Damning video emerges of Epstein’s underage girls during his 2005 arrest
A damning video showing underage girls in pictures at the late Jeffrey Epstein’s home has emerged in a clip from his 2005 arrest in the US.
WARNING: Graphic
Video footage of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s 2005 arrest has resurfaced showing disturbing images in his Florida home of underage girls, including one — who appears to be about six years old — bending over, according to reports.
The damning video compilation was filmed during a police raid on the convicted sex offender’s sprawling Palm Beach estate in Florida, US.
In one clip, detectives investigating Epstein’s alleged sexual relationships with young girls enter the mansion with guns drawn and read a search warrant to the house manager.
“The court, being satisfied of the existence of said ground (for search) set forth in the affidavit and that the laws of the state of Florida have been violated in or on a premises known and described as follows, to wit 358 El Brillo Road,” one detective says in the footage obtained by CBS 12.
The officers then sweep through the $US16.4 million ($A24.3 million) waterfront compound, where they come across a photo of a girl who appears to be about six years old bending over in a short dress with her backside exposed, according to the Daily Mail. Authorities blurred the image.
One framed photograph features a girl in a tiny bikini hanging above an image of a naked girl lying on a beach, the video shows.
Several photos show the financier’s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, 57, who has been accused in civil suits of having recruited underage victims for Epstein — and of engaging in group sex with him and various girls.
Ms Maxwell, previously described as Epstein’s alleged former “lady of the house”, has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any crimes.
In one photo captured on video during the police raid, Ms Maxwell can be seen stretched out naked on a beach, the New York Post reports.
One blurred image shows a couple resembling Epstein and Ms Maxwell in what appears to be the White House press briefing room — but its authenticity hasn’t been determined.
Epstein had longstanding ties to former US President Bill Clinton, who took at least 26 trips on the millionaire’s Boeing 727 between 2001 and 2003, according to a Fox News report.
Before Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges involving underage girls, Mr Clinton released a statement saying he knew nothing of the crimes Epstein had committed.
In the 2005 police raid video, the camera also pans to Epstein’s bathroom and shows what appears to be a fully equipped dentist’s chair and cart stocked with drills and other instruments.
A crudely drawn picture of a baby and a skull also hangs on a wall, with quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Star Trek’s Mr Spock.
Other photographs depict Epstein shaking hands with world leaders including Pope John Paul II and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
A police report cited by the Daily Mail lists sex aids, four massage tables, framed photos of naked girls and soap-on-a-rope among dozens of items authorities seized in the raid.
Epstein later pleaded guilty to a single charge of soliciting an underage prostitute and served 13 months in prison as part of a controversial deal that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution in 2007. He was also required to register as a sex offender.
But the wealthy financier’s alleged predatory behaviours didn’t end there, according to more than a dozen accusers who say he sexually abused them in various locations.
On Tuesday, many of his alleged victims filed into the US District Court in New York after being invited to testify before the case was dismissed as a result of his death.
Judge Richard M. Berman started the hearing by describing Epstein’s death as “a rather stunning turn of events”.
“I believe it is the court’s responsibility, and manifestly within its purview, to ensure the victims in this case are treated fairly and with dignity,” he said.
One after another, Epstein’s alleged victims spoke through tears about how they had been lured into giving him erotic massages, then coerced into sex and pressured to continue seeing him.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who now lives in Cairns, was among the plaintiffs in court.
Ms Giuffre, who previously said she was a 15-year-old working at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club when she was recruited to perform sex acts on Epstein, told the court her “hopes were quickly dashed and my dreams were stolen”.
“I am a victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and the dark and cruel criminal acts they committed against me … for years and years and years unstopped,” she continued.
“It’s not how Jeffrey died, it’s how he lived.
“I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didn’t understand, and I’ve been fighting that very world to this day, and I won’t stop fighting — I will never be silenced until these people are brought to justice.”
Ms Giuffre has previously alleged she had sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew “three times, including one orgy” in London at Epstein’s home and at an “orgy” on his private island in the Caribbean, according to court papers filed in Florida.
She said she was 17 years old at the time, which is under the age of consent in the state.
Prince Andrew is among prominent men who have long been accused of soliciting Epstein’s harem of underage “sex slaves”. He has denied the allegations.
In a statement released at the weekend, Prince Andrew said he did not “see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that led to Epstein’s arrest and conviction”. He said it was “a mistake and an error” to see Epstein after the convicted sex offender’s earlier release from prison, and he “deplores the exploitation of any human being”. Outside court on Tuesday, Ms Giuffre said Prince Andrew “knows exactly what he has done”.
“I hope he comes clean about it,” she said.
Jennifer Araoz, who has accused Epstein of raping her in his New York mansion when she was a 15-year-old aspiring actress, said he “robbed me of my dreams, of my chance to pursue a career I adored”.
“The fact I will never have a chance to face my predator in court eats away at me,” she said. “They let this man kill himself and kill the chance for justice for so many others.”
Sarah Ransome, who alleged Epstein pressured her into sex when she was in her early 20s, encouraged prosecutors in their efforts to bring others to justice, saying: “Finish what you started. … We are survivors and the pursuit of justice should not abate.”
Another accuser, Courtney Wild, told the court “justice has never been served in this case”.
“I feel very angry and sad,” she said.
“He is a coward.”
Some of the accusers, who withheld their names, said they felt Epstein had victimised them a second time by him taking his own life.
“It felt like new trauma all over again,” one woman said.
Brad Edwards, one of the lawyers representing Epstein’s victims, described it as “a historic day for crime victims in the United States”.
According to prosecutor Maurene Comey, the dismissal of Epstein’s case “in no way prohibits or inhibits the Government’s ongoing investigation into other potential co-conspirators, nor does it prevent the bringing of a new case in the future”. Those inquiries “have been ongoing, remain ongoing and will continue”, she said.
Earlier this month, US Attorney-General William Barr said the abuser’s co-conspirators should “not rest easy”.
Prosecutors previously alleged several unnamed employees of Epstein’s were involved in his alleged crimes in the early 2000s by accepting payment to arrange massages that led to sex acts with young girls, then encouraging them to recruit others.
“Through these victim recruiters, Epstein gained access to and was able to abuse dozens of additional minor girls,” Epstein’s indictment read.
According to multiple court filings previously reviewed by the Miami Herald, lawyers for one alleged victim claimed Epstein and Ms Maxwell acted as the leaders of an “organised crime family” and Ms Maxwell helped traffic girls and women to powerful figures.
According to the documents, Ms Maxwell lured the alleged victims into the sex ring by offering them modelling, fashion, and educational opportunities. Two of the women alleged Epstein and Ms Maxwell together sexually assaulted them, according to court documents.
In recent years, Ms Maxwell has struck confidential settlements in civil court with two of the women who say she participated in Epstein’s sexual exploitation of them, according to the The New York Times.
Reporter, 31, reveals ‘affair’ with RFK Jr, 70
The New York Magazine political correspondent, 31, claimed she’d recently had a romantic relationship with the former presidential candidate, 70.
Teen’s calm act after mum shot dead in face
A court has been shown dramatic footage from inside the home moments after the then 14-year-old allegedly killed her mother.
‘Gibberish’: Trump’s answer baffles viewers
Asked a simple question, by a friendly voter, Donald Trump embarked on an eight-minute rant. It demonstrates a real problem in the media’s coverage of him.