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In the week after the sex-criminal financier Jeffrey Epstein died, Anya (not her real name) opened the door of her New York apartment. Outside was Epstein's brother, Mark, telling her she had to leave, she says.

Anya had lived for years in one of several flats on East 66th Street in Manhattan used by Jeffrey Epstein to house women he abused. In one moment, she lost her home but escaped a nightmare. (Mark Epstein denies he was aware of his brother's wrongdoing.)

"I'm still struggling to reconcile with the fact that I was abused for years," Anya says. "You were not chained to a door or something, right? You were not locked up in a basement. The chains were less obvious, but they were there."

Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting charges for sex-trafficking children, used to say that his operation was "like a cult, and he was the cult leader", Anya says.

She has given the BBC a rare account of life as one of Epstein's "assistants", detailing how the financier maintained a hold over so many of his victims for so long.

The assistants were a group of women - roughly a dozen at one time, Anya estimates - who were housed by Epstein, worked all hours at his beck and call, and were regularly sexually abused by him.

Anya says they were drawn in with elaborate deceptions and empty promises of work, before he began to coercively control nearly every aspect of their lives, exploiting any weaknesses he could uncover.

She says he controlled their finances, dictated who they saw and psychologically demeaned them. He monitored their bodies obsessively, Anya says, and forced her to have unnecessary, disfiguring surgery.

Her account of Epstein's control is echoed by Sarah Kellen, another former assistant. She told the US House Oversight Committee earlier this year how Epstein presented himself as the assistants' saviour. "He was very good at just decimating your ability to make your own decisions and have your own autonomy. And it made you more and more dependent on him," she said.

There is a bias which tends to make people think that only children are susceptible to this type of coercion, but "you can be groomed as an adult", says Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo, a clinical psychologist who has worked with victims of coercive control. "You can be vulnerable to this," she says.

After Jeffrey Epstein was convicted in 2008 of abusing a teenage girl - whom he lured to his homes with the offer of work as a masseuse - he changed tactics. He began largely targeting adult women, mostly from Russia or other parts of eastern Europe.

Anya says she and many of the other women recruited still looked like teenagers, however, and she showed the BBC photos of herself at the time to demonstrate.

Anya had grown up in a Russia emerging from communist rule, with strict parents who drilled into her that "education will be your success", she says. But opportunity was scarce and, armed with her degree, she left Russia to work as a model.

She worked in Europe for luxury brands such as Fendi and Chanel. She had friends, a support system and family she could fly back to see whenever she wanted.

In her early twenties, she came into Epstein's orbit when she visited a Paris agency and met modelling scout Daniel Siad. He complimented her intelligence, "which is not typical in the modelling industry", Anya says, and suggested introducing her to a friend of his with connections in the fashion business: Epstein.

Anya says modelling scout Daniel Siad introduced her to Epstein

Anya says she used to wonder what would have happened if she had not stopped by the agency that day, but now she believes she was purposefully targeted. "It was a complete set-up," she says, describing Siad as "essentially a professional trafficker".

Siad's name appears thousands of times in the Epstein files - the massive collection of documents about the financier released by the US government in January. Siad's lawyer said he was not available for comment, but he has previously denied any knowledge of the threat that Epstein posed.

Anya says she first met Epstein at his sprawling 18-room Paris apartment, decorated with pictures of himself posing with people such as Bill Clinton and other world leaders. She says she felt comfortable because there were two other women present, one Russian and the other Epstein's then-girlfriend from eastern Europe.
Epstein asked Anya to undress so he could see her body for modelling, she says. As she stood in her underwear, she says the financier told her she was "not in shape" and needed to "start working out", calling her lazy.

Epstein met Anya in his sprawling Paris apartment near the Arc de Triomphe

Comments such as these were common in the modelling industry, Anya says, and she believed his claims that if she worked hard, he would introduce her to the right people.

Anya says he asked her about her family, her interests, "what I was trying to accomplish in life, why I was doing modelling, all things that mattered for me".

"You don't get asked those questions in fashion," she says. Several women have told the BBC that Epstein liked to learn what mattered to them so that he could later use the information against them.

He also addressed her concerns head-on. "I see that you're smart and you're suspicious," she recalls him telling her. "I don't want to sleep with you."

Anya says this put her even more at ease. "I was telling myself, gosh, this guy is just incredible. He can see right through me," she says.

'Very elaborate grooming'

This was just the start of a grooming process that would unfold over many months, stringing Anya along with empty promises and an extended deception.

Over the course of almost a year, Anya began exercising "religiously" to get the body Epstein wanted, she says. Lesley Groff - his executive assistant who managed his diary - would email for updates on her progress and Epstein pressured Anya for pictures, telling her not to be "shy" when he insisted on nudes.

Epstein eventually arranged a meeting between her and the co-founder of model agency Next Management, Faith Kates, as he had promised, Anya says. She says it lasted less than 30 minutes and Anya was told Epstein would let her know the outcome.

The financier told her that Next did not want to hire her because she "wasn't good enough for the New York market", Anya says, with Epstein adding that she was "out of shape".

Anya says Epstein arranged a meeting with the co-founder of Next Management Faith Kates

Anya says she was dejected. Epstein told her to visit him in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was on day-release while he served his sentence. He had blamed his conviction on a girl deceiving him with fake ID, she says.

Anya had to sign a register kept by a uniformed police officer to see him. Epstein escorted her into a back room, where he sexually assaulted her for the first time. At least two other women have said he sexually assaulted them while serving his sentence.

After the assault, Epstein ushered her out of the back room and started joking with the other assistants waiting outside that Anya was "so shy". They all laughed at her, she says, and their reaction made her blame herself.

"I thought maybe nothing wrong really happened here. Maybe it's just my reaction that is wrong," she says. "Maybe it's my Russian upbringing, maybe it's how strict my parents were, but there's something off with me and not with him."
It was only when the Epstein files were released that Anya says she realised what had really happened. Emails suggested that despite her face-to-face meeting with Faith Kates, the agency founder had in fact rejected her a year earlier.

Anya says she realised she had been strung along for months by Epstein and set up to fail, in "a very elaborate grooming". Then, when she was vulnerable, isolated and far from home, Epstein had struck.

The type of slow, steady grooming Anya describes is designed to avoid triggering the target's sense of danger, "like stealth bombers are designed just to go under the radar", says the psychologist Quinn-Cirillo.

Faith Kates' lawyer told us in a statement that any claim her client had any knowledge or involvement in Epstein's purported trafficking is false and defamatory. Suggesting Epstein would relay the agency's decision to Anya was "unusual… false and uncorroborated," the lawyer added.

The agency made its own decisions about which models to take on, and did not seek Epstein's approval for such decisions, the statement continued, adding: "Obviously, there is nothing unusual about a potential model being considered and rejected from a modelling agency, even more than once."

Next Management said in a statement that the company had no relationship with Epstein and Kates' alleged actions had been "hers alone".
Epstein continued to hold out the prospect of modelling work to Anya, introducing her to Jean-Luc Brunel, founder of the MC2 agency. Epstein did not tell her he was one of the company's financial backers. (MC2 has closed down its Miami and New York offices and the founder of its remaining branch in Israel has previously said he had no relationship with Epstein.)

"Almost zero" jobs came from the agency, she says. Instead, her agent would tell her she was going to Palm Beach for a "direct booking", Anya says. But there was no modelling job, just more abuse from Epstein.

After a while, Epstein told her modelling was not working out for her and that the industry was dead. Anya recalls him saying: "Come work for me, I'll teach you a real business. You'll travel, you meet important people all over the world."

But work as Epstein's assistant was not what Anya imagined. She says Epstein taught her nothing about business.

Instead, she says she would largely sit around waiting for Epstein to give her something to do, while Epstein berated her for sitting around doing nothing. Sometimes he would give her menial tasks to do: answer the phone, show someone to a meeting room, or announce a guest.

Nevertheless, the assistants were on call 24/7, Anya says. One time, Anya says she popped out for lunch to meet someone and Epstein "went crazy", repeatedly calling her and insisting that she could never leave the house without his permission.

Anya was completely dependent on Epstein. If she got sick and needed healthcare, she says he would tell her: "I'm your medical insurance." She did not have a bank account or the correct documentation to rent her own home, but she says Epstein kicked her out of the Manhattan apartment a few times, telling her to "figure out where you are staying". These were strong mechanisms of control, she says.

If you've been affected by any of the issues in this story such as sexual abuse and violence, information and support is available at BBC Action Line

Epstein only started paying Anya a small salary years later because her visa required it, she says. He would often say, "don't worry, I'll always support you". The sexual abuse continued frequently throughout this period, Anya says.
Sarah Kellen painted a similar picture to US lawmakers: "I had no money, no family, no education, and no sense that I deserved any better." Meanwhile, Epstein showed off his power and connections to her. "Jeffrey made certain I knew that defying him would cost me my life," she says.

'You'll never go against me'

On one occasion, an assistant ran away, Anya recalls. Anya says the woman had called her during her escape, leaving Anya fearful that Epstein would find out they had been in contact, as he owned their phones and monitored their calls.

Epstein hired a private investigator to trace the missing assistant, Anya says. She says he showed her an email detailing the expenses he calculated the missing woman owed him, a total of $700,000 (£521,000). Anya says she got the message loud and clear: if you leave, you will owe me money and I will hunt you down to get it back.
This was not the only thing Epstein held over the women. He also gathered compromising material, Anya says, and he would casually remind her that he had naked pictures of her.

On one occasion, she says, he gathered his assistants for a photoshoot. Epstein encouraged them to go topless and dance joyfully, insisting it was filmed. Anya recalls he said "this way I know you'll never go against me", suggesting that it would be hard for them to argue they were not consenting if he showed the video. "That's his library of evidence," she says.

Sarah Kellen told Congress that Epstein was good at "decimating" his assistants' sense of autonomy

The financier also made his assistants write him emails which they called "gratitude letters", gushingly thanking their abuser. "I was so terrified of not saying 'thank you' enough to him," Anya says.

"I think partially maybe those gratitude letters were another mechanism of him saying, how can you go against me if you are thanking me all the time?"
Epstein would also pit the assistants against each other, Anya says. He would let slip that another woman was "mad" at her for being "useless and so lazy", but he would say he was "advocating for you" as "your biggest supporter", she says. In this way, he prevented the women from forming real relationships with each other, making them easier to control.

As Anya talks to us, she lifts up her top to reveal several scars across her stomach. Then she shows us old modelling photos where she had a small tattoo, dating back to when she was a teenager.

Epstein wanted her to remove it and a doctor came to his house, she recalls. But he did not want her to have laser treatment because it would take too long, so he suggested the doctor cut the tattooed skin off. "Only I could come up with that," she recalls him saying.

She says she had the surgery, which left scars. A year later, he insisted that it was done again because he did not like the results.

The "most shameful" part of her time with Epstein was having to recruit other women, Anya says, her eyes welling up with tears.

Each assistant had to bring in at least one other assistant, she says, and Epstein told them to recruit young women like her.

"It's one or 10, like, you're already complicit."
Anya says she wanted to speak out now to help people understand how women became trapped by Epstein and to explain how his operation had trafficked adults like her as well as children.

"He built this whole ecosystem of abuse that was serving him," she says. "When you have people like Bill Gates come to his house for dinner and shake his hand, you think, who am I to question it? Who am I to speak up here? It legitimised the abuse."

Both Anya and Sarah Kellen have subsequently received compensation from the Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund, which was established to provide financial relief to survivors and involved sharing corroborating evidence of their abuse.
"When he was alive, I didn't speak to a single person about this," Anya says. She now hopes that her voice can help just one woman escape an abusive relationship.

"I'm not in any way special," she says. "I just somehow managed to find this strength in me to persevere and to survive. If I can do it, you can do it."

If you have information about this story that you would like to share, please email epsteininvestigation@bbc.co.uk

BREAKING HER SILENCE: Epstein survivor to share her story in WPTV’s ‘GROOMED: Surviving Epstein’

‘GROOMED: Surviving Epstein’ will air on Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. on WPTV.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — As a team of journalists at WPTV is reflecting on 20 years since the tangled story of the late Jeffrey Epstein first broke, a local survivor of his abuse is boldly sharing her story.
The survivor, who wishes to only go by her first name of Ashley, told WPTV Anchor Ashley Glass she first met Epstein when she was 15 years old.
Glass asked, “Do you think you’ll ever see justice?”

“I want to be hopeful, but it’s really hard because it seems like at least once a week we’re getting slapped in the face by one of those revolving sticks that has like five hands on them,” Ashley answered. “It’s really hard to think that in my lifetime somebody is going to do the right thing.”
Ashley details her quest for justice in the WPTV original documentary GROOMED: Surviving Epstein, on Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. on WPTV.

Punished? An Elite Harvard Club Is Torn.
At Harvard, students, alumni and professors debate whether a storied campus group should cut ties with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s closest associates, and whether Harvard itself should do the same.

By Debra Kamin
Debra Kamin has been reporting on Jeffrey Epstein since late last year.
July 15, 2026

Moguls, models and members of Broadway’s elite gathered in New York City in March 2014, raising glasses in their black-tie best to toast a centuries-old student organization affiliated with Harvard University.

The club’s chair, Andrew Farkas, a billionaire and Harvard alumnus, posed with celebrities and then took the podium to welcome the evening’s guests.

Among them, in a place of honor, was a table for Jeffrey Epstein. Mr. Epstein had donated so much to the organization, the Hasty Pudding Institute, that he was listed that year as a significant sponsor and granted a table for eight guests, despite having been convicted six years earlier as a sex offender.

Mr. Epstein opted not to attend the fund-raising dinner — he notably avoided social events outside his own home. But he sent a contingent of evening-gown-clad young women in his place, according to emails released earlier this year by the Justice Department.

“sorry i wont be at your dinner, take care of my puppies,” Mr. Epstein wrote to Mr. Farkas, who responded: “I will miss you. Your puppies will have a ball. Tell them to come to the after party.”
The two men had a long, devoted friendship, which Mr. Epstein used to maintain a foothold at Harvard University years after the school banned him from making philanthropic gifts in 2008.

Now, Mr. Farkas, and the student institution he has led for over a decade, have incited anger among some at Harvard over accountability for Mr. Epstein’s crimes. The controversy taps into a broader debate about whether Mr. Epstein’s friends and associates should face consequences for having maintained ties with him after his criminal behavior was known.
The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 is an idiosyncratic cultural organization made up of the nation’s oldest social club, a theater ensemble and an a cappella troupe. With its long history and elite status — membership to the roughly 150-person club is invitation only — the institute has no real peers, even among the nation’s most selective schools. It has deep ties to American history, politics, Broadway and Hollywood; five U.S. presidents have been members.
It operates independently from Harvard University, is governed by a five-member board of unpaid alumni volunteers and raises its own funds.

Still, after Harvard banned his donations, Mr. Epstein saw the organization as a central way to stay connected to the school. Mr. Farkas, who has been Hasty Pudding’s chair since 2012, was his main conduit. He solicited at least $375,000 for the institute from Mr. Epstein between 2013 and 2019.

Mr. Farkas has never been accused of any criminal behavior or charged with any crime. But some students and alumni say Hasty Pudding should cut ties with him because of his friendship with Mr. Epstein.

At least 175 people — including dozens of professors, at least three current or former department heads and all of the student leaders of Hasty Pudding Theatricals from the past academic year — have signed three petitions circulating over the last several months. The petitions demand that Mr. Farkas be removed from Hasty Pudding’s leadership and ask for Harvard to strip the Farkas name from a campus building that houses Hasty Pudding and university classrooms.

Hasty Pudding’s leadership and Harvard administrators have not addressed the demands, except to point out that Hasty Pudding is technically separate from the university. James Chisholm, a spokesman for Harvard University, said that the university played “no role in its management or governance.”

The university said it had not received any official requests to remove the name from the building, referencing a formal renaming process that was recently instituted by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In 2011, Mr. Farkas gave an endowment — the amount was not disclosed — for the brick Georgian revival building that houses Hasty Pudding’s theater productions as well as the school’s theater, dance and media department.
In return, Harvard renamed the structure Farkas Hall, an honor Mr. Farkas said he had chosen for his father, Robin Farkas, a businessman and Harvard alumnus who died in 2018.

Mr. Farkas is also a critical investment partner for Harvard. He has overseen investments, which have not been previously reported, that are worth tens of millions of dollars for the university, according to tax and Securities and Exchange Commission documents. The documents show several dedicated investment entities created and managed by Mr. Farkas but owned entirely by the university, including a private commercial real estate vehicle created for the school in 2014 with a $10 million seed donation from Harvard.

Tax documents show that Harvard has also invested directly with Mr. Farkas’s larger company.

Many elite universities have endowments funded by investments tied to their graduates; at Harvard, more than 70 percent of investments are with funds managed by alumni.

Representatives for Harvard, when asked about its investments with Mr. Farkas, said that the school did not publicly disclose its individual investments or managers. Through a representative, Mr. Farkas said that his company fully complied with all disclosure requirements and did not discuss client investments.
In a statement, Mr. Farkas said he was proud to support Harvard and Hasty Pudding, adding, “Naming Farkas Hall after my late father is and always will be one of my proudest moments.”
Evan Nierman, chief executive of the public relations firm Red Banyan, said that the release of the Epstein files had “created a major reputational hazard for both public figures as well as more private individuals who merely intersected with Epstein.”

His firm does not represent Mr. Farkas but has represented several people who crossed professional paths with Mr. Epstein. He argued that people should not be punished for “being convicted in the court of public opinion.”

“Guilt by association has run rampant,” he said.
But some members of the Harvard community say Mr. Farkas is different. Aidan Golub, an alumnus and former member of Hasty Pudding’s theater group, argued that Mr. Farkas’s friendship to Mr. Epstein, and the evidence in the files, should disqualify him from leading the institute.
“There needs to be acknowledgment of an awful mistake,” he said in an interview, adding, “There needs to be accountability.”

Mr. Farkas’s ties to Mr. Epstein first came to light in 2019, shortly before the sex offender’s suicide in a New York City jail, when it was reported that the duo shared ownership of a marina in St. Thomas a few miles north of Mr. Epstein’s private island.

Mr. Farkas has sought to downplay the friendship. But thousands of emails and dozens of photographs recently released by the Justice Department show they were close, sharing deep confidences, influential political contacts and crude misogynistic jokes.

Mr. Farkas was one of only a small handful of friends who traveled to Palm Beach to visit Mr. Epstein during his 13-month jail sentence for sex crimes in Florida in 2008 and 2009.

As Mr. Farkas’s connections to Mr. Epstein have become public, some members of Harvard’s community have written letters urging Harvard to reconsider its relationship with Mr. Farkas. They have resigned in protest from boards and made statements to the news media.

In February, undergraduates in the theatrical group gathered 42 signatures demanding Mr. Farkas resign as chair. In the past three weeks, two new petitions, one from affiliates of the theater, dance and media department and one from Hasty Pudding alumni, were sent to the Hasty Pudding board and the president of the university.

The pleas are not new: Multiple faculty members sent letters in 2021, when Mr. Farkas’s connections to Mr. Epstein were first emerging.
Several students and alumni interviewed for this article said the club had not responded to their concerns. One alumnus, a film producer named Michael Roiff, resigned from the Hasty Pudding theatrical’s advisory panel in frustration.
In an interview, Mr. Roiff said Mr. Farkas and the Hasty Pudding board had rebuffed his pleas for them to address the organization’s connections to Mr. Epstein. In an email, Mr. Farkas refers to the pressure as a “witch hunt.”

“The idea seemed to be that we should stay quiet because his money helps the thing exist,” Mr. Roiff said.

A university spokesman said Harvard was reviewing its ties to Mr. Epstein, including “some donors,” but did not elaborate.

Goldman’s Former Top Lawyer Calls Epstein a ‘Masterful Liar’

Link to NYT

By Matthew Goldstein
July 15, 2026
Updated 2:23 p.m. ET

Goldman Sachs’s former top lawyer told a House committee on Wednesday that during the six years she knew the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein she never saw “any evidence suggesting that he was abusing women or girls,” but that she had come to realize he “was a masterful liar.”

Kathryn Ruemmler, who resigned as Goldman’s general counsel and chief legal officer this year after details of her relationship with the sex offender came to light, acknowledged in her testimony that she had offered Mr. Epstein advice, accepted gifts from him and “sometimes irreverently” exchanged emails with him.

“I can see now that he used me and other respectable people to legitimize his standing, and I know now that he often exaggerated his relationship with me to others,” Ms. Ruemmler, 55, said in her opening statement at a closed-door hearing with the House Oversight Committee. A copy of the statement was obtained by The New York Times.

Ms. Ruemmler is among the most high-profile people on Wall Street whose careers have been hurt by their associations with Mr. Epstein. In February, Ms. Ruemmler resigned from her job at Goldman, where she was paid $25 million a year, after a flood of emails released by the Justice Department revealed that her dealings with Mr. Epstein had been far more extensive and personal than previously known.

The emails showed that she had socialized and joked with him, and had even called him “sweetie” at times. They also revealed that Ms. Ruemmler had offered him advice on handling the past allegations of soliciting sex from a minor that led to his 2008 guilty plea in Florida and a federal nonprosecution agreement.
In her testimony on Wednesday, she said her relationship with Mr. Epstein began in summer 2014 when she had just left as White House counsel during the Obama administration to become one of the leaders of the white-collar defense team at Latham & Watkins.

The committee, which has been investigating the Justice Department’s handling of its investigations of Mr. Epstein and his decades-long sex trafficking operation, is calling in more than a dozen people who once associated with Mr. Epstein to answer questions. Many of his former associates and friends, like Ms. Ruemmler, agreed to testify voluntarily.

She told the committee that she had learned of his 2008 conviction on a charge of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl only after she had met him. She said that she had initially found Mr. Epstein to be open and truthful in discussing his guilty plea in Florida and that he had expressed remorse.

Ms. Ruemmler, a former federal prosecutor, and most other committee witnesses have said they learned about the extent of Mr. Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls and young women only after his arrest in July 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges. She said, “I was shocked by the indictment.”

Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said during a break in the hearing that “it is difficult to see how she’s being completely truthful.” He said Ms. Ruemmler had known about the 2008 conviction, “yet she continued to have to interact, to be friendly, to make jokes about massages that entire time.”
Ms. Ruemmler said she had stopped associating with Mr. Epstein after his arrest. He committed suicide a month later while in federal custody. In April 2020, Ms. Ruemmler joined Goldman as its global head of regulatory affairs, and she became the Wall Street bank’s general counsel a year later.

She said that, based on her training as a prosecutor and Mr. Epstein’s explanations, she thought the decision by federal prosecutors in Florida not to charge him seemed like a sound one. She later advised him on how to address questions about that deal, the emails released by the Justice Department show.
She told the committee, “As we now know, his conduct was much worse and more sinister.” She added, “In light of everything we know now, that resolution was deeply flawed.” In her statement, Ms. Ruemmler said she had gotten to know Mr. Epstein after he referred a banking client to her.
Ms. Ruemmler, in her statement, did not name the banking client Mr. Epstein had introduced her to. But shortly after she joined Latham & Watkins, she became one of the lead attorneys in working to resolve complex tax and regulatory issues for Edmond de Rothschild Holding, a Swiss bank. The Justice Department files show that she wrote a letter in 2015 confirming that Mr. Epstein was serving as a consultant in the relationship. And later that year, Ariane de Rothschild, who runs the bank, signed a $25 million consulting contract with Mr. Epstein. A spokeswoman for Ms. Rothschild could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the process, Ms. Ruemmler and Ms. Rothschild became friends and sometimes socialized together with Mr. Epstein.

Ms. Ruemmler said Mr. Epstein had also suggested she might be able to do some legal work involving Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder, but that did not materialize.
When the Justice Department files were first released, it seemed Ms. Ruemmler might weather the storm of critical media stories over her past friendship with Mr. Epstein because she maintained the support of David Solomon, Goldman’s chief executive officer. But others within Goldman were uncomfortable with her staying on as the bank’s chief legal officer and also serving on the bank’s reputational risk committee.
In 2025, Ms. Ruemmler received a compensation package valued at $25 million, according to a company filing in March.

After she announced she would step down, Mr. Solomon expressed disappointment with her decision and asked her to stay on through June to help with the search for a new general counsel. The bank recently extended her stay as a paid consultant because the search has taken longer than anticipated.

Other people who have appeared before committee for questioning include former President Bill Clinton, the retail magnate Leslie Wexner and the billionaire Bill Gates. The committee has an interview scheduled next week with James Staley, a Wall Street executive who for years was Mr. Epstein’s main champion at JPMorgan Chase, where Mr. Epstein did much of his banking for more than a decade.
In June, Leon Black, a private equity billionaire, appeared before the same committee to answer questions about his dealings with Mr. Epstein and why he had paid him $170 million in fees for what Mr. Black said was tax and estate advice. But the hearing was cut short when Mr. Black, who had frequently socialized with Mr. Epstein, refused to answer questions about any nondisclosure agreements he might have signed with women.

Representative James R. Comer, the panel’s chairman and a Kentucky Republican, promptly issued two subpoenas to Mr. Black, one seeking copies of those agreements and another one directing him to testify under oath. A spokeswoman for the committee said Mr. Black was cooperating with its requests and was set to return for a sworn deposition on Sept. 3.

Michael Gold contributed reporting.
Matthew Goldstein is a Times reporter who covers Wall Street and white-collar crime and housing issues.

By Saeed Azhar

Mon, July 13, 2026 at 10:15 AM UTC

NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler is set to face congressional scrutiny on Wednesday over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, pushing the Wall Street bank back into the spotlight over its decision to keep her on despite her links to the convicted sex offender.

Ruemmler stepped down as chief legal officer and general counsel at the end of June after documents published by the U.S. Justice Department showed she accepted gifts from Epstein. She agreed to continue in an advisory role as senior counsel until the company appointed a new chief legal officer, Goldman CEO David Solomon said in an internal memo in June. Goldman’s decision has been criticized by some lawmakers.

“Congress must use Ms. Ruemmler’s testimony to pull back the curtain on how Jeffrey Epstein built and maintained wealth, power, and influence while operating one of the most notorious sex trafficking operations in modern history,” said Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi in a statement to Reuters.

Epstein, who died in a New York City prison in 2019, had extensive ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business, including President Donald Trump.
Ruemmler will appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to members of the committee, which is investigating Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The committee has issued a series of subpoenas and interview invitations as part of its ongoing investigation into Epstein’s crimes and the federal government’s handling of his cases.

“The records released as part of the Epstein files have revealed a far more extensive relationship between Ms. Ruemmler and Epstein than was previously understood,” said Krishnamoorthi, who is on the committee.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Ruemmler did not respond to a request for comment.
Her spokesperson reiterated an earlier statement that she had done nothing wrong and had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity on Epstein’s part when she interacted with him as a practicing criminal defense attorney.

NUMEROUS COMMUNICATIONS

Ruemmler had a large number of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after the disgraced financier’s 2008 guilty plea for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, U.S. Justice Department documents showed.

Krishnamoorthi and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, in a June letter to Goldman’s Solomon, criticised his move to keep her at the firm, saying it raised serious questions about proper due diligence or whether the firm viewed Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein as appropriate.

Ro Khanna, one of the Congressional representatives behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act, told Reuters he will ask Ruemmler what she knew about those involved in Epstein’s crimes.

Those showed she accepted gifts from Epstein and advised him on how to address media inquiries regarding his crimes. Epstein also called Ruemmler’s cell phone when he was arrested on July 6, 2019, among other calls he made that night, according to two documents that cited notes from law enforcement officials.

Her spokesperson said it was a brief call and Ruemmler took no action afterwards.

Epstein’s death while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges was ruled a suicide.

The oversight committee has interviewed political leaders such as former President Bill Clinton, current Commerce Secretary and former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Casey Wasserman is cutting the price of his Los Angeles mansion after making headlines for appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

According to a listing for the property, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home was listed again on Friday, July 10, for $24.995 million. It was initially put on the market in September 2025 for $32.5 million.

The home — which has consistently dropped in price since it hit the market in September — was purchased in 2020 for $23.6 million.
The 11,179-square-foot property was designed by XTEN Architects and received the AIA Los Angeles Award for Most Influential Architecture of 2020.
Located on a cul-de-sac in the Bird Streets neighborhood of L.A., the home features a private courtyard, polished terrazzo floors, an expansive living room, a kitchen/family room, a theater, gym, dance studio and office, among other amenities. Outside is an infinity pool as well as an eight-car subterranean showcase garage.

The 52-year-old chairman of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games has come under fire after appearing in the Epstein files released earlier this year.

In the Department of Justice’s January 30 release of documents related to the late financier, Wasserman’s last name comes up more than 100 times by search.

The executive appeared to communicate by email with Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 of child sex trafficking. At the time, Wasserman was married to Laura Ziffren, with whom he shares two children; the two divorced in 2021.

Wasserman has said he “deeply” regrets their “correspondence,” which he said occurred “long before her horrific crimes came to light.”
Amid Wasserman’s public downfall, many high-profile celebrities have cut ties with him. Singer Chappell Roan revealed she left the agency founded by Wasserman, and Olympian and celebrated soccer star Abby Wambach urged him to “resign” while announcing her exit.

As In Touch previously reported, the LA28 executive board conducted a review with outside counsel related to concerns over the emails, and Wasserman fully cooperated. “We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the executive board said in a statement at the time, adding that Wasserman should “continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games.”

In May, Jenny Chandler appeared to reveal that she and Wasserman quietly got engaged. In the caption of a May 18 Instagram post, she referred to Wasserman as “my handsome fiancé Casey.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Published: Jul. 13, 2026, 11:43 a.m.
Two demonstrators entered the Throne Room inside Buckingham Palace on Monday and unfurled a banner demanding answers from King Charles and Prince William regarding Jeffrey Epstein.

According to GB News, during the opening of the State Rooms to the public inside the palace, two protesters from Republic, an anti-monarchy group, unfurled the banner, showing a picture of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew) and Epstein walking together.

The two also displayed a yellow banner bearing the caption ‘What did you know?’ in black letters in front of the image.

Last year, after Mountbatten-Windsor was charged with misconduct in public office and accused of assaulting Virginia Giuffre, he was stripped of his royal titles. There is a picture of Giuffre with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was a minor. Giuffre accused Epstein of trafficking her and other underage girls.

“Republic activists have taken questions about Andrew to the heart of the royal household, the symbolic home of the monarchy,” Republic Chief Executive Officer Graham Smith said.

Smith and the group are questioning what the royal family knew about Mountbatten-Windsor’s ties to Epstein and for how long. He added that intelligence agencies and law enforcement would have had concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s alleged conduct and would have alerted King Charles and Prince William.

The group also wants to see charges brought against Mountbatten-Windsor for the assaults.
“This question isn’t going away,” Smith said. “It is simply not believable to think that Charles and William weren’t briefed years ago about the numerous allegations against Andrew.”m

Chris Franklin is an NFL reporter for NJ Advance Media.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Plot twist

Graham Gremore (He/Him)
July 7, 2026, 2:00 pm PDT

Here’s something we don’t think anyone had on their Bingo card.

Michael Cohen, D*n*ld Tr*mp’s former “fixer”/personal attorney turned arch-enemy, says he and the president have reconciled, and it’s all thanks to Jeffrey Epstein.

Um, WTAF is going on here?
Let’s dive in…

Cohen recently appeared on the Cats & Cosby Show on 77 WABC to talk about how the “far left … brought back the relationship” between him and 80-year-old Tr*mp.

In case you need the backstory, Cohen worked as Tr*mp’s personal attorney from 2006 until 2017, during which he spent most of his time threatening lawsuits to squash unflattering news stories about the failed-businessman-turned-politician.

He also paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Tr*mp, which the president has repeatedly denied ever happened, and which ultimately proved to be the catalyst for the douchey duo’s undoing.

Cohen once went so far as to say he would “take a bullet” for Tr*mp, a heroic gesture we can safely assume would never be reciprocated. How do we know? Because in 2018, after the FBI raided Cohen’s home and office, Tr*mp, then president, wasted no time throwing his old buddy under the bus, labeling him nothing more than a disgruntled former employee and criminal.

After Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations as well as tax and bank crimes in relation to the whole Stormy Daniels thing, as well as lying to Congress about negotiations over a proposed Tr*mp Tower in Moscow, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Understandably, he wasn’t too happy about this, and for the next several years, the two men went after one another both in the press and in the courtroom.

Cohen sued his ex-boss for over $1 million in unpaid legal bills, and Tr*mp sued his ex-lawyer for $500 million, accusing him breaching confidentiality and attorney-client duties. Neither case ever made it to trial.

Cohen also wrote a tell-all book about Tr*mp, and testified against him in multiple court cases, including the one that resulted in the president being found guilty of 34 counts of fraud.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, he went so far as to say he’d flee the country if Tr*mp were ever re-elected. (A promise he obviously didn’t make good on BTW.)

But perhaps the wildest part of the whole story is that, while Cohen was at war Tr*mp, he and the president’s other arch-enemy Rosie O’Donnell became friends.

According to the New York Times, Rosie reached out to Cohen while he was in prison. They exchanged letters and eventually she flew across the country to visit him behind bars. “When someone is in a relationship that unhealthy and breaks free, it’s a very lonely time,” she told the paper.

After Cohen was released, they kept in touch. She even texted him as he was preparing to testify against Tr*mp in 2024, writing: “breathe – relax – tell the truth – u got this – i love u.” To which he replied, “Thank you and truly love you.” Later, they recorded a TikTok together.

At least, that was the wildest part of the story until this week, when Cohen revealed he and Tr*mp had reconciled and there was no more bad blood between the two of them.
It happened about six months ago over dinner.

“Out of nowhere, when I was sitting with my wife at a restaurant, my phone buzzed and it was a text from that friend who expressed to me the president’s genuine empathy for the hell that I was being dragged through … I deeply appreciated that text,” he explained on the Cats & Cosby Show.

The “hell” he is referring to there is Epstein and the ongoing speculation over how much Cohen knew (or didn’t know) about Tr*mp’s relationship with the perverted financier.

Cohen continued, “I actually texted the president. I thanked him. Expressed my sincere hope that this long, exhausting feud between the two of us could finally end.”

According to Cohen, Tr*mp replied “almost immediately” and said it was “actually time for us to meet.”

“We both knew the cost of this war,” he said. “In that moment the ice between us, it didn’t just melt, it broke.”

Cohen has repeatedly said he never met Epstein, nor did he know anything about the convicted sex offender’s friendship with Tr*mp. He also never worked on any Epstein-related lawsuits for Tr*mp, aside from one anonymous complaint accusing the president and the pedophile of sexually abusing an underage girl, which Cohen ultimately said was meritless.

Still, he said this week, “the left embraced me as their ultimate weapon against” Tr*mp, adding that that when he “deviated from their script. The pack, they turned feral.”

“I never once witnessed, I never heard of, I never saw, I never communicated, never saw in the office Jeffrey Epstein,” he insisted. “Never saw him speak to him … Those two things shattered [the left’s] narrative. The far left, they literally went on this absolute warpath against me.”

If you’re not sure what to make of Cohen’s latest about-face, Tr*mp’s niece, Mary, issued this reminder to people yesterday:

“Michael Cohen is a thug and a convicted criminal who willingly did Donald’s bidding. The idea that he was ever on the right side of things is, and always has been, ludicrous.”

Michael Cohen is a thug and a convicted criminal who willingly did Donald's bidding. The idea that he was ever on the right side of things is, and always has been, ludicrous.
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) July 6, 2026

No word yet on how Rosie feels about the whole thing. Our best guess is she’s drafting a text that reads: “breathe – relax – delete my number.”

Virginia Giuffre's family are "actively working" to bring Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in front of a Parliamentary hearing.

The hearings, revealed by Ms Giuffre's brother Skye Roberts, could be modelled on US Congressional proceedings, including possible witnesses.

Mr Roberts' plans come amid his campaign to examine Jeffrey Epstein's British connections.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrest came after Thames Valley Police said they were assessing a complaint over the alleged sharing of confidential material with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following publication of the Epstein Files.

Both Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has been released under investigation and have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Roberts confirmed that he intends to travel to Britain shortly to seek a meeting with Andy Burnham, the Makerfield MP widely anticipated to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.
"I think the UK is at a really pivotal moment. I could see the same structure starting to get created there with the House Oversight Committee here," he explained.

"There are a lot of things going on with Parliament. We are actively working behind the scenes to guide that. Stay tuned.

"One hundred per cent, you will be seeing lots of UK stuff coming forward."

His wife Amanda stated they were "pushing for a formal inquiry in the UK."

Should the plans go ahead in the UK, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor could be called as a witness.

Tech billionaire Bill Gates was called for questioning by the House Oversight Committee in the US Congress, where he admitted to two affairs and admitted that he felt Epstein "contemplated blackmailing me".

While Congressional proceedings have not been broadcast live and have instead been conducted behind closed doors, full transcripts have been released shortly after.

Mr Roberts also told reporters that officers from Thames Valley Police are due to visit the US in the coming weeks as part of their investigation into Mr Mountbatten-Windsor.

He said: "I do know for certain they did reach out, they are taking this very seriously and wanted to be very clear they are investigating sexual misconduct."

The force confirmed in May that they areassessing possible sexual offences as part of the investigation into Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s alleged misconduct in public office.

A woman, who alleges convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein sent her to Britain in 2010 to have sex with Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, refused to speak with the police.

Lawyer Brad Edwards, who acts for hundreds of Epstein victims, told the BBC he represents "multiple" clients holding information regarding the former Duke of York, none of whom intend to engage with British authorities. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied wrongdoing.

The woman became the second individual to make allegations against the former prince, after Ms Giuffre.

Ms Giuffre alleged that Epstein trafficked her to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor on three occasions for sexual purposes when she was 17 years old in 2001.

The former Duke consistently and strenuously denied her claims and said he did not remember meeting Giuffre. He reached a settlement in her civil battery lawsuit in 2022 without admission of liability, reportedly paying approximately £12million.

Seven years ago today, Jeffrey Edward Epstein was charged by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York with operating a vast sex trafficking network to sexually exploit and abuse underage girls and young women between 2002 and 2005 at his mansions in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florid

As new questions continue to surround Jeffrey Epstein, Eric Weinstein argues that the public may be focused on the wrong part of the story. Rather than looking only at Epstein himself, he explores who may have benefited from his influence and why elite scientific circles attracted so much attention. The discussion also examines the role of physics, power, and unanswered questions that continue to fuel speculation. Whether his theory is right or wrong, it challenges the way many people think about one of the most controversial stories of the century.

Multiple survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking network have publicly accused his former assistant, Lesley Groff, of providing false testimony to the U.S. Congress regarding her involvement in the operation.

Six victims explicitly contradicted statements Groff made during a June 9 transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee, according to CNN.

Groff maintained she never met the trafficked women, remained ignorant of their ages, and never directly distributed funds.

Survivors describe a vastly different operational reality. Four women speaking on the record and two anonymous victims detailed extensive personal interactions with Groff, alleging she facilitated travel, checked identification, and disbursed cash.

Direct Financial Transactions
Groff informed U.S. lawmakers she never handed money to victims on Epstein’s behalf. Survivors assert Groff was the primary conduit for regular cash payments.

Marina Lacerda, who entered the network in 2002, stated Groff frequently distributed hundred-dollar bills in white envelopes at Epstein’s New York City office.

Another anonymous victim corroborated this mechanism, noting regular cash pickups from Groff.

Lisa Phillips reported directly collecting tuition checks from Groff. Multiple victims also testified that they received Broadway tickets directly from the longtime assistant at the New York property.

Knowledge of Minors
Groff testified she remained unaware that Epstein targeted underage girls. Victims countered that Groff actively screened recruits and processed their identification documents.

Lacerda stated Groff instructed her to ensure new girls brought school identification cards.
Another victim, abused at age 14, recalled Groff observing her in a Catholic school uniform and routinely coordinating early school dismissals.
Sharlene Rochard and a second anonymous victim stated Groff personally handled their passport applications and travel logistics.
This contradicts Groff’s congressional assertion that she never managed passports.

Access and Proximity
During her testimony, Groff claimed she was barred from Epstein’s New York City townhouse between 2001 and 2013.

Two survivors reported repeatedly interacting with Groff inside the residence during that exact timeframe.

Groff characterized Epstein as a master manipulator who concealed the abuse throughout her 18-year tenure.

She has never faced criminal charges, despite being listed as a potential co-conspirator in Epstein’s 2008 Florida non-prosecution agreement.

Congressional Review
Knowingly issuing false statements to the U.S. Congress constitutes a federal crime. Representatives for the House Oversight Committee confirmed they are reviewing Groff’s transcript against available evidence.

Representative Robert Garcia’s office criticized the committee for failing to require Groff to testify under oath.

The Justice Department maintains it lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute further Epstein associates beyond Ghislaine Maxwell.
Groff’s legal representation declined to comment on the allegations.

Survivors acknowledge the difficulty of producing physical corroboration for incidents that predated modern digital communications

Kay Burley called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor a “war hero” whilst sitting next to a Jeffrey Epstein survivor on a Newsnight panel.
On Monday (6 July), the BBC show focused on Pizza Express having reportedly launched an internal inquiry into whether the former prince visited its Woking restaurant after his claims in an interview with the programme.

In the 2019 interview, the former Duke of York said he had been at the Surrey restaurant on 10 March 2001 – the day he was alleged to have slept with Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

During an appearance on the BBC show on Monday (6 July), campaigner Lisa Phillips encouraged any other survivors to get in touch with her.

Ms Burley then added: “And we should accept that he was a war hero. We should just throw that in.”

“He was”, she added as Victoria Derbyshire brought the segment to a close and thanked the panel.

The BBC and Ms Burley have been contacted for comment.

Here’s a summary:

High-Profile Names Connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Circle (Based on the MSN video from The Casual Criminalist and related public reporting). instagram.com

Introduction / Overview
• Jeffrey Epstein cultivated relationships with influential figures across politics, finance, academia, science, entertainment, and royalty over decades.
• His 2019 arrest and death intensified scrutiny of his network via flight logs, court documents, photos, emails, and witness testimonies.
• Key disclaimer (standard in reporting): Association or mentions in records do not imply knowledge of or participation in Epstein’s crimes. Many named individuals have denied wrongdoing. instagram.com

Major Categories and Notable Names

1. Politics & Government
   • Bill Clinton (former U.S. President): Multiple mentions; flew on Epstein’s plane ~26 times (per logs); denied knowledge of crimes and said ties ended before 2006 charges. pbs.org
   • Donald Trump: Social acquaintance in the 1990s/early 2000s; flew on plane; banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago (per reports); mentioned in files but no new incriminating details. pbs.org
   • Prince Andrew (Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor): Significant mentions and allegations (e.g., from Virginia Giuffre); settled lawsuit; denied wrongdoing. bbc.com
   • Others: Ehud Barak (former Israeli PM), Bill Richardson (former NM Governor), various politicians.

2. Finance & Business Billionaires
   • Les Wexner (Victoria’s Secret): Longtime associate; Epstein managed his finances; major client. @i
   • Leon Black (Apollo Global Management): Paid Epstein large sums for advice; mentioned in financial contexts. en.wikipedia.org
   • Glenn Dubin (hedge fund): Frequent mentions in financial ties and files. @i
   • Bill Gates: Met multiple times; later called association a mistake; emails and photos referenced. bbc.com
   • Others: Rothschild family mentions, Steven Sinofsky, various Wall Street/hedge fund figures.

3. Legal, Academia & Science
   • Alan Dershowitz: Epstein’s lawyer; involved in 2007 plea deal; mentioned frequently. en.wikipedia.org
   • Scientists/academics (e.g., Stephen Hawking mentioned in passing).
   • Other lawyers and intellectuals.

4. Entertainment & Other
   • Michael Jackson, David Copperfield (mentioned in files).
   • Modeling agents, socialites (e.g., Ghislaine Maxwell – central figure, convicted).

Financial Enablers (Recent Testimony Highlights)
• Accountant Richard Kahn (Epstein’s longtime finance manager) identified major clients/payers including Wexner, Black, Dubin, Sinofsky, and Rothschild family in 2026 testimony.

• No accusations of wrongdoing against them; no red flags tied to crimes noted in his view. @i
Key Themes in the Video/Reporting

• How Epstein gained access: Wealth, private island, jet (“Lolita Express”), and introductions via Maxwell.

• Ongoing scrutiny: Court file releases (2024–2026), flight logs, and calls for transparency.

• Distinction: Being in the “circle” (social/financial ties) vs. evidence of criminal involvement (limited public charges against associates beyond Maxwell).

The video likely presents these connections narratively with visuals (photos, logs) while emphasizing public records and the lack of proven wrongdoing for most.