Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on Epstein’s private jet, dubbed the ‘Lolita Express.’ (Photo: HOC)
Jeffrey Epstein’s lust for sex with young girls grew to a point that 14-year-olds no longer satisfied him, and he began seeking children as young as 12-years-old, according to just-released secret grand jury testimony.
Ghislaine Maxwell, his one-time lover and partner, became the Judas Goat, luring in the girls, often from broken homes, with offers of friendship and money, while gradually normalizing sex with Epstein.
The stunning and shocking details are contained in a transcript of secret testimony before a 2021 federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York.
The grand jury ultimately charged Maxwell with sex trafficking.
The document details Epstein’s and Maxwell’s seduction of three specific female victims all 14-years-old when they first encountered the couple. None are named.
Police discovered sex toys during raids on Epstein’s properties that likely were used on underage girls. (Photo: HOC)
It also delves into the systematic sexual abuse of dozens of middle-school girls who were recruited by their friends to provide sexual favors in exchange for cash.
In testimony before the grand jury, an FBI agent from the agency’s Child Exploitation and Sex Trafficking Task Force detailed the couple’s duplicity and depravity. It’s a case study of sexual exploitation.
The 119-page grand jury transcript is part of the trove of documents released under a newly passed law ordering all Epstein documents to be made public.
The Department of Justice initially blacked out the entire file. But after lawmakers protested, it was re-released in a lightly edited version.
It contains the stunning details of how Epstein and Maxwell lured young girls to his homes in Palm Beach, Fla., New York City and New Mexico. Maxwell deceived the victims to build trust while she groomed them and normalized sex acts with Epstein.
Jeffrey Epstein like to insert his fingers into the vaginas of his underage victim. He may have used this BDSM sex toy found in a police search. (Photo: HOC)
The blue-blood British socialite and daughter of British press baron Robert Maxwell, was at the center of the inquiry. She was born in France, lived in Great Britain and attended Oxford, one of England’s most elite colleges.
She was in her 30s at the time the abuse took place.
Although accounts vary, Maxwell was said to have met Epstein through “mutual friends” sometime in 1991, shortly after the tragic drowning death of her father.
Epstein and Maxwell eventually began a romantic relationship. She also started working for him, managing his household and hiring and firing individuals who worked on his properties.
Epstein was meticulous and liked to have his houses run like a “five-star” hotel, according to the manager of his Palm Beach house, who worked for Epstein in the 1990s.
The manager described Epstein as generally friendly until Maxwell entered the picture.
After her arrival, the billionaire became “secretive,” and the manger said he was no longer allowed to be in rooms with guests or to speak to them.
There was a dark reason for the secrecy. One of Epstein’s victims was 14-years-old and living in West Palm Beach when she met him, accorfding to a detective who interviewed her.
At the time, the victim said she was living with her mother and two siblings. Her father had passed away and the family was struggling financially.
Her first meeting with Epstein and Maxwell occurred serendipidously in 1994.
She was attending a summer school for aspiring musical artists in Michigan. Epstein was a benefactor and had flown to the school in his private jet with Maxwell.
Jeffrey Epstein with Les Wexner (right), then owner of Victoria’s Secret and an Epstein benefactor. He was a co-conspirator in the case. (Photo: DOJ)
During the visit, he and Maxwell approached girl while she was sitting at a picnic table and struck up a casual conversation.
When he learned she was from Palm Beach, Epstein said he might be able to arrange a scholarship and asked for her phone number. She gave it to him and agreed to meet.
Shortly thereafter, back in Florida, Epstein called and invited her and her mother to his mansion. They met over tea while Epstein and Maxwell asked about her background and aspirations.
Epstein again brought up the scholarship and explained that he liked to “mentor” young people.
The mother was happy with the arrangement and often referred to Epstein as the child’s “godfather,” according to the agent.
What followed was a gradual process of grooming that began innocently. After a degree of trust was established with the mother, the victim started going to Epstein’s house alone just to “hang out.”
Epstein and Maxwell would also take her to the movies and shopping.
Though she didn’t understand it at the time, the young girl later realized she was being groomed and described what happened to the agent.
Epstein survivors during a news conference calling for the full release of the Epstein files. (Photo: World Without Exploitation/YouTube).
“Grooming is when someone builds a relationship with a child. They will find a vulnerability or a need and then they work on gaining that child’s trust. And then often times gaining a parent’s trust,” the agent explained.
“Once they have that trust, they show that in ways that they can care about them; like giving them gifts and promises. And then once that’s established, they then turn the relationship sexual; often
times, making sexual comments and normalizing the behavior.”
“They were building a relationship with her, giving her things, taking her places, and then usually when the grooming happens, an offender will — once they gain that trust — they will make their relationship turn sexual,” he testified.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell met through a mutual friend and for a time, were lovers, (Photo: DOJ)
As it turned out, Maxwell and Epstein were adept at seducing the young girl. “He gave her cash. Sometimes he’d tell her to give the cash to her mom because he knew that they needed it. He paid for her voice lessons as well,” the agent said.
“[The victim] thought they were strange, but Maxwell normalized their relationship. She was like a cool, older sister and made comments like, ‘This is what grownups do.'”
The victim’s introduction to sex began innocuously enough. She stopped by the house one day, and saw Maxwell, topless by the swimming pool.
“She was a little taken back, but Maxwell just acted normal,” the agent said.
Epstein also began subtly shifting their interactions toward sex after learning she wanted to be a model and actress.
“He told her that he was best friends with the owner of Victoria’s Secret.” At the time, the company was owned by Les Wexner, an Epstein benefactor.
“[Epstein] told her that she would have to have photographs taken and that she had to be comfortable in her underwear and not be a prude,” the agent testified.
“When she was asked what she meant by that, he pulled her into his lap and masturbated.”
“She felt paralyzed. She froze.”
But she also continued going to his house even as the sexual contact escalated.
This photo seized by the FBI shows Jeffrey Epstein on his private jet, the’Lolita Express’, with an underage girl, whose face has been redacted. (Photo: DOJ)
During one massage, Esptein penetrated her vagina with his fingers and used a vibrator on her. He usually masturbated.
Eventually, other girls and Maxwell joined her in the massage room. The girls, including Maxwell, were often just in their underwear.
“Maxwell was kind of teasing the other girls. She’d grab the girl’s breasts, and she would direct the girls on what to do.”
“When Epstein would decide he was kind of done with the regular massage, he would turn over on his back, and he’d grab whichever girl he wanted to, either, to touch him or whatever girl he wanted to touch,” the agent testified.
Maxwell acted “ver;y casual,” during the sexual encounters. “She acted like it was normal. She gave off that [sister] vibe to her,” which made her feel more comfortable.
Eventually, the episodes would escalate, and Epstein went from masturbating, to receiving oral sex and engaging in intercourse with other girls.
Both Maxwell and Epstein would engage in sexually massaging the girls, as well.
An early photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, likely when they were dating. (Photo: DOJ)
During some of the encounters, the 14-year-old was fully nude. Epstein would fondle her breasts and direct her hands to his penis.
Once their sexual relationship was established, Epstein over the next three years periodically took the girl on his private jet with Maxwell to New York City.
Maxwell would encourage her to go on the trips and handle all of the arrangements, either by the private jet or commercially. Her trips are reflected in Epstein’s flight logs.
Maxwell and Epstein continued taking her shopping. On one occasion, Maxwell insisted that she buy a pair of white cotton underwear, the kind “little girls” wear.
She took her last fight to New York in 1998 when she was 17. Eventually, she moved to New York City with her sister and mother to go to school. Epstein supported them and continued abusing her.
After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles. She has since landed both television and movie roles and eventually filed a civil suit against Epstein. Before the suit, she had never told anyone what happened.
“She felt like she couldn’t. She — the — nothing was talked about outside of that room, so it made it so that she couldn’t talk about it.
“And then she also — her mother is Middle Eastern, and her mother raised her that women are supposed to do what they’re told even if someone is beating you.”
Embarrassment and shame were motivating factors to keep quiet. Epstein also wasn’t above making threats.
Epstein and his associates threatened victims with various forms of harm if they spoke out, including physical violence, legal trouble, harm to their families, and even death.
Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly threatened one victim with assault, arrest for prostitution, deportation, or murder, as well as taking her son away or harming her family.
Accusers were also threatened with smear campaigns, where Epstein would release “damaging stories” about those who didn’t comply in an effort to undermine their credibility.
A shirtless Jeffrey Epstein sits on a bed. A young girl is off to his right. (Photo: DOJ)
A 14-year-old girl who reported Epstein to police in 2005 was warned by someone connected to him that “those who hurt him will be dealt with.”
These threats were a primary method used to control the victims and conceal the crimes for decades, according to the Epstein files.
Sexualized gooming is powerful and seductive. During the time when she was with Epstein and Maxwell, “she said she felt like they loved her.”
“She felt they were her family; that they supported her, and that they felt like — she was made to feel that she was needed to be grateful to them.”
Afterward, when she’d broken off contact, “she was upset,” the agent testified. She recognized that she had been groomed and sexualized.
“It’s affected her life to a great degree. She’s struggled in relationships with opening up to people and trusting people; both personal and professional relationships.”
Until she was interviewed by the FBI around the fall of 2021, she said she had never told anyone about what happened.
Jeffrey Epstein is pictured with three girls who are presumed to be underage victims and have had their faces redacted. (Photo: HOC)
Epstein and Maxwell often lured girls from Palm Beach to New York. On one occasion in 1995, a girl who worked for Epstein in New York invited her sister to the city.
She said Epstein had encouraged the visit and offered to help her with college. Just 16 at the time, she met Epstein at his New York City townhouse.
“She was very impressed by him,” the girl told the agent. “He was going to help her with her future plans for college.”
Then, during an outing to the movies, “she said that they were sitting in the theatre, and Epstein put his hand on her leg; he rubbed her arm and … held hands with her.”
“She was uncomfortable… She said she knew her sister really liked Epstein, and that Epstein could help them. So she didn’t tell her.”
After returning to Florida, Epstein invited her to spend a weekend at his ranch in New Mexico. He told her he was mentoring other kids her age and they would be there, as well.
When she arrived, no other kids ever showed up; only Maxwell and Epstein were there.
The victim didn’t know Maxwell, but recalled her sister talking about her. It made her comfortable to see Maxwell on her arrival. “Her sister had talked highly of Maxwell,” the agent testified.
Once situated, Maxwell began the slow, methodical process of grooming her. She gave her a tour of the house, and “took [her] shopping which made her feel special.”
Jeffrey Epstein kept a disturbing photo on his desk showing a young girl passed out on a sofa. (Photo: HOC)
They talked about school, homework, trips… talked abut college and her high school classes. The victm had even brought school homework along for the weekend.
Later, “Maxwell told her to give Epstein a foot massage, and then showed her and instructed her on how to do it… Maxwell was joking around, so she just followed her lead.”
That evening the three of them went to the movies.
When they were seated inside, Epstein… touched her leg, and rubbed her arm, held her hand. “And this time, she — felt — he wasn’t trying to hide it from Maxwell.”
“When they went outside the theatre Maxwell was joking around and pulled Epstein’s pants down a little bit.”
It was all an apparent set up for what happened next. Back at the ranch, “Maxwell asked if she had ever had a massage, and Maxwell told her she could give her one,” the agent testified.
Young girls pose at Epstein’s Caribbean retreat, Little St. James Island, circa 2006. (Photo: SDNY)
The girl undressed and Maxwell told her to lie on her back. Maxwell pulled down a sheet covering her and exposed her chest; she was nude from the top up and Maxwell proceeded to “massage around her chest and breast area.”
Later that night, Epstein made his move. While she was in bed, he walked into her room and told her he wanted to cuddle. He laid down next to her in a spooning position.
“She told him that she had to go to the bathroom to get out of the situation,” the agent said. “She felt uncomfortable. She didn’t know what to do.”
Epstein later paid for a trip to Thailand, and afterward they lost contact.
She “became upset and emotional” about her experience when the agent interviewed her, and has since filed a civil suit against Maxwell and Epstein’s estate.
She currently works as a psychologist, counseling trauma victims.
Maxwell was constantly looking after Epstein’s needs, even when he was traveling abroad.
Between 1994 and 1995, in Great Britain, Maxwell met a 17-year-old girl through a mutual friend and considered her prefect for Epstein.
Even though Maxwell was in her 30s, the victim said Gishlaine treated her like they were sisters, “like naughty school girls.”
They spent time together in London, and Maxwell finally mentioned that she had a boyfriend… Jeffrey Epstein. “Maxwell told [the victim] that Epstein was going to like her.”
By then, Epstein had flown into London and was staying at Maxwell’s house. Maxwell invited the girl over.
When she arrived, Maxwell was already telling Epstein about her… “giving him a resume of her attributes, says she’s pretty and so strong… Then Maxwell asked her to help give Epstein a massage, even though it was their first meeting.”
“Since you’re so strong, I’d appreciate it if you’d give Jeffrey a massage because he needs a massage every day, or I get in trouble,” Maxwell, undoubtedly sheepishly, joked.
Maxwell led her to a room where Epstein was waiting in a bath robe. He took off his robe and was nude underneath. The victim was encouraged to start massaging him. “And then he touched [her] and pulled her hand to his penis.”
When the victim recoiled, Epstein admonished her… “Don’t be frigid,” he scolded.
Afterward, Maxwell, who had been waiting just outside the room, quizzed her. “Did you have fun? Did he like it?”
The victim said she was “taken aback” by the whole episode, but when Maxwell called and invited her over again a few days later, she went.
“Well, aren’t you a clever girl, Jeffrey was very impressed,” Maxwell told her on the call.
When she got there, Maxwell cut right to the chase. “In substance, she said, ‘Thank God you’re here, if it’s not you or someone else it falls to me,” the agent recounted.
Maxwell led the girl upstairs to the same room. Epstein was waiting, nude. “I’ll leave you guys to it,” Maxwell said before exiting.
Dispite the nature of their first two encounters, the victim traveled with Maxwell and Epstein to Palm Beach, his hideway in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Paris, and New York City.
During the trips, Epstein routinely received sexual massages from her, which grew in intensity. He begam groping her and using a vibrator on her vagina. He always paid her in cash, afterward.
Maxwell was always hovering just outside the room. She sometimes asked how it went and tried to explain that Epstein was not happy when he wasn’t having sex.
“He has to have sex all the time; he’s like a super hero,” she said in an odd analogy.
During a visit to his Palm Beach house, Maxwell coaxed the victim into cosplaying a young school girl.
Maxwell had shown her a bedroom, and on the bed was a school-girl outfit. When [the victim] confronted her about it, Maxwell said, “Well, I thought it would be adorable if you gave Jeffrey his tea in this.”
She felt like she had to do it and put it on. “Don’t be so frigid” Maxwell reminded her.
When Epstein saw her, he “slapped her on the buttocks and reached under the skirt and touched her.”
As their relationship continued, Maxwell became more demanding. Could she find “anyone who could give him a blowjob today, I don’t feel like it?” she told her at one point.
She also asked the victim to bring other girls, who “had to look young.”
She never brought any. “She didn’t want anyone else to go through that,” she told the agent.
By the time the victim was in her early twenties, she’d stopped traveling with Epstein and was struggling with substance abuse.
She eventually got sober and now runs a non-profit for people suffering from addictions and trauma.
When police executed a search warrant on Epstein’s New York City townhouse in the early 2000s, they found the same school girl outfit along with “butt plugs, dildo, and vibrators.”
Epstein’s and Maxwell’s hunt for underage girls became even more depraved when they recruited 14-year-old girl living in West Palm Beach.
Her mother was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Her parents were separated, and she often fought with her brother and her mother.
She was the perfect target, vulnerable and desperate for money. The victim even recounted how she had been molested multiple times as a child.
In 2001, She was hanging out with a group of four friends when one of them asked if she wanted to make some money massaging an “older man.”
She agreed and ended up at Epstein’s mansion. She entered through a side door. Maxwell was waiting to greet her.
At first, Maxwell made small talk. She told Maxwell about her home life. “She talked with Maxwell about her abuse that occurred when she was younger,” the detective said.
She recalled Maxwell asking about her sexual experiences and whether she’d ever used a “vibrator or a toy ever on herself.” She hadn’t, the girl replied.
After the small talk, Maxwell led her upstairs to Epstein’s “massage room” and waited for him to enter.
“She described [the room] as having a few doors inside, some of them entering a closet. She described there being a — it’s like a bathroom, basically, that had a sink inside of it,” the agent recounted.
Nude photographs of Maxwell adorned the walls.
During one massage, another girl came into the room, climbed on top of Epstein while he was on his back, nude, and started having sex with him in front of her.
The victim said she couldn’t bear to watch.
Afterward, Epstein walked the girls out and paid them each $300 in “crisp one hundred dollar bills.” He always paid cash with hundred dollar bills, the agent said.
Epstein also gave victims small gifts; flowers, a book called “Massage for Dummies,” and Victoria’s Secret underwear. Maxwell arranged the gifts.
The victim said she used the money to buy cocaine, marijuana and later crack cocaine.
Between 2001 and 2004, the victim estimated she gave Epstein at least 100 massages.
Sometimes, she would call Epstein’s house and ask to come over because she was desperate for money; other times Maxwell called her.
On some occasions, an Epstein assistant would call. She arranged his schedule and took photos of the girls at the house and in the massage room.
The teenager usually arrived by a side door leading to the kitchen. Someone always greeted her, although not always Maxwell.
“She would go upstairs and arrange the massage room and the massage table. Epstein would generally come out, he would get on the table. She would begin her massage,” the agent recounted.
“During the massage, he would flip over and she would generally play with [his] nipples. He would masturbate, he would touch her breasts and buttocks.”
During some occasions, Epstein would finger her vagina or use a vibrator.
“She said that every instance ended with Epstein ejaculating.”
Afterward, Epstein would get dressed and leave. She would go downstairs. Money would be waiting on the kitchen counter, or Maxwell would hand it to her as she left, she told the detective.
During at least three massages, Maxwell stayed in the room and watched her undress until she was nude.
“She recalls being in the massage room undressing; Maxwell complimented her body and then asked if her breasts were real, at which point, she touched her breasts,” the agent said.
After one visit, both Epstein and Maxwell told the victim she could earn more money if she brought over other girls for massages. They both asked her to find even younger girls.
The victim began recruiting friends at her middle school, and found several willing to massage “an old man” for money.
At least one girl was 12- or 13-years-old. Like her, they were from working-class families with troubled backgrounds.
On at least two occasions, Epstein brought two other girls into the room with the victim. All were underage.
“She recalled that the girl looked like a model. At one point during the massage Jeffrey Epstein attempted to have sex with her; he slightly penetrated her at least once or twice.”
The model told him no, at which point he began to have sex with the other female. At the same time, that girl performed oral sex on the victim.
The same scene played out at least one other time with yet another girl. Epstein had sex with her while she performed oral sex on the 14-year-old.
Her relationship with Epstein started talking a toll on her life. She and her boyfriend spent the money on drugs and became addicted to cocaine and later crack cocaine.
She dropped out of middle school in the eighth grade and never went back. In 2003, she became pregant, but continued massaging Epstein throughout her ning-month term.
She gave birth in 2004. By then she was 17. She went back to massaging Epstein for the money. She told the agent she needed to support her baby.
Her experience with Epstein left her life in a wreck.
In 2008, she stopped seeing Epstein and sued him. The case was settled out of court. With no education, no money and no prospects, she turned to working as a prostitute.
Between the ages of 18 and 26, she was arrested and convicted multiple times for misdemeanors, traffic violations and felonies arising out of her drug use.
After one arrest that led to a jail sentence, she went into drug rehab and has received treatment for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and schizophrenia, among other mental health issues.
Today, she’s married and a stay-at-home mom with three children, but she still takes Methadone, Xanax, and medical marijuana to control her conditions.
Beside using girls like the victim to recruit friends from middle school, Maxwell often recruited girls herself.
She would often go to Mar a Lago for her own massages. On one occasion her driver recalled an incident as they were leaving. Maxwell ordered the car to stop, got out and approached a uniformed female employee.
Later that day, the girl showed up at Epstein’s house and soon became one of his regulars, giving the financier nude massages.
In 2000 and 2001, Epstein began flying young girls from Florida to New York City and his Caribbean island on his private jet, according to flight logs. Maxwell was often on the flights.
In March 2005, Palm Beach police open a criminal investigation into Epstein after a 14-year-old girl’s parents said he had paid her for a massage.
Police interviewed other underage girls who also said Epstein sexually abused them in encounters that often began as massages.
A year later, in 2006, a Palm Beach County grand jury indicted Epstein on one state felony charge for solicitation of prostitution, according to a timeline published by National Public Radio (NPR).
The Palm Beach Police Department’s chief and lead detective were so incensed by the lenient state charges, they referred the case to a nearby FBI office. They argued the charge didn’t reflect “the totality of Epstein’s conduct,” according to the Justice Department’s review of the case.
Federal investigators submited a draft indictment outlining 60 criminal counts against Epstein, along with a memo summarizing the evidence assembled against him. It was enough to put him in prison for life.
Then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta (who in 2017 would become President Trump’s Labor Secretary). ended the federal investigation in exchange for a guilty plea to two state charges — solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security facility, was required to register as a sexual offender, and set up a way to compensate his victims.
The deal also included a controversial nonprosecution agreement. Epstein, four co-conspirators, and “any potential co-conspirators” were granted immunity from any further federal prosecution.
The deal was kept secret from the Epstein victims, and the financier continued to abuse underage girls until he was re-arrested in New York City in July, 2019.
He was charged in federal court with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
On Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. He allegedly committed suicide by strangulation.
On Feb. 22, 2023, Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein submitted a tip to the FBI regarding his belief that his brother was murdered.
In the tip, which was released along with the latest Epstein files ths month, Mark Epstein claimed his brother was murdered in his jail cell because he was about to “name names.”
He alleged that Trump who was president at the time of his brother’s death, “authorized” the killing. The FBI never followed up.
Maxwell was convicted in 2022 and is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a minimum security prision in Texas and lobbying Trump for a pardon, while pursuing various appeals.
The victims say they still haven’t received justice.