A woman raped by Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019) claims that the president of the modeling agency that represented her put her in danger by sending her to two photo shoots at the convicted sex offender's beach house in the US state of Florida.
At the time, in 2009, Epstein was serving a prison sentence for sexual crimes against a minor, but was allowed to work daily from his home.
"My agency's job was to protect me and they failed," she told the BBC World Service. "In fact, they put me at risk and should be held accountable for it."
Roza was 18 years old when she was first sent to Epstein's home in Palm Beach by the American branch of MC2 Model Management. She had arrived in the United States about a month earlier from Uzbekistan.
The president of MC2 in the United States at the time, Jeff Fuller, currently runs another American modeling agency called The Source Models.
“My agency knew exactly where I was,” says Roza. "So Jeff knew exactly where I was going."
Credit, Fashion TV
Roza shows an expense report that indicates Fuller himself booked his flight home from Palm Beach after his second photo shoot at Epstein's house. Fuller had previously stated that he did not know Roza was going to Epstein's house.
She claims the photo shoots led to her being hired as Epstein's assistant. Other survivors explained how the financier used the recruitment of assistants as an elaborate ruse to allow him to continue abusing young women.
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Roza says that Epstein systematically raped her.
Fuller did not respond to the BBC's claims. He stated on other occasions that he did not know Roza was being abused.
The BBC discovered from Epstein-related documents released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that ten MC2 models met or communicated with Epstein after his conviction.
The files also show that Epstein handed MC2 US$1 million (around R$5.5 million, at current exchange rates) in 2005, although the agency's owners declared to an American publication, two years later, that Epstein had no involvement in their company.
A testimony shared with BBC Eye also raises questions about the role played by two other individuals active in the modeling industry. Justice Department files show that they had a close relationship with Epstein: former agent Ramsey Elkholy and the director of a modeling agency, Faith Kates.
A DOJ statement issued last year said no evidence had been discovered that would permit further investigations against "uncharged third parties." But this situation is now being questioned by Senator Zellnor Myrie, from the American State of New York.
Myrie proposed a new sex trafficking bill to expand police powers to investigate Epstein's alleged enablers.
Sara Ziff is the founder of the Model Alliance, which advocates for greater protection for models in the United States. She approves the measure.
"Often, [modeling agencies] are the problem," she said. "They are the link between the model and these predatory men."
Roza claims that the person behind the camera at the photo shoots she was referred to by MC2 was not a professional photographer, but Epstein's girlfriend at the time, Nadia Marcinko.
Roza describes the setting as "weird, there was no stylist" and the photos were never used. She has since become convinced that the sessions were staged by Epstein and MC2.
An email from Fuller to Epstein, which appears in DOJ files, makes clear the close ties between the agency and the financier.
"If it weren't for you, I would have fired her months ago," Fuller writes of another model in March 2012. "And I would be careful, because she talks too much."
A month after Epstein's second arrest, in 2019, the American branch of MC2 was dissolved and Fuller opened a new agency, called The Source Models, which remains in operation today.
The BBC has learned that 50 MC2 models have transferred to the new agency.
We asked The Source Models for comment on our findings, but there was no response at the time of publication of this report.
Modeling agencies were helpful to Epstein, according to Sigrid McCawley, the lead lawyer for more than a hundred of Epstein's victims.
"Epstein told a lot of people that he wanted three different girls a day," according to her. "Think about these numbers... The [model] scouts really were crucial because they were the ones who identified the kind of women Epstein liked."
In the case of former agent Ramsey Elkholy, the BBC found that he tried to connect 34 women to Epstein, including an 18-year-old woman who was still attending school.
One of the women's experiences highlights how assistants were co-opted into the abusive structure.
Elkholy, according to DOJ files, suggested to Epstein that one of the financier's assistants was a friend of this woman, before introducing her to Epstein.
The BBC spoke to the woman, who revealed that, on her first meeting with Epstein, when she was 19, he sexually abused her at his home in New York.
Ramsey Elkholy told the BBC: "I completely reject any allegation that I knew about or facilitated abuse of any kind... At the time, I had no knowledge of any abuse and only knew his [Epstein's] own account of his 2008 [legal] case, which I mistakenly believed."
"Records and published accounts show that women were often trained by other women in their inner circle," he continued.
"I was never part of that circle, or even any activity like that... My intention was to help models find professional opportunities by introducing them to an extremely well-connected individual."
Lawyer Sigrid McCawley declared that these assistants "would not have had a choice" in their behavior.
"These young survivors were regularly abused," she said. "Their lives were threatened... They had to do what they were told to do."
The BBC spoke to another model, Simona (not her real name), from Eastern Europe. She said Epstein raped her more than 200 times.
"People think we were gaining something, that we agreed to this abuse to gain something, be it money or influence, but that's not true," she says. "We are left with deep trauma."
Simona says that, the first time she met the financier, at age 20, she had already signed with a New York modeling agency. He offered to introduce her to his "good" friend Faith Kates.
At the time, Kates was the director of one of the largest modeling agencies in the world, Next Management. She resigned from her senior executive position in December last year, but is still legally listed as a director of the company.
Credit, Getty Images
Simona says that, at that meeting, Kates suggested that she undergo plastic surgery and sent the details of a surgeon to Epstein.
After her meeting with Kates, Simona claims that Epstein convinced her to stop modeling. And, like Roza and several other of his victims, she became his assistant.
She claims he raped her and controlled every aspect of her life for about two years.
DOJ files show that Epstein asked Kates to meet five other models, but it is unclear how many of these meetings took place.
Faith Kates' lawyers told the BBC that "Jeffrey Epstein was a master manipulator... Kates was one of the people brutally deceived by Epstein."
"If she had known what she and everyone else knows now, she would never have associated with him." The lawyers also highlighted that Kates never asked a model to undergo plastic surgery.
The BBC contacted Next Management asking for comment, but there was no response at the time of publication of this report.
Myrie told the BBC that if her bill becomes law and "you were forwarding models to Epstein knowing what Epstein was doing, or should have known what he was doing, you will be held accountable."
Roza hopes that telling her story will encourage other women to come forward.
"There are many, many survivors who never speak out because it's scary," she said.
"So, my surviving sisters... now, you know me. You know my name. And I say: make contact."
In collaboration with Annika Grosser.
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