Survivors say Epstein used modelling promises to recruit young women for abuse

Survivors say Jeffrey Epstein used promises of modelling opportunities and introductions to influential people to draw young women into a system of sexual abuse. Their accounts, featured in a BBC documentary, describe how scouts and modelling agencies helped connect him with aspiring models, many of them immigrants with little support in the United States.

One woman, identified by a pseudonym, says Epstein raped her about 200 times during the two years she knew him; another says she was pressured to recruit other women. Documents released by the US Department of Justice show Epstein gave $1 million to MC2 Model Management in 2005, while scout Daniel Siad appears in nearly 2,000 messages with him and was reportedly paid almost $100,000. The documentary’s contributors say recruitment shifted towards women from eastern Europe after Epstein’s 2008 conviction.