A woman raped by Jeffrey Epstein claims the head of the modeling agency that represented her put her in danger by sending her to two photo shoots at the convicted sex offender's home.
(This is a translation of a piece by BBC Investigative Reporters. The original in English can be read here).
At the time, in 2009, Epstein was already serving a sentence for sex crimes against a minor, but he was allowed to work from home every day. (Prosecutors then managed to negotiate a deal, and in 2008 Epstein was sentenced to one and a half years in prison, while he could go to his office 12 hours a day, six days a week. - BBC Russian Service.)
“It was my agency's responsibility to keep me safe, but they failed to do so. Moreover, they put me in danger. And they must be held accountable for this,” the victim told the BBC.
Rosa was 18 years old at the time and had arrived in the United States from Uzbekistan about a month earlier. The modeling agency MC2 Model Management sent her to Epstein's house in Palm Beach (Florida). Jeff Fuller, who at that time served as president of the American branch of MC2, now runs another modeling agency in the United States - The Source Models.
“The agency knew perfectly well where I was. This means that Jeff knew exactly where I was going,” says Rosa.
photo copyrightFashion TV
She showed the BBC an expense report which showed Fuller personally booked her return ticket from Palm Beach after her second photo shoot at Epstein's home. Fuller previously claimed that he did not know that Rose was going to Epstein's house.
According to her, after these photo shoots she began working as Epstein's assistant. Other victims said the financier used hiring assistants as an elaborate ploy to allow him to continue to abuse young women.
End of Most Popular
This extension will help if you have difficulties accessing the BBC Russian Service website.
Download extension
End of story Chrome browser extension - link
Rosa claims that Epstein subsequently systematically raped her.
Fuller did not respond to a BBC inquiry regarding the allegations. He previously said that he did not know that Rose had been abused.
After reviewing documents related to the Epstein case and released by the US Department of Justice, we found that 10 models from the MC2 agency met with or remained in contact with Epstein after his conviction.
The files show that Epstein gave $1 million to the MC2 agency in 2005 - while the agency's owners claimed two years later in a US publication that Epstein had nothing to do with their company.
The information, obtained by the BBC's investigative unit BBC Eye, raises questions about the role of two other people who worked in the modeling industry and, according to Ministry of Justice documents, had close relationships with Epstein - former agent Ramsey Elkholi and agency director Faith Cates.
Last year, the US Department of Justice said there was no evidence to warrant further investigation into "unindicted third parties" - a claim now disputed by New York State Senator Zelnor Myrie.
He has proposed a new anti-sex-trafficking bill that would expand police powers to investigate people allegedly collaborating with Epstein.
Sarah Ziff, founder of the Model Alliance, which advocates for stronger model rights protections in the US, supports this.
“Often the problem lies with modeling agencies. They serve as a link between the model and these male predators,” she says.
According to Rosa, at the photo shoots where the MC2 agency sent her, the camera was not in the hands of a professional photographer, but in the hands of Epstein’s then girlfriend, Nadya Martsinko.
Rosa describes the situation as “strange - there wasn’t even a stylist,” and the photographs themselves were never used anywhere. Now she is convinced that these photo shoots were arranged by Epstein together with the MC2 agency.
The US Department of Justice files include an email sent by Fuller to Epstein, which confirms the close ties between the agency and the financier.
“If it weren’t for you, we would have fired her months ago,” Fuller wrote in March 2012 about another model. “And I would be careful: she likes to talk too much,” he adds.
A month after Epstein's second arrest in 2019, the American division of the MC2 agency was liquidated, and Fuller opened a new one - The Source Models, which continues to operate to this day. As the BBC found out, 50 models from MC2 transferred there.
We reached out to The Source Models for comment but have not received a response.
End of Subscribe to our social networks and newsletter
Modeling agencies were helpful to Epstein, says Sigrid McCauley, a lead lawyer representing more than 100 of the financier's victims.
“Epstein told many people that he wanted three different girls to come to him every day. Just think about these numbers... Scouts [model agencies] played a key role: they were the ones who found the type of women that Epstein liked,” she says.
As for former agent Ramsey Elholy, BBC Eye journalists found out that he tried to introduce Epstein to a total of 34 women, including an 18-year-old girl who was still in school at the time.
The story of one of these women clearly shows how the financier's assistants were involved in a crime scheme.
According to Justice Department documents, Elholy suggested to Epstein that one of his assistants befriend the woman and then introduce her to Epstein himself.
The woman told the BBC that she was 19 years old when she first met Epstein. He sexually assaulted her. This happened in his New York mansion.
Ramsey Elholy told the BBC he "categorically rejects" any allegations that he had knowledge of or contributed to the abuse.
“At the time, I knew nothing about such actions and was only familiar with Epstein’s own version of his 2008 court case - a version that I naively believed,” he claims.
Elkholy added that “the available evidence and published materials indicate that the women were often groomed for this by other women in his inner circle.”
“I was never part of this circle and had nothing to do with such activities... my goal was to help models find work and contracts by introducing them to an extremely influential and well-connected person,” he says.
Lawyer Sigrid McCauley notes that these assistants essentially had “no choice” in how to behave.
“These young women, having experienced violence, were subjected to it regularly. They were threatened with deprivation of their livelihood... They were forced to do what they were ordered,” she says.
Another model we spoke with, Simone (not her real name), a native of Eastern Europe, said Epstein raped her more than 200 times.
“People think that we got something, that we voluntarily went to this violence for some gain - money or influence, but this is not so. We are left with deep psychological trauma,” says Simone.
According to her, when she first met the financier at the age of 20, she already had a contract with a modeling agency in New York, and he offered to introduce her to his good friend Faith Cates.
At that time, Cates headed Next Management, one of the largest modeling agencies in the world. She left this leadership post in December last year, but is still legally listed as a director of the company.
image copyrightGetty Images
According to Simone, at that meeting, Cates suggested that she undergo plastic surgery and gave Epstein the surgeon's contact information.
Simone says that after meeting Cates, Epstein convinced her to leave her modeling career.
Eventually, like Rose, another of his victims, she became his assistant. According to her, he subsequently raped her repeatedly and for almost two years completely controlled every aspect of her life.
According to Justice Department documents, Epstein asked Cates to arrange meetings with five more models, although it remains unclear how many of those meetings actually took place.
Faith Cates' lawyers told the BBC that Epstein, being a master manipulator, misled her.
“If she knew then what she — and everyone else — knows now, she would never have dealt with him,” the lawyers argue, adding that Cates never suggested plastic surgery to models.
We contacted the Next Management agency for comment, but did not receive a response.
Zellnor Myrie told the BBC that if the bill he is pushing passes, "anyone who referred models to Epstein - knowing what he was doing or having the opportunity to guess about it - will be held accountable."
Rose hopes her story will encourage other victims to break their silence.
“There are a lot of people who have experienced similar things who are silent because they are scared. So I turn to my sisters in misfortune...now you know me. You know my name. Please don’t be afraid to get in touch,” she urges.
Material prepared with the participation of Annika Grosser
Download the new BBC World Service app!
When you first open the app, select "BBC News Russian Service" and receive notifications about important news, analysis, videos and podcasts.
Important: The new app is not available in the UK and US.
Find out more
Video playlist
End Video playlist
