The Current - Canadian Epstein survivor's fight for accountability

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

Sharlene Rochard is an Epstein survivor and the only Canadian to come forward publicly with allegations against him. She says the abuse started when she was a teenage model and continued into her 20s. But it took her more than two decades to confront what happened. The Documentary: Butterfly is a look at how she found her voice and her push for accountability.

Have you ever wondered how clean the seats on the TTC are? I found, like, chicken bones or, like, bed bogs. Or why so many Toronto restaurant bathrooms are in dank basements? Sometimes it's the most sketchy things. Like, when you go down, it's like, what is this? I'm Hayden Waters, a reporter and producer on the podcast, This is Toronto. From breaking down Doug Ford's obsession with the island airport.

We have to bring Jets in. To being inside an iconic Toronto Strip Club in its final hours. We go beyond the headlines of the day and get to know Toronto and all its big, beautiful, frustrating, wardy, fascinating glory. So find and follow us, this is Toronto, wherever you get your podcast. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Later today, the former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will sit before a congressional committee to answer questions about the Epstein files. It's closed to the public, but among the survivors who plan to be outside pushing for accountability is

Charlene Rochard. She is the lone Canadian who came forward last fall. CBC Washington correspondent Katie Nicholson spent some time with Rochard and has this documentary called The Butterfly. Yeah, this one was Shate Magazine. I was definitely going through hard time when I did that one. Charlene Rochard flips through her modeling portfolio. I was definitely being trafficked. Charlene was just 16 when she left Ontario for the bright lights of New York and L.A. and a burgeoning modeling career. Somebody's always telling you in this business what to do.

Smile with your eyes, look depressed, look that editorial look like you're mad. I mean, somebody's always literally telling you how to feel and how to look. So I was conditioned in such a way to do what everybody told me to do. One of those people was Jeffrey Epstein. Federal prosecutors are taking another run at hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, Tonight, law enforcement officials say Epstein is expected to be charged with two federal counts related to sex trafficking. His alleged crimes taking place from 2002 to 2005 against dozens of underage girls. A New York billionaire who counts Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends is set to appear in court today in a sex crimes case.

The facts of the sexual predator's vast trafficking empire have been widely reported on. Officials estimate the disgraced financier groomed and exploited hundreds of women using an array of emotionally abusive tactics, coercing them with money, offers of help, connections, and threats. Survivors have shared how they were assaulted and how he forced them to perform sexual massages on him or other powerful people in his circle. He often isolated them, flying them to his private island, his ranch, or Manhattan Mansion. Charlene isn't able to talk about the specifics of what happened to her because she's pursuing legal action to hold the people she says abused her accountable. Only that it began when she was a teenager, and she endured it into her 20s. It's taken Charlene a couple of decades to come to terms with those days,

but now she's confronting it head on. I didn't know what grooming was. I didn't know what coercion looked like. The Southwestern Ontario girl who won a modeling's Scholarship at 12, now a powerful voice on Capitol Hill. And that is exactly why I was vulnerable. Trafficking didn't start with violence. It started with access, people offering mentorship, people who promised exposure, travel, and introductions to powerful individuals. Charlene is seated between two Democratic power brokers, Representative Pramilla Jayapal and Ro Khanna at a roundtable on human trafficking.

I was groomed and manipulated in plain sight, inside environments that look legitimate. Hotels, studios, photo shoots. Charlene speaks with confidence and ease, but finding her voice took time. I had been asked to come forward from people that knew my story time and time again, and I just couldn't do it. I just put block that out of my mind, and anytime I would see him, he's literally everywhere. where, right? So I couldn't go to the grocery store without seeing him on a newspaper that was, you know, at the front of the aisle or on TV or, you know, Netflix series or something, but I honestly

avoided it all. I just avoided it. At some point, it all becomes too heavy. There was so much that happened to me during that time. And not just Epstein, but, after Epstein as well, that it broke me down. I just got really depressed and I didn't know what to do. I was just at a point in my life where I just felt literally worthless. Charlene packed up her four kids and headed back to Canada in 2016 and ended a volatile relationship five years later. All the while, more and more Epstein survivors were coming forward, shedding light on what had happened. Still, she kept silent.

I wasn't in a safe space. My body wasn't able to speak about what had happened to me yet. And so it can take people decades to get over trauma. And we still go through it, if ever. I don't think you actually ever get over it, because you don't forget what happened to you. You're just able to maybe compartmentalize it in a different way than before.

But I just, I wasn't ready. But then one day, a familiar face appeared on TV. I'm so proud and honored to be here today. My name is Lisa Phillips. An old friend from the modeling world, Lisa Phillips. In the year 2000, I was taken to Jeffrey Epstein's Island while on a photo shoot in the Caribbean, who I saw and what I experienced there would change me forever.

Even though they knew each other well back in the day, they had no idea they were both victims of the same abuse. Well, back in the early 2000s, everyone that I knew Jeffrey Epstein thought highly of him. He was talked about like he was a mentor and a good person back then. So nobody talked about the abuse that they were experiencing personally to themselves. That wasn't the climate back then. But times had changed. Charlene called Lisa right away.

I was really sad about it. I was really sad to know that she had gone. the same type of abuse that I had gone through. Because there wasn't a lot of people that I told back then. I never knew with Charlene that it had happened to her, or even to the extent. I never even knew that she had been on the island, too. You know, so it's not easy, you know.

It's one thing to deal with the pain of what happens to you, but when you know it's happened to somebody else, it's not easy, you know. Not long after connecting with Lisa, Charlene flew to L.A. and met with other survivors who were about to shoot a public service announcement to air during the Super Bowl. It demanded the release of the full Epstein files. I suffered so much pain. So much pain. So much pain. In the ads, the women hold pictures of their younger selves, how they looked when they first met Epstein. I was 14 years old. I was 16 years old. I was 16. 17. 14 years old.

This is me. This is me. This is. This was me. I broke down that day. Like, I was not used to speaking about this. I had barely spoken about it, and I didn't realize that the words that they wanted us to say in the PSA, they just hit me so hard. It's time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. It's time to shine a light into the darkness.

And that's even when I started learning about all of these definitions and things that had happened to me. And, you know, it sounds strange, but you're my mind. mind puts things away in compartments to be able to keep going. So it's, I have not forgotten. It's very clear in my mind, but it's also, it was also a long time ago. And to say these words now of what happened to me, it's, it's very hard. It's very hard.

And so I lean on Lisa a lot. There is strength in not being alone. especially in the glaring spotlight of one of the world's biggest scandals, which has brought down royalty and leaders in politics, business, and academia. The public interest is relentless, even as many survivors are still processing years of trauma. It's going to be an emotional moment, for sure. It's going to be so much because when you share a trauma bond

and a friendship bond and everything that we share together, it's more than just friendship. It's sisterhood. family, it's hard. And Virginia was our family. Have you ever wondered how clean the seats on the TTC are? I found, like, chicken bones or, like, bed bogs. Or why so many Toronto restaurant bathrooms are in dank basements?

Sometimes it's the most sketchy things. Like, when you go down, it's like, what is this? I'm Hayden Waters, a reporter and producer on the podcast, This is Toronto. From breaking down Doug Ford's obsession with the island airport. We have to bring jets in. To being inside an iconic Toronto strip club in its final hours. We go beyond the head. lines of the day and get to know Toronto in all its big, beautiful, frustrating, warty, fascinating

glory. So find and follow us, this is Toronto, wherever you get your podcast. Virginia is Virginia Roberts Dufray, one of the first survivors to come forward and who died by suicide last year. We're on our vigil. Charlene, Lisa, and fellow survivor Laura Bloom-McGee are crammed into the back of an Uber, heading to the National Mall in D.C. We're smiling now. We're not going to be smiling.

We have probably one, two, three. Butterflies everywhere. Butterflies have become a symbol for survivors who feel they are emerging from their own cocoons. Charlene has made each of the women their own butterfly necklace. We assemble to remember and honor the life of a young American woman, Virginia Roberts-Jewframe. The stage is covered in flowers. Behind it, a massive white screen with sketches of a smiling Virginia.

Virginia is a huge. hero and her wings are still fluttering, fragile, luminous, unstoppable. One after another, survivors, their family members, activists and lawmakers, step onto the stage. Virginia's bravery changed my life. When she spoke her truth, she tore down the walls of shame that kept me silence for years. The Trump administration's Department of Justice posted a message acknowledging the women were on town on one of its social media accounts. It invited victims to walk over to the FBI office and make a statement about what they know and who they know abused them. Where are we right now? The place where we've already been. Since when?

That night, a group of them did just that and made this cheeky video. And what do we want? The truth. Justice. Accountability. The files. Many survivors, of course, have gone to the FBI and other police forces over the years, or like Charlene, have given names of people they were trafficked to to their personal lawyers. DoJ has not contacted us. And what do you think of that? I think that's also degrading that they won't. They've called, they've said publicly that they've called for meetings for us, but none of have actually gotten any meetings with them. You are willing. Please raise your hands if you have still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice. In February, Charlene and the women she calls her survivor sisters sat behind the then-attorney general Pam Bondi in a congressional hearing.

For your Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the survivors who are standing right behind you and are waiting for you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of Justice system. Representative Pramilla Jayaapal demanded Bondi turn around and acknowledge them. I'm not determined the gentleman is reclaimed. get in the gutter for her theatrics. The time belongs to the time belongs. It felt like I was a little kid again. Just asking for somebody to acknowledge me, to be honest. It felt really degrading that she just couldn't turn around and say, you know what, I'm sorry.

That experience, I will never forget. It's just being dismissed again and again and again. There have been some victories. The Department of Justice has released. 3.5 million pages of its Epstein files. For the first time, the public, able to see for themselves some of what the survivors have been talking about for years. How does it feel to look at some things, some of the images, places you've been, and recognize them? What does that like for you? It brings me back to a period of time that wasn't a good time for me. So it's actually really,

really hard. And what people don't realize is that every single time they ask us about something, it brings back bad memories. I remember one time I was just sitting in my car and a reporter actually sent me a picture and I just couldn't drive anymore. Like, I was at the grocery store.

I got a text. I put my groceries in my car. I sat down and started bawling. The picture, she says, was from Epstein's Island. And it's literally there's only certain people that know what we've been through. Like, it's really only my survivor sisters that no one understand everything that we're going through. And we talk every day. So, and we know when somebody goes silent to call them. To date, only half of the files have been released.

One of several ongoing battles for transparency and accountability. Survivors are lobbying for changes in the modeling industry, education and training on how to spot red flags of victim grooming and for new laws. Hi, how are you? On this day, the survivors are going door to door on Capitol Hill, pushing legislators to support Virginia's law. We can sit down first. We have a full 130, so if you want a comfortable space to sit inside. Introduced in February, it would eliminate the statute of limitations for adult victims of sexual abuse and trafficking to file civil.

Thank you for flagging that. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. Since coming forward last fall, Charlene's life has radically changed. And we have had threats. Some of us have had death threats. Some survivors have even had to call police. There are people that comment to us in our messages on social media, and we just have to not look at that, block those people and take a lot of extra precautions. cautions in our lives that we don't run into these people. Charlene says coming forward is one of the hardest things she's ever done. Where does your courage come from, do you think? My courage comes from my children. I think about them, and I think about them in every single press conference,

every single time I speak, and that's what gives me the confidence just because I know that they're watching and I know that they'll see everything that I do and I want them to be proud of me. Come on, Minnie. Come on, back in Ontario, Charlene and her four children walk the family dogs. Do you want me to take me? Here. Do you want to take me? I'm Liam and I'm 12. Hi, I'm Olivia and I'm 14. Hi, my name is Bella and I'm 15.

I'm trying, I'm also 15. Before coming forward to the world, Charlene had to tell me. them what happened. I had seen videos online about it, but I didn't know that she herself went through it. So it was very eye-opening and I'm just proud of her. Every time I do hear her speak, I just get blown away by the way she says things.

Like she has so much power behind her voice and I just like, yep, that's my mom. That's my mom. I know that person. Yep. I have friends, like the first time I told them, they're like, hey, can we come over? I'm like, hey, my mom's kind of like doing like something right now and they're like what? And then I I told them they were like, what?

She knew, like, she knew, like, Jeffrey Epstein and, like, all the stuff that happened. And, like, she was, like, on the island and all that. And then they looked up the news and they were like, geez, he wasn't lying. And it's honestly pretty cool to see. Charlene's children are following in her footsteps, modeling and taking acting lessons. Her three oldest kids are also now working with the advocacy group behind that Super Bowl ad, world without exploitation. It's basically just kind of get together and we talk about we brainstorm different ways that we can, you know, maybe get into passing bills or things that will help prevent exploitation.

It really shines the light on how, I don't want to say messed up, but I do want to say messed up. So how messed up the American justice system is and how just in general, some of the laws don't really benefit survivors and how sometimes you can have situations where people aren't really taken seriously. I feel like shining a light on that is important. Yeah, it's eye-opening. Watch the other. Minnie, mini, no. In the last six months, I mean, you've blown your life up by doing this. Do you have any regrets?

I don't have any regrets. Again, if I could just help that one person, I think that makes it all worthwhile. It's very hard to do what we're doing. All of us, when we come forward, it's actually really scary. And if we could just be that one person to somebody, everybody might say like how did you do it you know how did you come forward but I had one person I had Lisa you know and she guided me you just need that one person so if somebody's in any kind of relationship that could be domestic violence or sex trafficking you just need that one person to go

through and say you know this is happening to me or this has happened to me and there's resources out there that you can go to, but it's just taking that first step. The documentary was produced by the CBC's Katie Nicholson with help from Liz Hoth at the audio documentary unit. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.