Epstein victim alleges the financier showed her off to Trump at Mar-a-Lago when she was 14, lawsuit says
A victim of accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has claimed the financier brought her to Mar-a-Lago to show her off to Donald Trump when she was just 14 years old, according to a new lawsuit.
Last January, a California woman, who goes by the name Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate and Ghislaine Maxwell, The Daily Beast first reported.
The lawsuit detailed the long-term abuse the woman allegedly experienced from Epstein and Maxwell, who currently is in federal prison on charges relating to assisting the financier in the grooming and sex trafficking of young girls.
Part of the lawsuit detailed a time in 1995 when Epstein brought her to Mar-a-Lago – Mr Trump’s Florida resort he purchased a decade prior.
“Doe also claims Epstein introduced her to Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago when she was only 14 years old,” The Daily Beast reported. “’This is a good one, right?’ Epstein asked the future president, who allegedly smiled and nodded before sharing a chuckle with the depraved hedge funder.”
This lawsuit does not accuse the sitting president of any sexual misconduct with the victim, but it does raise the question of how much Mr Trump knew prior to Epstein’s arrest.
In 2002, Mr Trump gave an interview with New York Magazine where he praised the financier and his relationship with him.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” he said. “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 the pair appeared to have a falling out in years following.
A new book entitled The Grifter’s Club, which gave an inside look into Mar-a-Lago, claimed that Mr Trump banned Epstein from the Florida resort in 2007 after the financier hit on a member’s daughter.
Sarah Blaskey, a Miami Herald investigative reporter who told the book, told her publication that a Mar-a-Lago member claimed Mr Trump “kicked Epstein out after Epstein harassed the daughter of a member.”
She added: “The way this person described it, such an act could irreparably harm the Trump brand, leaving Donald no choice but to remove Epstein.”
The book included details into the member ledger kept by Mar-a-Lago, which showed Epstein’s membership was terminated in 2007, one year prior to him pleading guilty to one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18. Following his conviction, Epstein was required to register as a convicted sex offender in Florida.
Last year, a Trump Organisation official denied Epstein was ever a member of the Mar-a-Lago, but the recent book has claimed otherwise.
Mr Trump distanced himself from the financier, starting after Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on charges relating to sex trafficking.
“I’m not a fan of his,” Mr Trump said last year, adding he had not seen Epstein for at least a year and a half.
One month after Epstein’s arrest, the man died in his Manhattan federal prison cell while awaiting trial to address the charges against himself. The coroner’s office ruled his death was a suicide.
Maxwell, who was also named on the recent lawsuit, was arrested last month in connection with Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes. She is expected to remain in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, until her trial in July 2021.
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