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 Florida home.
At that time, in 2009, Epstein was serving a prison sentence for child sex crimes, but he was allowed to work from home daily.
“My agency’s role was to protect me, and it failed. In reality, she put me in danger. And for that she must be held accountable,” she told the BBC World Service.
Roza was 18 when the American branch of MC2 Model Management first sent her to Epstein's Palm Beach home, just a month after she arrived in the United States from Uzbekistan.
Jeff Fuller, the former president of MC2 in the United States, now runs another American modeling agency called The Source Models.
“My agency knew exactly where I was. So Jeff knew exactly where I was going,” Roza emphasizes.
Photo credit, Fashion TV
She shows us an expense report that suggests Fuller booked his own flight home from Palm Beach, after his second photo shoot at Epstein's.
Fuller has indicated in the past that he was unaware that Roza was going to Epstein's house.
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According to her, these photo shoots allowed her to be hired as Epstein's assistant.
Other survivors described how the financier used the hiring of assistants as an elaborate ruse to continue abusing young women.
Roza says Epstein then carried out systematic rapes.
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Contacted by the BBC, Fuller did not give his version of the facts.
Previously, he said he was unaware Roza was being abused.
Through Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice, we discovered that 10 MC2 models met or communicated with Epstein after his conviction.
The documents also show that Epstein donated $1 million to MC2 in 2005, even though the agency's owners told a US publication two years later that Epstein had no connection to their company.
The testimony shared with BBC Eye also raises questions about the role played by two other people active in the modeling industry who, according to Justice Department records, had close relationships with Epstein: former agent Ramsey Elkholy and agency manager Faith Kates.
A Justice Department statement last year that no evidence had been found to warrant further investigation into "unindicted third parties" is now being disputed by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie.
Myrie introduced an anti-sex trafficking bill aimed at giving police increased powers to investigate Epstein's alleged accomplices.
Sara Ziff, founder of Model Alliance, an organization that fights for better protection for models in the United States, agrees.
“Often, it’s the modeling agencies that are the problem. They serve as a link between the model and these predatory men,” she says.
A close relationship
Roza claims that the person behind the lens during the photo shoots MC2 sent her to was not a professional photographer, but Epstein's girlfriend at the time, Nadia Marcinko.
Roza calls the situation “strange” because “there was no stylist” and points out that the photos were never used.
She has since become convinced that the photo shoots were orchestrated by Epstein and MC2.
An email found in Justice Department archives, sent by Fuller to Epstein, highlights the close relationship between the agency and the financier.
“If it wasn't for you, we would have fired her months ago,” Fuller wrote of another model in March 2012. “And I'd be careful, because she loves to gossip,” she added.
A month after Epstein's second arrest in 2019, the US branch of MC2 disbanded and Fuller opened a new agency, The Source Models, which is still in operation.
The BBC has discovered that 50 models from the MC2 agency have been transferred to their new agency.
We reached out to The Source Models for comment on our findings, but received no response.
Modeling agencies were useful to Epstein, says Sigrid McCawley, the lead attorney for more than 100 Epstein victims.
“Epstein told many people that he wanted three different girls a day. Imagine these numbers… [Model] recruiters were essential because they were the ones who identified the type of woman Epstein liked. »
In the case of former agent Ramsey Elkholy, BBC Eye found that he attempted to put 34 women in contact with Epstein, including an 18-year-old girl who was still in school.
The testimony of one of the women highlights the way in which the participants were instrumentalized and integrated into the system of abuse.
According to Justice Department documents, Elkholy suggested to Epstein that one of the financier's assistants befriend the woman before introducing her to Epstein.
We spoke with this woman and she revealed that when she first met Epstein, when she was 19, he sexually abused her at her New York home.
In response to the allegations, Ramsey Elkholy told the BBC: "I categorically deny any accusation that I had knowledge of or facilitated abuse of any kind... At the time, I had no knowledge of any abuse and only knew his [Epstein's] own version of his 2008 [legal] affair, which I wrongly believed." »
“Published documents and reports show that these women were often manipulated by other women around them. I have never been part of this circle, nor participated in any activity of this kind. (...) My intention was to help models find professional opportunities by introducing them to someone with excellent contacts,” she continued.
Lawyer Sigrid McCawley says these assistants had “no choice” regarding their behavior.
“These young assistants regularly suffered violence. Their livelihoods were threatened… They had to follow orders,” she explains.
“We have been left with a deep trauma”
Another model we spoke with, Simona (a pseudonym), from Eastern Europe, told us that Epstein raped her more than 200 times.
“People think that we gained something from it, that we accepted these abuses to gain an advantage, whether economically or in terms of influence, but that is not true. We came away deeply traumatized,” says Simona.
According to her, when they first met, 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 Kates.
At the time, Kates was the director of Next Management, one of the largest modeling agencies in the world. She left this management position last December, but legally remains a director of the company.
Photo credit, Getty Images
Simona recalls that, during that meeting, Kates suggested she have cosmetic surgery and sent Epstein the contact details of a surgeon.
After meeting Kates, Epstein convinced her to stop modeling, Simona says.
And like Roza and other victims, she became his assistant.
She claims he raped her and controlled every aspect of her life for almost two years.
Justice Department records show that Epstein asked Kates to meet five other models, but it is unclear how many of those meetings took place.
Faith Kates' lawyers told the BBC: “Jeffrey Epstein was a master manipulator (…) Kates was one of the people Epstein seriously deceived. If she had known then what she knows today – and what everyone knows today – she would never have associated herself with him. »
The lawyers added that she never asked a model to have cosmetic surgery.
We reached out to Next Management for comment, but they did not respond.
“When this bill passes, if you are a person who ran an agency and sent models to Epstein, and you knew what Epstein was doing, or should have known, you will be held accountable,” Myrie said of her initiative.
Roza hopes that by sharing her story, she will encourage others to speak out.
“There are so many survivors who don't dare to speak out of fear. So to all my fellow survivors… you already know me. You know my name. I tell you: contact me! »
Additional reporting by Annika Grosser
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