Law&Crime Sidebar - FBI Hung Up on Jeffrey Epstein Victim Trying to Report Sex Trafficking: Lawsuit

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Starting point is 00:00:35 will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Could we soon see video of the moments leading up to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's death in his jail cell? Seems to be the promise from the FBI and at the same time that the administration is trying to release any information about Epstein that's still hidden, the government is now facing a scathing lawsuit from one of the first known reported victims. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by law and crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Well, as we know, infamous sex offender and millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 at the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York City, right?

Starting point is 00:01:22 Prison guards found him dead in his cell after he reportedly fashioned a noose out of a bed sheet, was found kneeling with a makeshift rope around his neck. But we also know that Epstein had been arrested for allegedly trafficking minor girls for sex and apparently been getting away with it for decades. That's what the allegations were. And that is where a new lawsuit against the U.S. government comes in. This is what you might not be familiar with. Maria Farmer, now in her 50s, claims that she was sexually assaulted by Epstein

Starting point is 00:01:49 and his so-called Madame Galane Maxwell in the 90s. And Farmer claims when she contacted the FBI about the assault and all of these other sex crimes that she believed Epstein was collecting, they hung up on her. Now, this is a major lawsuit, major allegations. I want to bring on right now, John Kloom, civil sex abuse attorney and former prosecutor, John, thanks so much for taking the time. We will get into the specifics of the suit. Generally speaking, is it unusual to go after the government for what is essentially failure to do their jobs? We told you about this crime. We told you this was going on, and you did nothing about it or you ignored our claims.

Starting point is 00:02:27 Have you seen something like this before? We've seen it, but it is also what I would say unusual. I mean, historically, those cases have not been very successful, but we may have had a little bit of a turning point with the Larry Nasser case, you know, the former doctor with the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team. That was a successful lawsuit using the same claims that are being used here. So it may be something that we're going to see more and more of. We've got to talk about these recent comments by the FBI leadership.

Starting point is 00:02:54 that they want to release video from inside the MCC, showing essentially the moments before Epstein's death. So the death has been, as you know, fodder for conspiracy theories for years. And honestly, for good reason, the details surrounding it have always been a little bit squirrelly. According to the BOP, Bureau of Prisons, Epstein tried to harm himself in July of 2019, was found semi-conscious in his cell with injuries to his neck. He was put on suicide watch. He was held in an observation cell. but after six days, was given the all-clear by a doctor to go back to a special housing unit

Starting point is 00:03:28 where he was supposed to have a roommate. But in August of 2019, Epstein's cellmate was transferred. No new cellmate was apparently put in his room. Guards were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes throughout the night, but the two guards assigned to watch him on August 10th apparently fell asleep. An investigation found that the two later falsified prison records, okay? So you can see how there's some questions here. There was also a lack of cameras.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Two cameras in front of Epstein's cell malfunction. functioned, according to the BOP, and a third had footage that was reportedly unusable. Guards found him dead in his cell when they distributed breakfast. His body was removed from the scene against BOP policy, and photos of his body, as it was found, were never taken. So that led to widespread theories over the years that Epstein didn't take his own life, but was instead murdered to keep him from revealing the secrets of powerful people as he went to trial. That was the main claim, the main allegation, that has circulated for years.

Starting point is 00:04:19 The Trump administration has promised to release any further file. associated with Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged sex trafficking ring. But thus far, most of what's been released was already out in the public domain, like the phone contact book, flight logs for Epstein's private plane. But just a few weeks ago, FBI director Cash Patel told a congressional committee that it was confirmed that Epstein died by suicide. And then you had FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, who reiterated this on an episode of Fox and Friends with co-host Lawrence Jones when he questioned him about whether

Starting point is 00:04:53 a video exists showing Epstein's death. And Bonjina replied, no, no, not the actual act, but the entire MCC Bay. It was only one camera. There's video that when you look at the video and we will release, that's what's taken a while on this. We're working on cleaning it up to make sure you have it enhanced and we're going to give the original so you don't think there were any shenanigans. You're going to see there's no one there but him. John, what's your reaction to all this? Well, I think like you said, Jesse, there's unlimited reason to be suspicious of exactly what went down that night and I think there's also a reason to be suspicious of what information we're actually going to get. You know, the actual video itself, what it depicts, it's obviously

Starting point is 00:05:31 not going to depict the actual act of suicide or homicide, whatever you believe the case to be about what went down. But it sounds like it's going to be of some limited value. I'm not sure it's going to really answer our questions. I don't know. It might. I mean, if people see the video, maybe it'll quash some theories. I'm sure there will be other people who might say, yeah, but I don't really know. Was he pressured to do it? Did someone force him to do it? It was like Godfather Part 2.

Starting point is 00:05:58 I don't know. It's going to be very interesting to see. By the way, no indication from Dan Bongino or the FBI and whether that video will actually be released and if so, when it will be released. But people will even dedicate a sidebar to it if it when it happens. By the way, totally off topic. I'm just a warning here. Totally off topic.

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Starting point is 00:07:21 in Washington, D.C.'s Federal District Court on May 29th, she's bringing two causes of action against the United States of America, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. And the scathing opening paragraph gives you an idea of what exactly Farmer accuses the government of. Quote, for nearly a quarter of a century, Jeffrey Epstein, the infamous sex trafficker and abuser of minors and young women, along with his co-conspirators, was able to engage in a wine-ranging sex trafficking venture because the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice, and United States Attorney's offices failed to listen to or protect his sex trafficked, sexually abused, and sexually exploited victims. And the lawsuit goes on to explain that

Starting point is 00:08:06 she reported Epstein and Maxwell to the FBI in 1996 saying that the two had not only assaulted her, but also had committed crimes against her younger siblings. So you might be asking, by the way, who is Maria Farmer? Well, going to jump ahead in the suit. to where Maria talks about her interactions with the millionaire and his madam. The complaint reads, in the mid-1990s, Maria, then in her mid-20s, was a burgeoning artist, having recently graduated from the New York Academy of Art and a master of fine art degree. With the encouragement and insistence of Peggy Guggenheim, then head of the New York Academy of Art, Maria met Epstein and sold him one of her paintings for half the amount she had already been offered for the price.

Starting point is 00:08:43 And this is allegedly the piece purchased by Epstein. It's a depiction of a woman in a dress lying on a couch with a man. man in white shorts standing in the doorway looking at her. Maria told the outlet ArtNet News in 2019 that she'd already sold the painting to a buyer in Germany for $12,000, but she said Guggenheim insisted she sold to Epstein at a discount because he was, quote, such a great benefactor. Now, Guggenheim later told ArtNet that she didn't remember that happening. But going back to the complaint, quote, Epstein and Maxwell bragged to Maria that they were

Starting point is 00:09:12 connected to important, wealthy, influential people who assisted, supported, and protected them in their endeavors. Epstein hired Maria initially as an art scout for his collection. The position expanded to receptionist, clerk, and other duties in Epstein's New York City mansion, an apartment building on East 66th Street where Epstein housed many young girls along with his office. The complaint talks about the different things in the house that pointed to allegedly nefarious activities, some of them secrets, some of them out in the open. Quote, Epstein informerie about the video cameras recording activities at the New York City mansion. He showed her a media room filled with such recording devices and monitoring

Starting point is 00:09:46 systems. Epstein noted his sophisticated computer equipment, which was in continuous use. Epstein and Maxwell also bragged about a modeling book that was so valuable, important, and private that they kept it locked in Epstein safe. This modeling book, which they shared with others occasionally, contained images of what appeared to be children explicitly posed in various stages of undress. Maria also saw binders with images of new teens and young women at Epstein's Palm Beach Mansion. In the summer of 1996, Epstein encouraged Maria to leave New York City, where she lived, and become a summer artist in residence at his home in New Albany, Ohio. That residence was part of or adjacent to Les Wexner's estate.

Starting point is 00:10:26 Lex Wexner is the owner of several major retail companies, including Victoria's Secret. He was close friends with Epstein for years, employed him as his financial advisor. In recent years, he said he had no idea about Epstein's alleged illicit activities, claim that Epstein had scammed him out of money. Go back to the complaint, quote, in or about late July or early August, 1996, during a visit to the Ohio property, Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted Maria. Maria was stunned and devastated. Maria also discovered that during their visit,

Starting point is 00:10:54 Epstein and Maxwell had stolen images that Maria maintained and cataloged by number in her personal private collection for her personal use in her artwork, including nude images of two minor siblings. By the way, one of those siblings, Annie Farmer, has spoken publicly in the past about what she says Epstein did to her and testified during Galane Maxwell's federal trial. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein and Maxwell reminded Maria that they were connected to important and influential people. They warned her that bad things would happen to her if she did or said anything.

Starting point is 00:11:25 Maxwell directed Maria to keep quiet and threaten to torture artwork, the building where she was living, and all the people in it. Maxwell told Maria that she and Epstein could and would destroy her career. Maria believed that they had the power to do so and much more. John, talk to me about this. Talk to me about these recordings, this apparent modeling book, you know, the FBI searched the man. mansion in New York after Epstein's arrest. Obviously, none of that evidence has been released to the public, although Attorney General Pam Bondi did say recently that the FBI is making its way through thousands

Starting point is 00:11:56 of alleged child sexual abuse videos found in Epstein's possession. What are you taking away from this? I mean, from what the complaint says, there's a tremendous amount of what should be evidence of the sexual abuse of the plaintiff in this case. And so for the actual lawsuit itself, it's going to depend on what do the FBI do and what they not do with this information to determine whether or not they're going to have liability. But at least from what we were in the complaint, there should be a substantial amount of evidence and what the FBI did with that is going to be the core of the case.

Starting point is 00:12:24 But the first part of a trial would have to be that she was sexually assaulted by Jeffrey Epstein and was facilitated by Galane Maxwell, right? Like that, if this goes to trial, that's got to be the first half of this case, right? That's right. And, you know, in these types of cases where you have, like, potential institutional liability, like against the FBI, it is kind of kind of a hard defense for the FBI to mount to suggest that Maria was not a victim of sexual assault. So although it is required that they show that she was a victim of this kind of abuse, I don't know that that's where the FBI is going to play their cards. Do they stipulate? Do they stipulate and say, listen, we are stipulating she was sexually abused and then you move on to

Starting point is 00:13:04 the second part of the trial. And, you know, in openings at a trial, you know, both sides say, yes, she was sexually abused by Elaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, even though, right, there wasn't a trial with respect to that specific incident regarding Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, I guess they could do that. They could stipulate. They could do that. And one of the benefits to doing that is you cut off at least some of the really sympathetic evidence that might otherwise be presented to a jury. So unless they had a particularly good defense on that point or they wanted to at least cast some shade, which you'd hope the FBI and Department of Justice wouldn't do, but some shade on the plaintiff, it might make some sense to at least consider stipulating and then there'd be

Starting point is 00:13:44 less of a focus on the horrific of abuse. So let's talk about the FBI for a second. So Maria claims that she tried to report her assault to the FBI in 1996. And according to the lawsuit, she told them what had happened to her, as well as what she knew about his alleged sexual abuse and trafficking of young girls. She claimed she told them about his possession, production, distribution of child sexual abuse material, including nude photos of her two siblings. The lawsuit states, the FBI, in violation of its mandatory obligations under regulations and DOJ policies, chose to do absolutely nothing. In fact, an FBI agent taking Maria's call hung up on her, and no one at the FBI attempted to follow up with her or pursue her valid and serious allegations, most of which

Starting point is 00:14:28 continued for many years, if not decades, with wide-ranging tragic consequences. As a result, Epstein and others working with him were able to threaten bodily harmed to Maria and her family for decades, forcing her to relocate many times and even change her name. In the meantime, Epstein exponentially multiplied his sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking of girls and young women. To date, federal authorities have refused or ignored Maria's request to commence an investigation of these serious unresolved allegations. They have also flatly denied Maria's efforts to address the issues outside of litigation. In so doing, defendant left Maria with no choice but to commence this lawsuit. Had the United States

Starting point is 00:15:07 states paid attention to Maria in 1996 and 2006 and to innumerable other victims over the years and complied with their mandatory duties rather than succumb to the dictates of a well-connected billionaire sex trafficker and his high-powered legal team. Epstein's sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and child pornography crimes could have been stopped soon after they began, and countless young women and girls would have been spared more than a quarter of a century of unchecked sexual abuse and exploitation. So, John, a lot of questions I have here. What could a defense from the government here. What could they say either this didn't happen? This is totally not true or there's a reason for why we didn't follow up. There's a couple of things that they'll

Starting point is 00:15:47 probably want to focus on. One of them is, you know, you see in the complaint these constant references to a non-discretionary duty. Generally speaking, the law enforcement is not liable just because they did a bad job. And when it comes to the federal courts claim act, it has to be some sort of duty that they violated that they were required to do. If they're They just didn't do their job well enough, that's not going to be a basis for liability. So that's one thing that they can say is, look, maybe we didn't do everything we could have, but this was not a mandatory duty that we had. This was just discretionary, and you can disagree with us or agree with us,

Starting point is 00:16:21 but that makes us not liable. So that's one of the key things that they'll initially focus on. And then the other thing they'll do is they will have a laundry list of things that they did in fact do and come up with reasons why their investigation stalled out. Maybe they'll be legitimate. Maybe they won't be legitimate, but I would fully expect them to have a long list of the history of the investigation to try to show that they did do the things that they were required to do, but the investigation was just frustrated for one reason or another. They can't settle this, right? If they settle this, does that look like acknowledgement of the validity of her claims? It does look like that, but they absolutely can settle it. I mean, they settled the Larry Nassar case for $139 million.

Starting point is 00:17:06 It's unclear what happened to the previous lawsuit against them that was dismissed. Was it last year involving the Epstein other victims? They certainly can settle it, but it does have that implication that they are responsible. Well, I'll tell you this. This lawsuit lays out the various laws that Maria claims the FBI broke by not taking her seriously, including its own rules from the manual for investigative operations and guidelines. So the suit points out that the FBI had put particular emphasis. on catching child predators and saving children, especially when they're allegations of a trafficking

Starting point is 00:17:41 ring. But Maria says the FBI completely dropped the ball when it came to Epstein. The lawsuit actually provides kind of relevant information connected to the FBI's mission to investigate crimes and protect victims of violent crimes. The FBI's requirement to investigate obscene matter cases and recognition that such cases often involve child sexual abuse. The United States prioritization of reporting, investigation, and prosecution of sex crimes against children, the FBI's mandatory reporting obligation to report child sex abuse and exploitation to law enforcement as per statute and guidelines, and the FBI requirements to notify victims regarding criminal investigations and the availability of victim services,

Starting point is 00:18:18 including protection from intimidation and harassment. So John, you also wonder, like, is it a no-brainer that if someone called saying not only did they have inside information about a trafficking scheme, but they themselves had been a victim of sexual assault by the ringleader, you have to investigate. I mean, citing these different positions, they're getting very, very specific and very granular about what the FBI allegedly failed to do. Yeah, it's interesting. It's such a strongly worded complaint in regards to the nondiscretionary factor that it almost borders between negligence and conspiracy at times when you read some of the language in the complaint. But all that language goes back to the same issue, that they need to be able to establish that the agency of the FBI was required by law,

Starting point is 00:19:04 by their policy to do this investigation, not just that they did a bad job. Lawsuit even provides a snippet of this old journal entry, ledgely written by Maria, and it appears to back up her claims. It reads, quote, the evil Jay Epstein and Maxwell tried to ruin my life, Annie's life, and redacted. They molested all of us in various ways and made us all feel defiled, redacted. I had to turn them into the FBI. Now, according to Maria, she first contacted the New York City Police Department to lay out her allegations, including that Epstein had allegedly terrorized her, threatened to burn down

Starting point is 00:19:39 her apartment building. And she claims the NYPD told her they could only help with the potential arson aspects of the case and told her to contact the FBI. So she says she tried to explain this to the FBI, but they hung up on her. John, does this all make sense to you about what would have happened? I mean, the NYPD saying you got to go to the FBI and, you know, FBI not taking her allegations seriously? I mean, would a call like this have been taken more seriously in 2025 if true? I'll tell you what's odd about that is it is unusual that you call a law enforcement agency and they're going to they're going to take some piece of the investigation and then say, well, if you want the rest that's investigated, you've got to call somebody else. Law enforcement

Starting point is 00:20:17 works together. NYPD works with the FBI all day long every day. So that part is a little unusual to me that they would just refer her to the FBI instead of actually making the contact and have some sort of joint investigation into the situation. So that part, I think, think is unusual. But other than that, it's that, you know, the way this is laid out in the complaint that that journal entry that you mentioned, it's a very well laid out complaint and does not look good for the FBI. You know, it's interesting, nearly a decade after Maria says she reported Epstein and Maxwell. This woman calls the Palm Beach Police Department to report that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been taken to Epstein's mansion by an older girl. And the

Starting point is 00:20:56 woman claims that this team was told to strip, give Epstein a massage. And at the end of the encounter, she was given $300. The police started an investigation. And despite uncovering details about Epstein's alleged crimes from multiple victims, only two testified before a grand jury. And Epstein was indicted for solicitation of a prostitute and procuring a minor for prostitution. He ended up pleading guilty in what's been called this sweetheart deal where he spent some time in prison but was given daily work release. In exchange, he wasn't charged at a federal level. The Palm Beach police unhappy with the prosecution's handling of the case that contacted the FBI. The agency started an investigation.

Starting point is 00:21:31 federally indicted in 2007. Again, an even sweeter deal, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida agreed to a secret non-prosecution agreement, also called an MPA, and it granted Epstein potentially co-conspirators immunity from prosecution in Florida. And that puts the breaks on the FBI investigation. But Maria says when the investigation was still ongoing, FBI agents showed up unannounced to her home to follow up on her initial report. And she says, that confirms that there was some kind of report on the books that identified her as a prior complainant. So why were they just now looking into it 10 years later? If that timeline's accurate, that helps her claims, right, John? Yeah, it absolutely does. And the complaint does a good

Starting point is 00:22:14 job laying that out. I mean, I think that, you know, with what we know now, with the benefit of hindsight, you know, we can look back at that the non-prosecution agreement and the way that whole initial criminal case was handled. It seems pretty outrageous. It would, be good to know exactly what U.S. Attorney's Office had at that time, but certainly read the complaint and go by what's in the complaint. It looks pretty bad. Yeah, and the lawsuit says Maria reached out again to the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Inspector General, asking for an investigation into all of these apparent failures. It reads, quote, in a letter dated May 11, 23, the Office of the Inspector General advised Maria that while the allegations raised were

Starting point is 00:22:51 concerning, they had other priorities right now, so could not further assess Maria's allegations until later on December 2nd, 2024, some 18 months after Maria's May 2nd, 2023 letter raising her concerns and asking for an investigation. DOJ explained in a letter that the FBI's internal affairs section initial processing unit had carefully reviewed Maria's allegations, did not initiate investigation, and could not reveal specifics, but IAS mandated action be taken to address the concerns raised in your complaint. The FBI concluded the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General IAS slash IPU considers your complaint addressed. What does that mean, John?

Starting point is 00:23:29 That's a great question. And these more information from the FBI. It doesn't make a lot of sense to say that they have other priorities. You know, if child sex trafficking is not high up on the list of priorities, what is on their list of priorities. But what they mean, what they mean, I can only guess at it. So we have to see what would they say when we get into the discovery phase of this case. Yeah, and Maria says she's exhausted all the.

Starting point is 00:23:54 options to her grievances out of court. She's filed the lawsuit to get answers, and at the end of the lawsuit reads, Maria respectfully requests that the court enter judgment in her favor and against the United States, awarding the following to Maria, compensatory, consequential, general, and nominal damages, as well as all other available damages against the United States in an amount to be determined at trial. The costs and disbursements of the action, along with reasonable attorney's fees, costs and expenses, pre- and post-judgment interest at the maximum legal rate and such other and further relief as it deems just and proper john two questions for you what exactly could she receive at a trial if she gets a favorable verdict or maybe even a settlement

Starting point is 00:24:31 what she could be looking at and two you think she's got a solid case so taking me in reverse order i do think she has a solid case i mean if if her attorneys can prove half of what they put in the complaint and i know these lawyers they're good lawyers then she's going to have a very solid case uh in regards to what she could actually recover i mean you're looking at something that is easily in the multiple seven figures as a potential settlement claim. And if this were to get to a jury, there's really two things that we look at for damages.

Starting point is 00:24:59 What is the actual impact of this to the individual, to Maria? And it's going to be a large, large number. But the second thing is how outrage is the jury going to be at the FBI based on what facts come out in discovery? So that second part will have to wait and see. But if they've got the goods that they've put in the complaint, this could easily be something in a large eight-figure jury verdict.

Starting point is 00:25:20 And look, Maria Farmer, she's still making art. 2020 started working on a series of paintings and drawings called the Survivors Project, which consists of portraits of survivors of Epstein's abuse. Just a really, really sad set of allegations. We'll keep a careful eye on it, see how it develops. And again, if there's any video that releases of Epstein in the MCC, maybe we'll dedicate a sidebar to this. Maybe we'll get John Clune back and talk more about it.

Starting point is 00:25:44 John Clune, thanks so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. You bad, Jesse. Thanks. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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Law&Crime Sidebar - FBI Hung Up on Jeffrey Epstein Victim Trying to Report Sex Trafficking: Lawsuit

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