MANHATTAN (CN) - As sordid Jeffrey Epstein stories pile up in lawsuits against the late sex offender’s estate, a new case filed Tuesday says Epstein forced one victim to marry a noncitizen recruiter in his vast sex-trafficking enterprise.
Using the pseudonym Katlyn Doe, the New Yorker who filed the federal complaint this morning says she was 17 in 2007 when she first met Epstein, then 54.
Doe says she had an eating disorder and that Epstein immediately pinpointed her symptoms, exploiting this vulnerability to manipulate Doe into a sexually exploitative relationship.
Later that year, on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Doe says she gave in to pressure from Epstein to lose her virginity to him.
Over the next five years, according to the complaint, Epstein paid Doe unspecified sums to engage in commercial sex acts, some of which occurred at the so-called “work release” office that Florida authorities allowed Epstein to use when he was otherwise serving an 18-month jail sentence.
Doe says she had another undisclosed medical condition in addition to her eating disorder, one that required surgery. Epstein’s promises to arrange such treatment allegedly made Doe feel indebted to him, even though years passed without him following through.
The complaint says Epstein imposed a new condition on Doe in 2013, saying he would pay for her surgery, and pay up another $20,000 if she married one of the women who helped recruit new inductees into Epstein’s sex ring. This recruiter, identified as Associate 3, was a foreign national whom Epstein allegedly needed in the United States to work for him.
“Jeffrey Epstein also promised to provide Plaintiff a permanent place to live if she would marry and live with Associate 3 at one of his apartments located at 301 East 66th Street, New York, N.Y.,” the complaint states.
“During this period of time, Jeffrey Epstein continued to require Plaintiff to commit commercial sex acts.”
Once Doe signed the necessary legal paperwork for the wedding and posed for photographs, Epstein paid her $10,000, according to the complaint.
He allegedly promised to pay the second half once the marriage ended, but Doe says she got the boot instead the following year.
“In 2014, Plaintiff was twenty-five-years old,” the complaint states. “Because of her age, which he considered ‘too old,’ Jeffrey Epstein stopped causing her to engage in commercial sex.
“Because she was no longer of use to him as a sex victim, Jeffrey Epstein and his associates forced Plaintiff to move out of the apartment at 301 East 71st Street, leaving plaintiff without a place to live.”
Doe says she and Associate 3 finally divorced in 2017, never getting the remaining $10,000 Epstein promised her.
“In addition to those acts described in this Complaint, Jeffrey Epstein also used fraud, the threat of force, or coercion to cause Plaintiff to engage in commercial sexual acts the details of which are too graphic and perverted to include in this public pleading,” the complaint states.
Doe’s lawsuit is one of three filed this morning by attorney J. Stanley Pottinger in the Southern District of New York on behalf of pseudonymous Epstein victims.
The complaint says employees of the defendant company HBRK Associates were responsible for recruiting and grooming young girls who were enticed to commit commercial sex acts with Epstein, as well as for the subsequent scheduling, payment and concealing of the sexual transactions.
Epstein hanged himself in a jail cell earlier this month while awaiting a federal trial on new sex-trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors had built a similar case against the millionaire financier over a decade ago only to let Epstein strike a sweetheart plea deal with Florida authorities in 2007.
Pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution under Florida state law, Epstein averted public scrutiny for years on allegations that he victimized dozens of girls as young as 14 years old.
Epstein had boasted friendships with some of the most powerful men in the world, including President Donald Trump, President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, before his public downfall. They have all denied any impropriety.
Epstein’s counsel did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The late financier’s Florida plea deal included a key clause that protected Epstein’s assistants, including Adriana Ross from Poland and Nadia Marcinkova from the former Yugoslavia, who allegedly helped bring underage girls to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion for massage sessions that turned sexual.
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