Sister of Epstein victim reported him in 1996, but FBI failed to investigate, files reveal

This undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Jeffrey Epstein. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)

While Donald Trump’s justice department did not deliver on a legal requirement to disclose all Jeffrey Epstein-related files by Friday, one document in an otherwise underwhelming disclosure lifted the veil on authorities’ inaction and its dire consequences for dozens of teen girls.

That document is an FBI report from Maria Farmer, a painter who worked for Epstein around 1996.

Ms Farmer, whose sister Annie Farmer was abused by Mr Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell at age 16, told authorities in 1996 that the late financier “stole” nude images of her siblings.

Ms Farmer reported Mr Epstein’s behavior with these photographs, but the FBI has never openly recognized that she made such a report, according to the New York Times. 

The newspaper also noted how an internal investigation into the justice department’s handling of Mr Epstein’s case did not mention this report. The police report states that “Complainant [Maria Farmer] stated that she is a professional artist and took pictures of her sisters 12 and 16 yrs for her own [personal] Art Work.”

“Epstein Stole the photos and Negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,” it adds.

The report also stated that Mr Epstein requested “pictures of young girls at swimming pools” and threatened Ms Farmer, saying “that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down”.

It’s unclear what, if anything, the FBI did with that report. It is clear, however, that Epstein continued to abuse girls for years after Maria Farmer brought him to law enforcement’s attention.

Indeed, Mr Epstein did not face prosecution related to abusing teen girls until the mid-2000s. The FBI declined the Guardian’s request for comment.

Maria Farmer, through her attorney Jennifer Freeman of Marsh Law, said she was “shedding tears of joy for myself but also tears of sorrow for all of the other victims that the FBI failed”.

Ms Freeman, who is representing Maria Farmer in her lawsuit against the federal government, said in a statement: “What’s new today is finally getting the FBI report of Maria Farmer from 1996 —  this is triumph and tragedy for Maria and so many survivors.” 

“Maria Farmer reported Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes in 1996. Had the government done their job, and properly investigated Maria’s report, over 1000 victims could have been spared and 30 years of trauma avoided,” Ms Freeman also said.

"After several years of asking for her records, the [government] finally released at least some of them today.” 

'I wanted to stop'

Annie Farmer testified at Ms Maxwell’s 2021 trial that she was just 16 years-old when the British publishing heiress gave her a nude massage at Mr Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.

During Annie Farmer’s time on the witness stand, she described how Mr Epstein and Ms Maxwell groomed her for abuse, including using an unwitting Maria Farmer as a means of access. She recalled meeting Mr Epstein at his Manhattan mansion in late 1995, when her sister Maria was working for him as a fine arts painter.

Mr Epstein bought a plane ticket to New York for Annie Farmer, who said she was told by her sister that Mr Epstein was potentially “interested in helping me with my education”. When she first went to Epstein’s house with Maria Farmer, it was to pick up theater tickets he had purchased for them.

“He seemed very friendly and kind of down to earth. He was dressed casually,” Annie Farmer testified. 

The next time Annie Farmer met Epstein was when they went to the movies with him and her sister Maria.

He sat between them and, at one point during the movie, Mr Epstein “caressed” her hand. 

“He was rubbing the bottom of my shoe and then rubbing my foot, my leg,” Annie Farmer said. “I was very nervous.” 

Annie Farmer explained that she did not tell Maria as her older sister was “very protective” and she didn’t want to affect her job with Mr Epstein. But in spring 1996, Annie Farmer’s mother told her that she was going on a weekend trip to Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.

This redacted photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows a desk, documented on July 6, 2019, during a search of Jeffrey Epstein's home in New York. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)

Annie Farmer said she was a little more at ease after finding out that a woman (Maxwell) would be there and assumed that this was Mr Epstein’s girlfriend. Following several trips into town, “it was decided that I would learn how to give Epstein a foot massage and Maxwell would show me how to rub his feet”.

“I watched what she was doing, and she was instructing me. I did what she told me,” Annie Farmer recalled. “I felt very uncomfortable. I wanted to stop.” 

Ms Maxwell, Annie Farmer said, asked if she’d ever had a professional massage: “She said she wanted me to have that experience and would be happy to give me a massage.” Maxwell told Annie Farmer to undress. She complied and got under a sheet that was on a massage table.

“She pulled the sheet down and exposed my breasts, and started rubbing on my chest and on my upper breast,” Annie Farmer said. “I just wanted so badly to get off the table.” When Annie Farmer woke up the next day, Mr Epstein “bounded into the room, saying he wanted to cuddle”.

“He climbed into bed with me,” Annie said. “He pressed his body into me.” She escaped Mr Epstein by telling him she had to use the restroom.

In the years following Maria Farmer’s report, accusers’ accounts and court documents indicate that Mr Epstein’s abuse persisted. When Mr Epstein was arrested in 2019, prosecutors alleged that he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls” from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.