich guy that wears monogrammed outfits and pajamas. He's not just rich, he's wealthy now. Now this is just hearsay from a mutual from a former mutual of his, but he said that Epstein only talks to people if they make over a million a year. He was even named Cosmopolitan's Baster of the Month in 1980. In 1981, Epstein resigned from Bear Stearns after a suspicious trade, which later became an insider trading case. Bear Stearns was attempting to take over St. Joe's. Epstein's stories that he wanted to start his own company that looked into financial fraud, which he did do for a while actually when he separated from Bear Stearns. Now, the official story is that in 1987, Epstein had met Stephen Hoffenberg, who was the CEO of Towers Financial, and Towers Financial made bang on collections. Collections of like medical debts and such. Epstein had wanted to turn it into a major pyramid scheme. Hoffenberg had been taking money from investors and using it to pay previous investors. It was a classic Ponzi scheme, but one of the biggest in history. Hoffman testified that Epstein, who managed Towers Financials at the time, and was considered as Hoffman's right-hand man, was aware of the fraudulent operation and benefited financially for it. But Epstein was never brought up on charges of insider trading. Why? Well, Epstein was never directly tied to the scheme that was going on. But if you ask Hoffenberg about it, his former CEO, all he says is ask Robert Gold. Robert Gold being the former U.S. federal prosecutor that actually worked alongside Epstein in earlier years when Epstein had left Bear Stearns and worked as a financial bounty hunter. As a financial bounty hunter, Epstein claimed that he recovered money and assets for important government corporations as well as wealthy individuals. So essentially, Hoffenberg is basically saying that Epstein has a dirty relationship with the former US Federal Prosecutor, and that's why charges were never brought against him for insider trading. But anyway, Hoffenberg caught to this game and did 18 years in jail. Right, so now we've reached a point where now Epstein is filthy rich. He's flying with Kevin Spacey on his Boeing 727. He owns multiple residences, including one of the largest private residences in New York. In addition to the townhouse, Epstein lives in what is reputed to be the largest private dwelling in New Mexico on an $18 million, $7,500-acre ranch, which he named Zorro Ranch. It makes the townhouse look like a shack, Epstein had said. There's also a $6.8 million house in Palm Beach, Florida, and a fleet of aircraft. He has a Gulf Stream 4, a helicopter, and as mentioned, a fucking Boeing 727. He also owns Little St. James, which is a 70-acre island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Yeah, notice how this episode is called Jeffrey Epstein Inside the Island. Hold on to that. But, anyways, he was trying on this identity to get into this rich and famous club, this elite club. And this is the point where he would fortunately and unfortunately meet Ghillane Maxwell. Ghilline Maxwell was a British socialite. She was the daughter of Robert Maxwell, who basically ran the British newspaper. Since birth, Ghillane was surrounded by important people, political figures, financiers, journalists, and her father doted on her. But unfortunately, Robert Maxwell died in 1991 at sea under mysterious circumstances when he was sailing around the Canary Islands. Following Maxwell's death, a scandal had immediately hit the Maxwell family because financial fraud comes to light. Families were really affected by this because Robert Maxwell had been stealing from pension funds. So when the scandal went public, the UK really hated on the Maxwells. So Ghlaine hopped on a plane. Ghlaine hopped on a plane and she left for America. That was so corny. That was not intentional. So Ghlaine got on a plane and she left for America. Glaine was very intelligent. She had gone to Oxford before leaving, and she was obviously very well connected because of her family. But now her social status and finances were collapsing with the scandal, which was just the perfect time to meet the young finance buck looking to climb the social ladder. When Ghlaine met Jeffrey, she expanded his social circle, introducing him to important figures such as the Clintons, Prince Andrew, who will be coming up later. She was his door into high society. Ghlaine and Jeffrey quickly entered into a romantic relationship that had spiraled very quickly. For Jeffrey Epstein's 40th birthday, Ghlaine Maxwell commissioned her friend at the time, British singer and songwriter Christopher Mason, to write a song for Epstein's 40th birthday. And she gave him the instructions to include certain phrases. So Sonia's gonna go ahead and read that for you guys now. Take it away, Sonia. Everybody.

Sonia 14:05

I have to sing it? No, no, no. No. Please do not sing it.

Gabi 14:09

Please just read it.

Sonia 14:11

Poor Jeffrey. Epstein is 40. Oh, they life must be tough. His hair is already so grey. He sure looks older, but it's clear from his smile. The older he gets, the more juvenile. Jislayne is lavishing him with her affection. She claims he has 24. She claims he has 24 hour erections. Sounds like he's busy. Now ain't that berserk? How does he find the time to get off work? He wakes from the cockrows while everyone slumbers. He rivals Einstein when crunching those numbers. He taught at Dallas and the naughty boy blushes to think of schoolgirls and all of their crushes.

Gabi 14:52

Right. So it's a really clearly it's a really strange um little song there, and it alludes to, you know, Jeffrey being interested in younger girls and that he has a really active sex drive, apparently. That's basically what it's talking about. So now Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell being together, they became like these great rich people, these philanthropists. Ghlaine Maxwell herself took part in a high-profile Arctic expedition called the Arctic Circle Expedition. It aimed to be the first all-female team to circumnavigate the Arctic. The mission promoted things like environmental awareness, women in exploration, climate research, and it received a lot of positive media attention and institutional support. Maxwell publicly positioned herself as an environmental advocate and a philanthropist and a scientific patron. In February 2005, 14-year-old, we're gonna call her Mary. She is waiting for her friends. Now, Mary's father shouts at her that her friends are outside, but before Mary goes running out the door, her dad stops her, asking her where she's going. Mary, an all-teenage rebellion, just says, Ow. And Mary's father in Latino parent fashion says, says who? But Mary's already out the door, and with the game on the TV, Mary's dad is not getting up from the couch. Mary gets in the truck of the cousin of her boyfriend, Joe. Her name is Wendy. Wendy told Mary that she knows of a gig that will get her more money that her dad makes in a day, in just one hour. She knows this really rich guy who lives on the coast in Palm Beach in a big mansion. He's so rich he even has his own private jet. Now Mary is all down for the idea. For a team working at McDonald's, the idea of making hundreds of dollars just to give some rich guy a massage, it's easy money. But her boyfriend Joe isn't all down with the idea of his girlfriend and his cousin traveling to some random grown man's house. But Mary's in But Mary's insistent. It's hundreds of dollars in just one hour. Wendy even says that some girls go three times a week, and all the girls have to do is give this rich stranger a massage. But Joe thinks it's weird. The girls don't really know this man. They know nothing about him other than he's rich. But that's all they need. Joe threatens to tell Mary's father, if it's so harmless, then tell your dad. But Mary's dad is protective over his two daughters, and Mary knows that if she tells her dad, it would immediately be shut down. So she tells Joe that if he tells her father about these massages, she'll never speak to him again. So Joe never says anything. Mary gets into the car with Wendy and Wendy's friend, who Mary doesn't know but she's very intimidated by. Mary's also intimidated by Wendy, but more in like a she's older than me and she's cooler than me in that kind of way. Wendy and her friend are talking to each other during the drive, and Mary is just awkwardly in the backseat, thinking about what she's about to do. Wendy turns to her and says, Remember, when he asks how old you are, say 18. Now remember, Mary's actually 14 at this time, and she's thinking the same thing also. She's like, What's the point? It's really obvious that I look under 18. Who would believe me? But Mary just says to Wendy, it's okay, I got it, I'm 18. They pass El Bravo Way and turn onto El Burla Way. Efstein's address is 358 Elberla Way in Palmbe. And along having the largest house of all his neighbors, his house is also very secluded. It's the last house on a dead-end block. It's not a fancy house by any means. It's got a pool, but other than that, it's really bare, according to the neighbors. Wendy is pulling up to the house and she says once again to Mary, When the man asks your age, say 18. The girls drive into the neighborhood, get out of the car, and meet a security guard outside. Wendy tells the guard that they're here to see Jeff. The guard takes the girls to a side door leading into the kitchen of Epstein's house, and Mary sees Epstein there in the kitchen for the first time. And he's old. She notices his sober hair and his and his bushy eyebrows. She doesn't think he's attractive, but she does find him to be confident just based off his body language alone. Behind Epstein, behind Epstein is a tall blonde woman who doesn't say anything. And Mary feels awkward as hell standing there as Epstein looks at her. But Mary thinks it's more like he's studying her. Because after a bit, he nods. And he and Wendy walk out of the kitchen. So already we have like this imagery of this rich ass dude in some huge, heavily guarded house with a staff that upkeeps it. Clearly, this house has seen its fair share of young girls because everything is running very like a controlled environment, like some operation. It's really creepy. Now, however long Wendy and Epstein come back, Epstein seems to have approved of Mary in some way because he has the tall blonde woman, Sarah, behind him escort Mary to a room upstairs. As Mary is walking up the stairs and down a long hallway, she can't help but notice the frame pictures on the wall. Each photograph is of a naked woman. Mary is led into a room. Room, there's a pink and green sofa and a massage table. Mary also notices a mural of naked woman, and Mary also sees a wooden chest cabinet thing with sex toys on it. Mary's obviously taking this all in, and Sarah says that Jeffrey will be up soon, and she leaves. She just leaves Mary alone in the room and closes the door. Mary, now alone in this room, is nervous as hell, and she just she sits on the sofa. And finally, she notices one more photo. In this picture is a young girl, but Mary thinks she's really young, which isn't that alarming. What's alarming is that in the photo, this girl, who's obviously a child, she's seen in the photo moving her underwear to show her butt to the camera. Mary is horrified at this because as she's studying this photo, she can't help but feel like the girl's face in the photo. Even though she's smiling, she looks really anxious, like the smile's out of place. Mary suddenly turns around and Epstein is standing in front of her wearing only a towel. In the weeks that follow Mary meeting Epstein, she starts to kind of show some off behavior at school, like being moody with her friends, attitude, that kind of thing. There's a rumor going around school from some girl who wants Mary's boyfriend, Joe. She calls Mary a whore in the hallway, and they get into an altercation. In a meeting with the principal, they find $300 in Mary's wallet and they immediately assume she acquired it through sex work. But then they say, no, she's too smart and kind, you know, she's meant for greater things. So then at this point, Mary's parents are called into this meeting, and Mary's father begins to pressure his daughter to open up about what's going on and where that money came from. The hundred dollars that they found in Mary's wallet aren't in any singles or $5 bills, but they're all in twenties. The faculty suggests maybe drugs is a factor. But Mary's dead says that he knows his daughter better than that, and he continues to push her to talk. And that's when Mary finally tells a horrifying story of a rich man in a mansion. At this point, everyone in the room is kind of realizing that this was about way more than a catfight over a boy. And this was actually a matter for police. Thankfully, because this is not always the case in these cases, Mary's father and her stepmother believe Mary's story. It's actually Mary's stepmom who calls police and tells them, hey, my 14-year-old stepdaughter says she went to a man's house in Palm Beach and he paid her $300 to give her a massage naked. And that this man apparently does this with a lot of teenage girls. So the officer on the phone is like, okay, yeah, come into the station, babes. This is not a phone conversation. We need to write this down. So on March 15th, in 2005, Mary's parents, her father and her stepmom, they get into contact with a Palm Beach police officer, Michelle Pagan. Sick classing. Officer Pagan came from a career in New York working on minor crimes like robberies. She's not really familiar with this can of worms that's about to explode at the station. Mary's father takes the lead and goes into the story that his daughter told them in the principal's office. It's a story of extortion. Officer Pagan sits down with Mary as well, interviewing her twice, actually. But during these interviews, Mary would often begin talking and then become upset and start to cry. She describes this white-haired guy who came into the room wearing only a towel around his waist. He took off the towel and then he was all naked. He laid down on the massage table. He was a really built guy, but his wee wee was very tiny. In more interviews that we're gonna bring up in this episode, you're gonna hear a common theme. The girls are like, they kind of have to like describe, they have to describe Epstein to the police. They have to describe the encounter, so they have to describe him physically. And one marker that I noticed is that they always describe his penis to be deformed in some way, like gross-looking, like they've described it as like really gross-looking, ugly, deformed. Epstein have given Mary instructions, and since Mary was alone and she didn't know what else to do, she followed them. And this is where I want to take the time to tell you guys to always listen to your gut whenever you're in an uncomfortable situation or scenario, and you don't feel safe if something feels off, even if you can't necessarily explain why you're feeling that way. It's better to just listen to your gut and to just leave that situation as fast as you can. It's not it's never good to take chances. And this isn't me like victim blaming in any way because these were young girls and they were just put into really bad positions, in my opinion. But yeah, just listen to your gut if you ever have an off feeling about a person, a place, a thing, anything. Just get out of that situation, get out of that scenario. Trigger warning for this next part: it's um really heavy on sexual assault. One of the instructions was for Mary to take her pants off, which she did, leaving her in only her underwear. She was then instructed to climb on his back. At one point during the massage, Mary recalls Epstein turned to the side and started to rub his penis in an up and down motion. Epstein then pulled out a purple vibrator and used it on her. I want to remind everyone at this point that Mary is 14. Did she say that she was 18? Yeah, fuck it, she did. But look up a photo of Mary at 14 years old and tell me you would have believed that girl if she told you that she was 18. Mary is sure that Epstein ejaculated, she's sure because she told Officer Pagan that as he got off the massage table, he used a towel to wipe himself down. Now when this case gets to Palm Beach Police Department Chief Rider's desk, he's hit with some familiarity. Because when Chief Rider comes to understand who Mary is talking about in this interview, who this rich man is, he realizes that it's Jeffrey Epstein and he's shocked. He's shocked because Chief Ryder knew Epstein. He knew Epstein to be a generous donor to the Palm Beach Police Department, not just once, but twice, with Epstein's second donation of $90,000, which was supposedly for firearms training simulation. Epstein was also familiar to the chief because he was the owner of the house that the department had gotten a few complaints about only months earlier. The complaints were of young women hanging around and coming and leaving the Epstein resident at all odd hours of the day and night. Ryder's department was alerted to the possibility of prostitution. But according to Chief Ryder, they looked into it, they did some surveillance and spoke to some people about it and came to the conclusion that these women were all adults. And if there was prostitution going on, it's just not something that was heavily pursued. And since they weren't under the impression at the time that any of those girls entering and leaving the residence were underage, it just wasn't investigated. So as Ryder is taking in Mary's story, he's recalling all of this. Why? Because the day Epstein made his huge donation, which we can comfortably say I think was just hush money for the Palm Beach PD, he came into the Palm Beach Police Department to personally deliver his donation. Epstein had been with a woman at the time. Chief Ryder, he says that her eyes were downcast, she was standing very stiffly, but Epstein never introduced her or acknowledged her, which Ryder thought was strange. The same week, Chief Michael Ryder of the Palm Beach PD assigned six detectives along with Officer Pagan to Mary's case, a child predator case. Days later, another young girl comes into the same station with a similar story to Mary's. And the detectives assigned to the case are realizing that this isn't just one case of a really unfortunate experience of predation or sexual assault of a young girl. This is actually a fucking network. March 31st, two weeks after Mary gives her first interview to police, Officer Pagan is having Mary make a controlled call to Wendy, who remember is her boyfriend's cousin. Wendy is the one who introduced Mary to Epstein. Now the first call goes straight to voicemail. But Mary tries again, and Wendy picks up on the second call. They get to talking, and Wendy tells Mary that she's gonna see Jeffrey at his house tomorrow, and she's gonna try to set something up for Mary. Mary's like, okay, cool, what do you think that's gonna be exactly? But Wendy says that she's not sure, she'll find out more when she talks to him. Officer Pagan needs more information. He needs to hear more of a plan, I guess, or more of how this operation goes down with Jeffrey meeting the girls. So Mary presses Wendy on the phone some more. And she asks her, like, how much money do you think he's gonna pay me? Just more questions. But Wendy's like, I don't know. You can ask him a bit more about it when you talk to him. Wendy doesn't really know much of what goes on either. You know, she doesn't work for him like that. Wendy just brings the girls to Epstein. But Wendy does tell Mary that Mary can always ask Epstein what she can do to make more money. And Mary's like, what do you mean? And Wendy just says, you know, the more you do, the more you get paid. So Mary's like, oh, okay, I get it. So do you want me to bring my sister for you? Will that get us paid more or something? And Wendy's like, well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Wendy tells Mary that she's working tomorrow, but that she will put up a schedule for Mary and her sister and that she'll call her tomorrow. Not long after, Chief Writer authorizes a trash pole. A trash pole is when cops can go through your garbage to find evidence. It's also called a trash kit. As soon as the trash leaves your private residence, meaning when you take out your trash, yes, investigators are free to search through it. It's a great way to get evidence and DNA that criminals will try to get rid of because a lot of people don't realize that your trash can be used against you in a criminal case. The Palm Beach Police Department reaches out to Noelle St. Pierre, which is a very fancy last name. Noelle is a sanitation worker in Palm Beach, and he's a phenomenal employee. He's always early, he puts in extra time, he's everything my boss probably wishes I was. Noelle is very reliable, especially during the winter months, which is surprisingly very busy. But yeah, Florida in the winter is surprisingly, it's like their social season. And so you have everyone there socializing, partying, rich people leaving a mess everywhere, basically, and poor Noel has to pick it up daily, sometimes twice a day when requested. When the trash is picked up from the residences, it's taken 20 miles away to a landfill called Mount Trashmore. No way. Mount Trashmore. So Ryder asks Noelle for help in collecting trash, which is normal for Pierre. But when Ryder explains to Noel what trash he's picking up, from who and where and why, Noel still agrees. Noelle said Pierre grew up in Haiti and would witness a lot of kids from his community cross into the neighboring country and entering to sex work. Kids, according to Noelle, would often come back changed, appearing physically and even acting older. He described them as zombies trapped in kids' bodies, which is obviously the resulting traumatic effects of sexual abuse that we see often in children. Noelle sees this as an opportunity for him to help kids in Palm Beach from what sounds like the sexual exploitation he knew was happening to the children in his own community. Which is amazing that he was willing to step up and say, you know, I want to help in any way I can because I don't want these kids going through what I saw growing up. I just thought that was really amazing and kind of him. So the detectives give Noel the address. 358 El Brillo Way in Palm Beach. Noel picks up Epstein's trash, bringing it to his garbage truck. Now the police had instructed him to look for specific things that could provide DNA, like toothbrushes, condoms, underwear that may have been discarded, that sort of thing. But they also ask Noel to look for papers that have potential phone numbers on them. Because they need to prove that this predation on young girls was a wider network involving multiple girls as inductees and then recruiters. Whatever Noel finds on this pickup runs, he sets it to the side and then delivers it to the police station at the end of his shift. Noel would end up doing this multiple times. Why? Because he knew that these girls, whatever they may be involved in with this man, because at this point no one knows just how wild the story is about to get. These girls are young and they don't really understand the dangers of the situation they're in yet, and Noelle feels this protectiveness towards them. In September 2005, we're gonna call this girl Allison. On September 11th, in 2005, Alison is getting pulled over by the police who find a small amount of weed she was carrying. Allison is put in handcuffs and into the back of a cop car. Allison quickly lets the officer know that she knows firsthand of an older man who engages in sexual activities with younger girls, which is obviously more important than the dime bag of weed she's carrying right now. The cop is skeptical on hearing Allison's story, but she says that she's been going to the house on Elberla Way since she was 16. The cops don't know about the months-long investigation that's been ongoing into Epstein. But when he brings Allison back to the station, he's able to verify her story because her phone number matches up with messages that were pulled during the trash kit from Epstein's trash. Instead of a misdemeanor for drug possession, Allison is now a jamdo for the investigators as another victim in the ongoing Epstein case. Allison's story is similar to Mary's and just as disturbing. She was recruited in high school. It's a really long transcript between the victim and the detective. But basically, Allison had been working at Hollister and was telling her co-worker about how she really wanted extra money to go to Maine to go camping for the summer, but she couldn't afford a plane ticket. Her coworker is like, hey, you know, you can get a plane ticket in like two hours. And Allison's like, what are you on about? So her coworker tells her that she knows if this guy gets this that will pay you $200 if you give him a massage for 45 minutes. Sound familiar? You might have noticed this by now, with this being the third victim we've talked about, that there's some established pattern going on now of peer-to-peer recruitment, and then you combine that with financial incentive. Allison figures that no one is gonna give her $200 just to look pretty, but she's not really sure of what she's really getting paid for because her coworker isn't offering up a ton of details. So Alison thinks to herself that she has to be getting paid for something, and he's probably just this old guy with too much money who just wants to cop a feel on younger girls. So Alison tells herself that if he does anything that she has a problem with, she can just leave. When she goes with her co-worker to meet Jeffrey, she gets a little pissed off because she sees Epstein and her co-worker a wad of hundred dollar bills, basically paying her for bringing Allison. And then her coworker says that she will wait for her downstairs and leaves her with Epstein. The massages would start off very similarly to Mary's experience, where Epstein would ask her to remove articles of clothing. Allison set a boundary early on that nothing could be inserted into her, no fingers, no toys or anything. She said to detectives, sometimes I didn't even do that, referring to the massages. Sometimes he just asked me to take off my clothes and he'd have to do work. He'd be sitting at his desk or something, and I would just be naked there watching television or reading a book, but I'd be naked. Or um, sometimes he wanted to just watch TV or read, and he'd lay in his bed and ask me to take my clothes off and lay with him. And that's it. Not touch him or anything. Sometimes he would just invite me over for breakfast, for dinner, or just to use the swimming pool, and I would get paid for that too. I'd get paid just to hang out with him. That's it. And if the money wasn't there, I wouldn't have ever been in that house. I wouldn't let him put anything in me until one day he did, just out of nowhere. And I said, wait a second, my boyfriend, you know, we have this thing, you can't do that, you know. I'm I'm allowed to work here as long as you don't do that. And Epstein said, Okay. Alison says, Well, a couple months later, I guess he assumed me and my boyfriend had broken up and he just did it one day. He just did it without asking or anything. And then I said, What are you doing? I said, you know, that's not cool. And he goes, Oh, I thought we did that last time. And I said, No, we did not do that last time. And then he goes, uh, he just offered me more money. And he's like, Well, why don't I give you something extra and we can try this out? And I was like, Alright. He's a very hard guy to say no to. I don't know if you guys have ever talked to him. So Allison continues speaking with the detective. She tells the detective that the encounters with Epstein would escalate. She says the reason she stayed so long is because he promised her she would get into NYU and he would pay for it. He even bought her a car at the end of the school year, which she said she returned to him months later because he was insisting on having sex and she would just not relent. The detective is asking Allison more questions, and she's like, hey, before I go on any further, am I gonna get called into court? And the detective tells Allison, you know, what happened to you, it's a crime, and he's doing this to other girls. Allison says that she doesn't want her family to find out about this. Her parents thought that she was working for Epstein just as his secretary answering his phones. The detective tells Allison that she's an adult, obviously, but whether charges would get brought up with was yet to be determined at this point. The investigator asked the victim if during any point of these encounters did Epstein ever hurt her. And the victim says that, yeah, sometimes he got like violent, mean. The victim would say that Epstein would pull her hair really hard during sex, like more so than it just being rough, but he would actually rip her hair out. Sometimes he would pick the victim up and then just throw her whichever way he wanted her. The victim also said that he would roughly use his fingers or toys on her. There were times Allison recalls when she walked out of the Epstein residence, barely able to walk, just from him being so rough with her. But the relationship would continue on for months because for the victim, the payoff was worth it. The victim was getting thousands of dollars worth of things from Epstein, he was getting her. He got her a car, he got her, you know, fancy and expensive underwear, he got her plane tickets one time. He'd give her Christmas bonuses, he'd get her movie tickets, anything that she wanted, he would get for her. Now, finally, during the conversation, the investigator asked Allison if you know, apart from her coworker being in the residence and the outside of the residence as well, was there anyone else who was there with them during her time with Epstein when she would be giving him these massages or doing whatever weird crap he was asking of her? The victim said that she actually started bringing in a few people because they had got out at school that she was doing for mine. Like rumors were spreading at school, basically, the same thing that was happening with Mary. So the victim would invite girls to the Epstein's residence. But Allison thought that it was okay because she basically kind of justified it in her own mind because the girls that she brought were girls that she didn't really get along with at school. They were more like promiscuous girls, girls who had known reputations for sexual activity. According to Allison, she would flat out tell these girls, hey, like if you do this, you can get $200. And she was very blunt and straightforward with them, and these girls would agree. In finishing the interview, the detective says, Once we're done, we can discuss this further and decide the best course going forward in the case. Allison expresses concern because she says, You guys realize like he's gonna, he's gonna get me, right? He's gonna find me, he's gonna figure this out, and I'm not safe now. You understand that, right? I'm not safe. The detective asks Allison why she feels as though she's not safe from Epstein. Has he hurt people before? And the victim says, Well, I've heard him make threats to people on the phone, of course. You know, threats like you're gonna die, all that, I'm gonna break your legs, I'm gonna hurt you. The detective asks the victim who Epstein was speaking to during these phone conversations, but she says that she doesn't know and she was just in the room with him when he was making these calls. So on October 3rd, in 2005, Detective Dracary finally picked up Wendy Dobbs, who was Joe's cousin. Joe is Mary's boyfriend. Follow along. Uh, and she went. Wendy Dobbs things like a canary. She gives investigators addresses and phone numbers, many of which also corroborate Mary's story. The detectives ask Wendy how she was introduced to Epstein, and it's the same narrative as Mary, of course, as well as Alice's story. Wendy was approached by a friend at school with an opportunity to make money by giving a rich man a massage. We're gonna call Wendy's friend Molly. Molly brought Wendy over to the house to meet Jeffrey. Wendy is brought into the room by a tall woman standing behind Epstein who closes the door and leaves her alone in the room. Epstein comes into the room and asks Wendy to remove her clothes. Now at some point during the massage or even before laying down, he would remove his towel and begin masturbating. Every time that he would make an attempt to touch the young girl, Wendy says that she stopped him. She agreed to massage him, but she didn't want to be touched, which Wendy says she thinks disappointed Epstein. So after the massage, he tells Wendy that he doesn't want her to massage him anymore, but that he would pay her if Wendy brought him more girls. The younger, the better. Wendy tells detectives that she tried to bring over a 23-year-old to the residence one time, but Epstein said that she was too old. Just like I'm 23. I'm 23. Apparently. Oh my gosh, am I old? Apparently for Epstein. Wendy told detectives that she would work for Epstein for a year and that the last girl she brought was Mary. From then, Wendy only remembers bringing six girls over to the Epstein residence. All of the girls were between the ages of 14 to 16. One of them we know was Mary. Wendy didn't fully get this at the time, but in bringing up how she would bring girls over to the Epstein house, because in that instance, Wendy was the trafficker. She's now implicated herself in these crimes basically as a solicitor of these young girls. Detective Rickeri would go on to interview more young girls, about 40. Most of the victims were under 18, as young as 14, and most of them in high school, like some of them more in middle school. All of the girls have very similar experiences as the other girls. So there's a pattern of continuity in how these girls were being introduced to him and their residents. Epstein would start off with having them massage him, partially dressed or naked. During the massage, he would ask the girls questions like where they went to college, if they play any sports, that sort of thing. And then he would slowly introduce moments of sexual assault, touching the girl's chest or her butt or her vagina. But he would back off when they expressed discomfort. These young girls who remember they're in high school, some as young as 14, they were left alone in a room with this stranger, and unfortunately, what a lot of these girls have said and testified is that they didn't understand what was happening to them as they were kids with sexual assault. A lot of them thought, since Epstein wasn't raping them, that they weren't victims of anything. He would try to get away with more and more each massage. And Epstein was smart because he targeted girls that usually were struggling financially, came from lower-income families. Some of these girls were going through typical rebellious teen stuff and insecurities that come at that age. Some of these victims were already drug and or alcohol abusers. So we're talking about an already vulnerable break. So we're talking about an already really vulnerable demographic of girls. The more you did during the massage, the more you got paid. So this could mean you took off more clothes, he would pay you more. If you touched him, he would give you more money. If you let him touch you, he would give you more money. And of course, if you brought a girl to him, that's another $200 for you. And those girls would bring other girls that they knew were in similar difficult situations. This recruitment method of peer-to-peer encouragement combined with financial incentive, you will see becomes a recurring pattern. So many of the girls would go back several times and bring more girls, maintaining the system of recruitment to recruiters. Wendy claims that each girl she brought to the house was fully aware of what was gonna happen and what Epstein could ask of them and how they would be rewarded. She said it was important to Epstein that the girls Wendy brought knew what he wanted from them during these massages. Obviously, this would become a very conflicting statement to what a lot of the victims have said about it. Around this point, Jeffrey kind of gets a wing of the investigation into him. At least that's what Detective Ryder thinks, because Jeffrey calls the Palm Beach Police Department to casually ask, hey, so remember that $90,000 donation I made for your firearm simulator? Yeah, did you guys get that yet? On October 11th, in 2005, detectives spoke to Allison again one month after her arrest to talk more about her sessions with Epstein when she was 16 at the time. She said that beyond giving him a massage and him masturbating, the sessions would get a lot heavier. Although she was admitted that she made it clear she was not okay with vaginal sex penetration, and that Epstein knew this boundary. In several instances, Allison recalls Epstein would pay her to have sex with his female friend, Narda Barsenkova. Epstein would have things available like dildos, strap bonds, and other sex toys. He would watch the two girls have sex and masturbate, and occasionally he would join them, giving them oral sex. This established routine would go on for about two years. When Epstein was in town, his assistant Sarah would call Allison to set up a work schedule. On one occasion, I they keep doing air quotes and like I'm forgetting that they can't see us. One of these occasions stands out to the detectives. Allison states that during one visit, she was just finishing a massage for Epstein and Marcin Koba, who was also present. Towards the end of the massage, Allison claimed that Epstein grabbed her, turned her onto her stomach on the massage table, held her head against the table, and began raping her. She screamed no and Epstein stopped. He apologized for his actions and then gave her $1,000 that day. Allison telling this to the detectives was enough for a judge to issue a search warrant. Judge Laura Johnson signs a search warrant on October 20th. When detectives Ricarian police officers pull up to the Palm Beach residence, Epstein is not there, but his houseman, I put question brain because I didn't know what a houseman was. His butler, and he's on the phone, presumably with Epstein. The detectives have the houseman hang up and read the warrant to him. They tell him that Epstein will be filled in basically when they're done, and they draw their guns before going up the stairs. Epstein's house has a freakishly antiseptic aesthetic. The detective said some of the bedrooms looked more like doctors' offices than waiting rooms. In the bathroom off Epstein's bedroom, they find a massage table. They also see a stand holding strange devices or machines, which they described as something you'd find in a dermatologist's office. What do you possibly think about? Think about a dermatologist's office and all the sharp little tools and things that they have, all the little devices and machines. Why do you have that in your in your bedroom? Or your bathroom? Where's your bathroom? Yeah, it was in the bathroom. That's the biggest thing. Why do you even have that in your bathroom? In the bathroom, they also find various soaps shaped like genitals of both genders. So they find soaps that are shaped like penises, they find soaps that are shaped like vaginas. Where do you even get those? Why? How do you even why? How would you make that too? Anyways, investigators find a receipt for a book called Slave Craft: Road Maps for Erotic Servitude. Oh my gosh. Inside the house, they see the pink and green couch that many of the victims had described. They find many photos of naked young girls, and as detectives are looking at the photos around the house, they're recognizing a lot of the girls in the photos as victims that they have interviewed. Detectives get lucky and they find a forensic holy grail. A message pad where they find the first names, phone numbers, and dates for the girls. Next to some of the names are short notes like I have girls for him, or I have two girls for him. The notes are signed by Sarah Kellen, the Sarah that brings the girls up to the massage room. Investigators also find hidden in clocks two secret cameras. On the hard drive of the computer, they see photos of Wendy and other girls, which appear to have been taken from a camera that was inside a clock behind Epstein's desk. But despite all that they find, the detectives have this sense that the house is too tidy. They can see that photos have been removed and shelves look like they've been emptied, but it's strange because for all that looks like has been removed from the house, there was still plenty left behind that also looked pretty bad too. I mean, the soap, the the freaking the book. Yeah, the pictures, the tools. The evidence was like cherry-picked almost of like what was left in the house. And then this part is wild to me. A rumor goes around that Epstein's lawyers have hired private investigators to perform background checks on the Palm Beach Police Department. There was a public record demand filed to obtain Chief Writer's records. Presumably Epstein is the one who filed this. Detective Rickeri tells Ryder that his trash has been picked through. Sound familiar? They are now dealing with a suspect that's investigating or trying to intimidate those part of the investigation. Staff from the Palm Beach residence are interviewed and they have similar stories of their time there. They would see young girls come in and out several times a day, but they would notice that most of these girls did not look 18, but often significantly younger. Jeffrey would tell the staff to keep the girls comfortable until Sarah or himself created them. Staff that was responsible for cleaning later would say in sworn statements that they would clean Epstein's bedroom after these massages and find massagers, vibrators, and they would clean them off and put them in a wooden chest off of Epstein's bed. Phone records would be subpoenaed from several victims and Sarah Kellen matching up phone calls with some of the statements from the girls regarding dates and times. Investigators were able to line up the calls from Sarah Kellen's phone records with plane records showing arrival and departure times for Epstein's private plane, showing arrival and departure times for Epstein's private plane at Palm Beach International Airport. Therefore, as Jeffrey Epstein, who at the time was 51 years of age, did have vaginal intercourse, either with his penis or fingers with miners. There is sufficient probable cause now to charge Jeffrey Epstein with four counts of unlawful sexual assault with a minor in violation of Florida State Statute, a second degree felony. As Epstein, who at the time of the incident was 52 years of age, did use a vibrator on the external vaginal area of a 14-year-old minor, there is sufficient probable cause to charge him with lewd and lascivious molestation in violation of Florida State Statute, a second degree felony. To become a licensed massage apprentice in Florida, you need to be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED. Epstein was arrested on July 27, 2006, in Palm Beach, Florida. Case over, and thanks for listening to Sinister Psyche. Psyche. Remember when I said this episode was called Intro to the Island? And way earlier in the episode, I mentioned how Epstein had owned a Boeing 727 and Little St. James, a 70-acre island off the Virgin Islands. We're getting to that part. Epstein is out on bail almost immediately and lawyers up. Epstein was being represented by Alan Derschwitz, who immediately started off the case with the victim shaming. Alan Derschwitz directed prosecutors towards the girls of MySpace pages, bringing up criminal records, labeling them as prostitutes. And now, during this time in the investigation, now victims are worried of not being believed, of being belittled, of being trashed by the media. So in the case against Epstein, victims like Courtney Wilde were not getting updates on their case or had anyone reaching out to them anymore after Epstein appeared in the news. Courtney Wilde reaches out and finds out that the FBI negotiated a plea deal with Epstein, a plea deal that would involve no federal charges. We talked about plea deals when we went over the Kennan Barby killers in episode two, and we can see how plea deals are can be very, very harmful to the victims, especially when a suspect is getting a plea deal because they have connections, because they're rich, etc. Which to everyone on the outside looking in is exactly what is happening here with Epstein. Epstein would be required to serve only 13 months in county jail with work release. And this plea deal also provided immunity for potential co-conspirators like Sarah Kellen. Victims, including Courtney, were never told this deal was happening, and they were very angry because they felt that Epstein was getting away with what he had done to them. Courtney Wilde challenged his silence head on. She launched her own federal lawsuit becoming a lead plaintiff, arguing that the prosecutors violated the Crime Victims Rights Act, secretly negotiating Epstein's 2007 to 2008 non-prosecution agreement without notifying the victims. Her lawsuit argued that victims have a legal right to be informed and heard before deals are finalized, and that the prosecutors violated federal law by hiding the agreement. Courtney Wilde, along with many of the other victims, faced a lot of harassment from Epstein's legal team and his allies. While the lawsuit was ongoing, Courtney faced aggressive legal hostility, including character attacks that would frame the victims as unreliable. There were efforts to minimize their victimhood by pointing to their age, their background, their prior behavior, their criminal records. The victims also had to deal with harassment from the public and online spaces, because once the CBRA case gained national attention, Courtney specifically became a target of public harassment, including online abuse, questioning her credibility, cyberbullying, conspiracy-driven attacks, adjusting that she and the other victims were lying or exaggerating. The victims would receive messages attempting to intimidate them or silence them. And we've talked about this in other episodes before, this pattern of victim blaming, victim shaming, of discrediting the victim using legal strategies by delaying motions and stuff like that. And I think there's a deeply uncomfortable truth that people avoid in this, and that's that society is still more comfortable blaming the victims rather than facing the abuse. If victims are believed, then abuse is common. If abuse is common, then it could be happening near you. And if it's happening near you, that means you may have ignored it. So blaming victims allows people to maintain this illusion that it only happens to certain kinds of people, or I would have noticed, or the system works, that this doesn't happen to people like me. So at this point in the investigation, the FBI is kind of thinking, you know, if Epstein was able to do this with all these young girls in Florida, and he clearly has access to private transport and residences, then he's probably done this in other places too. So they decide to expand their search. And they begin by trying to understand more about the hierarchy and the tears that were going on in this predatory operation that Epstein had, that Epstein was running. They begin by looking more into Sarah Kellen. Sarah Kellen was the main recruiter for Epstein. She approached the girls, she was right below Ghilaine Maxwell. She would tell these girls, you know, you're gonna get a great job, it's life-changing, it's gonna be amazing. He posed herself as a personal massage therapist, traveling the world for years, and that you would be taking her place. So imagine the most amazing life. Sarah Kellen sought out one girl who was studying to become a massage therapist professionally. Sarah referred Teresa to Ghlaine Maxwell to fly to New York City to meet her and give her a massage. After Teresa flew out and met with Ghislaine and gave her massage, Ghlaine told Teresa that she was going to continue her interview with Jeffrey and to make sure that she gives Jeffrey what he wants. Jeffrey always gets what he wants. Teresa went to Jeffrey's townhouse and was amazed by the butler. Jeffrey sat next to Teresa on the couch and began asking her questions about her life. Then all of a sudden, he randomly put his foot on her lap and asked for a foot massage. So Teresa just starts massaging his feet. Very soon into the massage, Jeffrey starts putting his heel between her leg. Teresa was very confused by this and gets up to leave the room, but Jeffrey grabs her from behind and Teresa freezes. According to Teresa, Epstein assaults her in the hallway. In expanding their search outside of Florida, the FBI now knows that the main question in this investigation at this time isn't did Epstein commit crimes, but it became who helped him do this and how far did it go? Jean-Luc Brunel was a French modeling scout and agency head with significant influence in the international modeling world. He could make or break a new model's career. He met Ghlain, who introduced him to Jeffrey. The models warned other models to stay away from Jean-Luc because of sexual assault and abuse allegations that he had for decades. Modeling environments are a very vulnerable space for young women because you have rapid clothing changes, you have authority figures that are controlling your opportunities, and you have normalized boundary violations. So it makes these girls especially vulnerable to exploitation. Jean-Luc Brunel was frequently named by survivors as part of Epstein's broader social and recruitment orbit, but Brunel would deny any wrongdoing. He faced allegations, but Jean-Luc Brunel was never convicted in the U.S. There were several models that would come out later on to speak out against the abuse that they faced at the hands of Epstein, Jean-Luc Brunel, and other prominent figures. Victims such as Maraika Chartuni, as well as Kiki Doe, who had lived with models in New York. Epstein promised to make their dreams come true. He had connections and he used those and whatever he had to offer, even money, to be introduced to more girls. Consequential relationships in Jeffrey Epstein's life was his relationship with Leslie or Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of El Brands, which was the parent company of Victoria's Secret. The two were introduced in the late 1980s by Robert Meister, who was an insurance executive and mutual acquaintance. Meiser reportedly met Epstein by chance as he sat next to him on a flight to Palm Beach. And he later suggested to Wexner that Epstein might be worth speaking to about financial matters. Now, at the time, Les Wexner already had a trusted financial advisor, and that was Harold Levin. Wexner sent Levin to New York to meet Epstein. According to Levin, the meeting lasted about an hour and it immediately raised red flags. Afterward, Levin found a payphone and he called his boss, Wexner, telling him plainly, I smell a rat and I don't trust him. Levin later said Epstein gave him a deeply unsettling impression and that he strongly advised Wexner against bringing him on. But for whatever reason, Wexner did not take that advice. About a year later, he hired Epstein to be Levin's boss. As far as Levin could tell, Epstein won the billionaire's confidence by falsely telling him that Levin had been stealing, by falsely accusing Levin of financial misconduct, things that Levin denied. Levin refused to work under Epstein, so he chose instead to resign. Wexner eventually became Epstein's only client, and before long, Wexner had given Epstein essentially free reign by granting him power of attorney over his finances. It's a really weird situation for those around Wexner. Epstein's name began appearing in government filings as responsible for Wexner's businesses and charities. Some of Epstein's phone had Wexner's number on speed dial. For everyone around Les Wexner, This was really strange and concerning. Financial advisors like Epstein typically only manage portfolios, not entire business empires, and almost never as the only client. On top of that, you throw in that Wexner made Epstein his power of attorney. It's alarming to everyone how trusting Wexner was of Epstein so soon. Now Wexner has said that he eventually severed ties with Epstein in the mid-2000s and has denied knowledge of Epstein's crimes. The access that Epstein had to Les Wexner became part of a much broader system where power, wealth, and opportunity kind of blurred the boundaries, and now you have an environment that Epstein was repeatedly exploiting because Nappy had access to aspiring models. Virginia GF3 was only 15 years old when she was working at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, which was only less than two miles from Epstein's residence on Elberlow Way. Marta-Lago was an exclusive private club. It cost $100,000 just to join the club, and the members paid $14,000 yearly in dues. And although Epstein had never properly joined the club, Trump's friendship with Ghilane Maxwell gave Epstein unlimited use of the facilities. This arrangement ended when a member's young daughter complained to her wealthy father that while relaxing at Mar-a-Lago, she'd been approached and invited out to Epstein's house. The girl said that she had gone and that Epstein had tried to get her to address. The girl's father had gone directly to Trump, who, in no uncertain terms, told Epstein that he was barred from Mar-a-Lago for life. Donald Trump also said that he presumably cut all ties to Epstein. No formal police complaint was filed, so law enforcement did not take action at this time. It was years later that Virginia Jeffrey would say that she had experienced a very similar recruitment scenario while working at Mar-a-Lago. Virginia earned about $9 an hour working in the spa area, and she became very interested in studying massage therapy. It was her dream, and she would even buy books just to study and teach herself. Virginia was approached by Golena Mar-a-Lago, who said that she knows this opportunity for Virginia to become a real massage therapist with this guy. She can get her an interview tonight, and if all goes well, she'll be able to get her education paid for in traveling and such. Virginia questioned why strangers would be so generous to her. But Glenne Maxwell just framed it as charity and mentorship, because remember, her and Epstein are generous philanthropists. Virginia told her father, who also worked at Mar-a Lago as a maintenance manager. According to Virginia, her father didn't immediately see red flags, and he even personally drove her to Epstein's Palm Beach residence later that day. There, according to the document, Maxwell assured Virginia's father that Miss Ghlaine Maxwell would provide transportation home for his teenage daughter. After Virginia was left with Ghlaine, Ghlaine led her out to the room where Jeffrey was already waiting for her, lying naked on the table. Virginia was shocked, she says in the filing, but with no experience with massages, felt that this could be massage therapy protocol. It felt very legit. There was a table, there were oils out. They chatted with her and she opened up about her abuse history, and now about her dreams to work as a massage therapist. So in their minds, what they're likely seeing right now is a perfect victim. Young, vulnerable, desperate, and trusting. And then this is just gonna be me reading from that document. Miss Maxwell then took off her own shirt and left on her underwear and started rubbing her breasts across Jeffrey's body, impliedly showing Virginia what she was expected to do. Miss Maxwell then told Virginia to take off her clothes. The minor girl was apprehensive about doing this, but in fear, she proceeded to follow Miss Maxwell by removing everything but her underwear. She was then ordered to remove her underwear and strode Epstein. The encounter escalated, with Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulting, battering, exploiting, and abusing Virginia in various ways and in various locations, including the steam room and the shower. At the end of this sexually exploitative abuse, Epstein and Maxwell giddily told Virginia to return the following day and that she had lots of potential. Epstein paid Virginia hundreds of dollars and told her it was for two hours of work. Elaine Maxwell later reached out to Virginia and asked her to quit her job and to officially come on as their travel masseuse. They would pay for her schooling and fly her out with Epstein. At 15, it was tempting to Virginia, and she was also intimidated by these people because of their wealth and their connections. At some point, Virginia Jeffrey makes it to Epstein's New York City mansion, where he made her engage in sexual activities in his private massage parlor. Virginia said she was trained by Epstein and Maxwell in sexual acts, almost like school. But Virginia wasn't just being groomed for Epstein. They were preparing her for Epstein's acquaintances. They wanted her not to just perform sex acts with these men, but to also get information from them, paying attention to what the men liked to report back to Epstein. According to Virginia, Epstein specifically told her that the reason for him doing this was so that they could owe him. They would be in his pocket and he would have something on them. Virginia felt that Epstein could get leniency if he was ever caught doing anything illegal or that he could escape trouble altogether. Stephen said in referring to Epstein, he knew all kinds of powerful people. He could have me killed or abducted, and I knew he was capable of that if I did not obey him. He let me know that he knew many people in high places. Speaking about himself, he said, I can get away with things. Even as a teenager, I understood what this meant and it scared me, as I believe he intended. Virginia Jeffrey's story shows us that Epstein wasn't just exploiting girls, but he was also building leverage against them. So deep into the investigation now, and the FBI have infiltrated Epstein's residences and have come to realize that every residence has served a special purpose for Epstein and the network. For example, Palm Beach was recruitment, New York was conditioning, and we briefly mentioned and know Zorro Ranch has likely already planned to be infiltrated. But there was one place that stood apart. A place where there were no neighbors, no uninvited witnesses, and no easy way out for the victims. A place that didn't appear on maps the way the other homes did. It was remote, it was isolated, and it was completely under his control. Because when Epstein wanted total privacy, when he wanted to decide who came, who left, and who knew, he didn't want to rely on a house. And that place was the little St. James, the island. This story is not over. And in part two, we're gonna follow that confidence to its core: to the New York mansion, to the island, to the black book, to the deals, the failures, and the unanswered questions that still linger today. Because this story was so much bigger than Palm Beach. And that's a wrap on episode four, part one.

Sonia 1:06:57

Follow us on Instagram at Sinister Psyche Podcast for visuals with each episode just some stuff we post relating to the case. Our YouTube is at Sinister Psyche Pod for some subtitles, and please hit the subscribe button. We're here once a month. And if this is your first time with us, there's a few other episodes for you to listen to, so make sure you check those out. Also on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or anywhere where you want to listen to us. Literally iHeartRadio, pretty sure we're on Pandora too. Anyways, we'll see you soon for part two inside the files.

Gabi 1:07:29

Thank you guys so much for listening. We love and we appreciate every single one of our sinister listeners. Stay curious, lock your doors. We'll see you again for part two.