Jeffrey Epstein Filthy Rich: Maria, Annie Farmer tell their story
In 1996, two sisters, Maria and Annie Farmer, reported Jeffrey Epstein to the FBI saying he’d sexually assaulted them, so how did he manage to stay free and terrorise hundreds of more women?
It was 2002 and Vanity Fair journalist Vicky Ward had been asked by her editor to write a piece about Jeffrey Epstein. She’d heard of him but didn’t know much about the billionaire financier.
“He was a figure of mystery, he was kind of like a real-life Jay Gatsby,” recalled Vicky to AM to DM in July 2019. “He lived in New York’s largest private residence and yet no one knew the source of his wealth … he claimed to be the money manager for billionaires but he never said which billionaires. There was no trace of him, no footprint in the trading market. He was known for a circle of extremely influential friends.”
Those friends included Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew. Epstein was a financial genius who owned a private island and was often seen on the New York social scene with his British socialite partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
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‘ON THE YOUNGER SIDE’
But despite being in a relationship, in certain circles he was known for his penchant for compulsion for younger women. In 2002, Donald Trump even alluded to Epstein’s preference, saying: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” he told New York Magazine. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
But as Vicky set out to write the society piece on Epstein, she was hit by some shocking revelations. Epstein didn’t just like younger women, he liked young girls. And he didn’t let age or consent get in the way of his disgusting urges.
THE FARMER SISTERS
Vicky was put in touch with sisters Maria and Anna Farmer who’d both had separate and terrifying encounters where they said Epstein had molested them.
Maria Farmer first met Epstein and Ghislaine in 1995 when she was 25 and a budding artist at the New York Academy of Art. She specialised in painting nudes and often used her adolescent sisters as models, taking photos of them naked or partially clothed. Epstein, then 43, showed a special interest in Maria’s work and bought some of her paintings.
Staying in touch, he offered her a job acquiring art on his behalf. As they go to know each other, Epstein also showed an interest in her 16-year-old sister, Annie. Bright-eyed Annie Farmer was deciding which college to go study at and Epstein said he could help. Inviting her to New York, the sisters and Epstein went to see a movie and he began rubbing Annie’s hand and lower leg.
It was one of those things that just gave me a weird feeling but wasn’t that weird + probably normal, Annie wrote in a diary entry dated January 25, 1996.
Seeming ever helpful, Epstein then offered to host Annie again, this time for a weekend away at his ranch in New Mexico. She believed there would be other students there too, but when she arrived was surprised to find it was just her, Epstein and Maxwell.
RELATED: Epstein accusers ‘outraged’ by Prince’s lack of co-operation with FBI
During that trip Annie says she was forced to give Epstein a foot massage and Maxwell gave her a massage which she felt uncomfortable with. Then one morning Epstein got into bed with her and insisted they cuddle.
Locking away what had happened to her in her mind, Annie didn’t tell anyone about the awful encounters at Epstein’s ranch but the horror stayed with her.
MARIA FARMER’S OHIO HORROR
With no clue about what Annie had been through, older sister Maria was working at Epstein’s Ohio estate in the summer of 1996 when he and Maxwell came to stay. One night Epstein asked Maria for a foot rub and, although it made her feel uncomfortable, she felt obligated to do it because of everything he’d done for her. Then she says Maxwell joined them on the bed and Epstein and Maxwell began groping her. In fear of being raped, she fled the room.
The next day when she realised nude photos she’d taken of Annie and her other 12-year-old sister were missing, Maria began to panic. Calling Annie, the horrifying truth came tumbling out. They’d both been sexually assaulted by Epstein.
Determined to stop him, Maria fled to New York and reported him but was told it wasn’t their jurisdiction. She then called the FBI and reported him but never heard back.
RELATED: How Ghislaine Maxwell became key in Epstein’s sex trafficking plot
So when the Farmer sisters heard about Vicky Ward’s piece on Epstein for Vanity Fair, they bravely decided to tell their story. Vicky also spoke to their mum which meant she had a third source on record. But after writing up the piece which detailed Epstein’s gross behaviour, Vicky hit a roadblock.
Her editor Graydon Carter pulled the stories of sexual abuse from her piece, claiming there wasn’t enough evidence to back up what the Farmer sisters had said.
“It came down to my sources’ word against Epstein’s,” she wrote in The Daily Beast in 2015, adding that “at the time Graydon believed Epstein.”
Vicky said having their voices taken out of the story was devastating for the Farmer sisters, “They felt this was exactly what they feared would happen — that they wouldn’t be believed.”
The piece that did run ‘The Mysterious Mr. Epstein’ wasn’t a glowing review of the billionaire but it certainly didn’t do the kind of harm to his career or reputation that the disgusting truth would have. And of course Epstein was allowed to continue until he was eventually jailed in 2008 for lesser charges of procuring an underage girl for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.
‘THAT SILENCE IS OVER’
When all of the sordid details of Epstein’s life were eventually exposed in 2019 and his reputation was in tatters, Vicky tweeted about her frustration at not being able to name and shame him all those years ago.
Everyone who knew about Epstein was-silenced by people with more money and power and influence. Now that silence is over. It’s time for the truth to see the light, she wrote.
Responding in a statement to the New York Times, former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair Graydon Carter said: “I respected the work Vicky Ward did at Vanity Fair, but unfortunately her recounting of the facts around the Epstein article is inaccurate. There were not three sources on the record, and therefore this aspect of the story did not meet our legal and editorial standards.”
It’s heartbreakingly frustrating to think how differently the story could have played out if the Farmer sisters had been believed in 2002. Even more of a tragedy, if Epstein had been properly investigated when Maria Farmer had reported him to the FBI, then he potentially could have been stopped 24 years ago, saving hundreds of girls from heartache.
With Epstein now dead after taking his own life in his cell in August 2019 while on charges for child trafficking of minors, his victims will never get to see true justice be served. The only hope is that the legacy for his victims is that more women are believed when they report sexual assault.
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich is on Netflix.
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