An Epstein survivor said she was re-traumatized after her name was accidentally published in the Epstein files released by the US Justice Department, “while the rich and powerful remained protected from redaction”.
Rosa, who was recruited from Uzbekistan as a teenager by Epstein associate and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, spoke publicly for the first time along with several victims at a field hearing organized by House Democrats.
“Now journalists from all over the world approach me. I can’t help but look over my shoulder. I can only imagine the long-term impact this ‘mistake’ will have on my life.”
The DOJ has previously said that it “takes the safety of victims very seriously”, and that it had removed several Epstein-related files from its website after victims said their identities were compromised as a result of erroneous redactions within the materials. The DOJ said the mistakes were caused by “technical or human error.”
She told the session that she was introduced to Epstein by Brunel in July 2009, that Epstein had offered her work “to help me with my financial troubles”, and that he later raped her over a three-year period.
Rosa, whose first name was given only at the hearing, said she was 18 when she met the late Brunel in 2008 and “promised him a modeling career beyond my dreams”.
“Coming from an economically unstable background, I was a perfect target for coercion,” she said during tearful testimony.
By May 2009, she was in New York City on a visa, and in July she met Epstein at his home in West Palm Beach while he was under house arrest, Rosa said.
Epstein then offered her a role at his Florida Science Foundation—where she worked during a pretrial arrangement that allowed her to get out of custody for 16 hours a day, six days a week—after her 2008 conviction.
“One day his masseuse called me into her room where Jeffrey molested me for the first time,” Rosa told the hearing. “For the next three years I was repeatedly raped.”
Epstein died on August 10, 2019, in a New York jail cell as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
