Jeffrey Epstein survivor ‘redeemed’ by release of her 1996 FBI complaint

The FBI received a complaint about Jeffrey Epstein in 1996, nearly a decade before it investigated his activities in Florida and more than two decades before the Department of Justice brought sex trafficking charges.

The complaint was made public as part of a larger document release on Dec. 19 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The document is redacted so that the complainant is not named, but Maria Farmer and her lawyer quickly identified it as hers.

“Complainant stated that she is a professional artist and took pictures of her sisters 12 and 16 years for her own personal artwork,” the FBI complaint form says in handwritten notes, without a visible agent signature. “Epstein stole the photos and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers.

“Epstein at the time requested [redacted] to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools,” the notes continued. “Epstein is now threatening [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.”

The document is dated Sept. 3, 1996. Jeffrey Epstein is clearly identified as the subject of the complaint, and the case is listed as “child pornography,” but is now called child sexual abuse material.

Farmer, who has also accused Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell of sexually assaulting her, said in a statement that the day the document was released was one of the best of her life.

“I’m crying for two reasons,” said Farmer, now 56. “I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself, but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed.”

USA TODAY reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.

Maria Farmer alleged Epstein, Maxwell stole images of her sisters

Possession of child sexual abuse material has been a federal crime in the United States since 1978, and Congress strengthened the law in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan. By 1996, the internet was being used more widely to distribute the material.

Jennifer Freeman, Farmer’s lawyer, said Farmer had naked or semi-naked hard-copy pictures of her two younger sisters that were intended as anatomical studies for her graduate school art class. Freeman said Farmer kept them catalogued in a lockbox, so she knew when they went missing.

Farmer worked for Epstein as an art scout in 1996 in New York City, but Epstein and Maxwell encouraged her to spend the summer at Epstein’s property in Ohio as an artist in residence, according to a lawsuit Farmer filed in May alleging that the government was negligent in responding to her complaints. Epstein’s property was on or adjacent to an estate owned by Victoria’s Secret magnate Les Wexner, the lawsuit says.

While staying in Ohio in late July or early August 1996, Farmer alleges Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted her. She found that the lockbox she had hidden in the basement with pictures of her sisters had been pried open, and those images were missing, Freeman said. “Epstein and Maxwell, for their and perhaps others’ sexual gratification, transported these images via airplane from Ohio to New York,” the lawsuit says.

Freeman said Farmer reported all of this information to the FBI.

Moving “child pornography” from one state to another is a federal offense, according to the Department of Justice. Freeman said it would also be a federal crime to upload the material to a computer.

Epstein’s logs show he flew out of Columbus, Ohio, the nearest airport to his Ohio property, multiple times in August and September 1996, including to Teterboro, New Jersey, just outside of New York City.

USA TODAY reached out to Maxwell’s lawyer for comment. The Department of Justice has appeared in the case but has not yet filed a response to the negligence allegations, the court docket indicates.

Farmer first reported her sexual assault, crimes she believed Epstein and Maxwell were commiting against minors, and the child sexual abuse material allegations on Aug. 29, 1996, to the New York Police Department, according to the lawsuit, which cites a copy of her police report. The police advised her to call the FBI, and she made at least two calls to two different offices, the lawsuit says. The FBI complaint released Dec. 19 is stamped with the date Sept. 3, 1996.

Epstein wasn’t charged with’child pornography’ counts

Freeman, Farmer’s lawyer, said the federal government should have investigated and charged Epstein decades ago in connection with child pornography-related crimes. She said the FBI had a responsibility to pay attention to “child pornography” allegations. She noted that that type of crime is logistically easier to prove than sexual assault or sex trafficking.

“You have usually video or still images, evidence, rather than trying to get witnesses to say this or that,” said Freeman, who is also the chair of CHILD USAdvocacy. “You actually have the proof, so the prosecution is relatively easy.”

A decade later, in 2007, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Marie Villafaña made multiple attempts to get computers and hard drives from Epstein’s property, according to a 2020 report from the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility.

Villafaña knew from her experience that people who exploit minors often possess child sexual abuse material, the report said. Her colleague commented that it would be unusual for someone with Epstein’s capabilities not to be video recording his encounters, the report said.

Epstein’s lawyers fought efforts to turn over his computers and hard drives and said they were working to make sure the case was prosecuted at the state level in Florida, the report said. But in September 2007, his lawyers signed the now-infamous non-prosecution agreement that allowed him to plead guilty to two lesser, state-level crimes: solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution from a minor.

The Department of Justice charged Epstein with sex trafficking in 2019 for alleged crimes in New York and Florida, but there were no “child pornography” charges in the indictment. In July, the Department of Justice and the FBI said their files related to Epstein included “over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sexual abuse material and other pornography.”

Marina Lacerda, who identified herself this year as an unnamed minor victim first recruited in 2002, said Epstein’s home on 71st Street in New York City was full of cameras, and there was a whole office in the front of the house dedicated to them.

Maria Farmer is still fighting for documents

Freeman said she made multiple attempts to get a copy of the 1996 complaint about child pornography from the FBI, but had no success. After her most recent request under the Freedom of Information Act, she was told to expect a response in November 2027.

In May 2023, she asked the FBI, the Department of Justice’s inspector general and the attorney general to investigate how law enforcement handled the Epstein case. The inspector published a similar report on the handling of the sex abuse case of Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics doctor convicted on state and federal charges for sexual assault and child pornography, respectively.

Freeman said she was unsatisfied with a response from the Department of Justice in December 2024 that she said deemed that Farmer’s concerns had been addressed without a similar investigation. This past May, they filed a civil lawsuit alleging the government was negligent. They’re seeking unspecified financial damages.

Although she feels vindicated by the release of the 1996 document, Freeman said, more documents need to be released. Farmer’s lawsuit says she made “at least two calls to two different offices” to report her allegations that went beyond the child sexual abuse material, including about her sexual assault.

Specifically, Farmer’s lawsuit says she told the FBI about explicit images of children that Epstein had in his home, a binder that appeared to contain child sexual abuse material that he kept in a safe, and that Epstein had “recording devices and sophisticated computer monitoring” throughout his New York City home.

The FBI hung up on her while she was mid-sentence, the lawsuit says. Documentation proving the second interaction was not produced in the Dec. 19 document release, the deadline for the Department of Justice to publish all of the Epstein files.

“It’s almost like another type of abuse,” Lacerda said. “We weren’t being heard.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Epstein files show Maria Farmer reported him to the FBI in 1996