A former “assistant” to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has said he once ordered her to undergo surgery to remove a small tattoo, leaving her permanently disfigured.
The woman, identified by the BBC as “Anya” — a pseudonym used to protect her identity — was among the many women who say they were drawn into Epstein’s orbit and coerced into serving him.
According to her account, Epstein lured her in with carefully crafted lies and promises that never materialised, before exerting control over almost every part of her life, from her money and social contacts to decisions about her own body.
She told the BBC that he expected her to be available whenever he demanded, at any hour, and that he repeatedly subjected her to sexual abuse.
Anya was raised in Russia in the turbulent years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a period defined for many by financial instability and limited opportunities.
With few reliable job prospects at home, she moved overseas to pursue modelling, eventually working in Europe with major luxury fashion houses including Fendi and Chanel.
Epstein entered her life when she was in her early twenties, after she met modelling scout Daniel Siad in Paris. Siad’s name appears thousands of times in the Epstein Files, though he has previously denied knowing anything about Epstein’s illegal conduct.
After their meeting, Siad allegedly asked Anya to undress in his sprawling 18-room Paris apartment, which was decorated with photographs of him alongside prominent figures, including former US president Bill Clinton.
Jeffrey Epstein (pictured, centre, with two unknown women) was infamous for controlling the women in his life
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell seen in an undated photo
Though she was comforted by the fact that there were two other women in the room at the time, he immediately told her she was ‘not in shape’ and needed to ‘start working out.’
But he then began asking Anya about what she wanted to accomplish in life and why she became a model – questions that disarmed her and made her trust him.
She said he told her: ‘I see that you’re smart and you’re suspicious. I don’t want to sleep with you.’
But this was the start of a months-long grooming process, during which Anya was in Epstein’s thrall. She said she began exercising ‘religiously’ to win the paedophile’s approval, and would regularly email Lesley Groff – his executive assistant – pictures of herself to show her progress.
After a rejection from a top model agency, Epstein told her to visit him in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was on day-release while he served his sentence for a child sex offence.
There, Epstein escorted her into a back room, where he sexually assaulted her for the first time.
Despite this, she continued to work with him as he kept dangling the possibility of her signing with a major agency.
But after that failed to materialise, Anya said he offered her work as an assistant, telling her: ‘Come work for me, I’ll teach you a real business. You’ll travel, you meet important people all over the world.’
But life as one of the paedophile’s assistants was nothing like what was promised.
Little St. James Island, one of the properties of financier Jeffrey Epstein, is seen in an aerial view near Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands July 21, 2019
Epstein’s photo for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry taken on March 28, 2017
Instead of teaching her about business, he would give her little to do while also berating her for sitting around.
Sometimes he would give her a menial task to do, like answer a phone, show someone to a meeting room or announce a guest.
Despite this, his assistants were on call 24/7. Anya recalled that after she went out to meet someone for lunch, Epstein ‘went crazy’ and insisted she could never leave the house without his permission.
The control he exerted over her went beyond telling her what to do. She did not have a bank account, or the correct documentation needed to rent her own home, meaning she had no choice but to suffer in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment.
If she ever got sick and needed healthcare, he would menacingly tell her: ‘I’m your healthcare.’
Anya told the BBC that Epstein forced her into a surgery to remove a small tattoo she got when she was a teenager.
He did not want her to go through laser treatment, as it would take too long, telling the doctor to cut the skin off.
A year after this incident, he insisted that it be done again, as he did not like the results.
Anya said he only started paying her a small salary several years after she began working for him as her visa required it, often telling her: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll always support you.’
But the sexual abuse would continue frequently through this period.
Woody Allen (right) seen with Epstein in an undated photo
Epstein and Maxwell photographed together in 1995
The sexual abuse would also continue to happen to the other assistants who Epstein had recruited.
On one occasion, a woman ran away. Epstein hired a private investigator to trace her, and showed Anya an email detailing the ‘expenses’ he claimed the vanished woman owed him which came to $700,000 (£521,000).
Anya said she believed this was meant to send a message that if she decided to leave, she would owe him money and he would send people after her to get it back.
He also gathered compromising material on the women who worked for him, and would often remind them of that.
To hammer this home, Anya said Epstein would make all of his assistants write him ‘gratitude letters’, in which they would thank their long-term abuser: ‘I was so terrified of not saying ‘thank you’ enough to him.’
She added: ‘I think partially maybe those gratitude letters were another mechanism of him saying, “how can you go against me if you are thanking me all the time?”‘
Epstein would also try and pit the women against each other, once ‘letting slip’ to Anya that another of his assistants was ‘mad’ at her for being ‘useless and so lazy.’
But he would claim to be ‘advocating’ for her as her ‘biggest supporter’, she said, adding that this prevented any of the women from forming close relationships with each other.
The latest testimony about Epstein and his horrifying actions comes as the family of Virginia Giuffre said they have been told Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor cannot be investigated over the Epstein files because he is ‘refusing to co-operate’ with acting US attorney general Todd Blanche.
Mr Blanche met Ms Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law – Sky and Amanda Roberts – as well as other survivors of the paedophile financier after Republican senators threatened to scupper his confirmation as attorney general.
Epstein in court in West Palm Beach in 2008
He was found dead in his cell in New York City in 2019
President Trump’s nominee for the top job spent an hour last week at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington with the group of Epstein victims, who have blasted the White House’s handling of its investigation into the sex offender.
Criticism has also come from Trump’s own party, with the outgoing senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis indicating he would not vote to advance Mr Blanche’s nomination until he met the survivors.
During the meeting, Mr Roberts confronted the acting Attorney General about the investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators.
Speaking to The Times, he said: ‘Well I said, “Let me give you an example: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.”
‘Virginia provided testimony and she provided evidence, is that not an investigative lead? He said, “Well, he won’t co-operate with me,” and he also said, “Virginia’s not here so I can’t use that testimony.” It just felt like he wasn’t willing to work with us.’
Ms Giuffre, who died last year, accused Andrew of having sex with her on three separate occasions while she was being sex trafficked by Epstein.
Andrew has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein and said he did not remember meeting Ms Giuffre and he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
