On Jan. 30 the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released the highly controversial, highly sought after by the public, Epstein Files. The full document is available to read at justice.gov. The documents contain over 5 million pages that consist of 180,000 images and 2,000 videos that pertain to the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. Thousands of the documents were redacted after many of the victims were identified.
Actions such as the sexual abuse of underage girls are the main focus, as numerous video clips of Epstein chasing underage girls and young women around various parts of his property have circulated online. At the time, Epstein was a multimillionaire finance manager who was quite known for rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s biggest celebrities, politicians, and even royal family members from overseas.
Various people have been either rumored to be on the flight lists and/or actually mentioned within the files, such as President Bill Clinton, President Donald Trump (whose name has been redacted thousands of times from the files), and former British Prince Andrew Mountebatten-Windsor.
The documents also include his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein was arrested in July 2019 for sex trafficking of minors and while awaiting trial, committed suicide by hanging himself in August 2019. First reports of sexual assault agaisnt Epstein date all way back to 1996 by Maria Farmer, she asserts in multiple claims.
American Community Media (ACOM) held a briefing with a panel of speakers who discussed the recent release of the Epstein Files and how when women of the past and present have spoken up, they were disregarded. The event titled “Epstein Files: Women spoke out, then and now. But who listened?”
The guest speakers included Dr. Michele Goodwin, professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown University; Jacquelyn Alutto, co-founder and president of No Trafficking Zone; Courtney Litvak, sex trafficking survivor and former member of the US Advisory Council to Combat Human Trafficking; and Carmen McDonald, executive director of the Survivor Justice Center.
The main focus of this conversation is sex trafficking, as most of the coverage surrounding the Epstein files has heavily focused on wealthy and powerful men instead of those who were affected the most, the victims. The speakers dug deep and shared their perspectives on the widespread presence of sex trafficking; young girls and women being targeted and arrested by law enforcement after they speak up; and the intricacy of prosecuting sex trafficking cases.
“There’s been a failure to take into account the US president and his mention the number of times in the Epstein Files and the allegations that he too has sexually assaulted someone who was a young girl,” said Goodwin.
Fewer than 1 percent of sex trafficking cases result in offenders being convicted, accoring to ACOM.
Goodwin continued, “It’s a tragedy, it is a horror, and one of the gravest aspects of this horror is that in real time, while there are survivors who have come forward, we have two seats in government—the executive and also Congress—failing to take the action that is necessary in order for justice to be fully pursued.”
Goodwin also discussed how victims, especially those under age, struggled with coming forward and making police reports due to the statute of limitations that differ in each state. She critically posed the question, “How does a child do anything when they are under age?” She also noted that Epstein framed the victims as prostitutes who gave consent when, in reality, women and girls were truly being sex trafficked.
McDonald said, “Trafficking has always been present in our community. While the Epstein case is certainly one of those rich and powerful folks, there are many regular people who are trafficked and who traffic. When a trafficker has power and social capital, they could use the legal system against a survivor and people who are being trafficked.” She went on to say that traffickers may make a police report against a survivor for drug use that was coerced or other crimes that were committed that actually allowed them to do the trafficking against the victim.
“These all have chilling effects on survivors fleeing or trying to find safety. There are lots of ways a person’s reputation is harmed and their voice is silenced, such as what we are seeing now, photos of victims being released.”
Houston is the number one city in the US for human trafficking, contributing to the $245 billion industry, according to Jacquelyn Aluotto, co-founder and president of No Trafficking Zone. “We break down human trafficking into different markets…he trafficked girls through the modeling industry. The Jeffrey Epstein network was very big; he did international trafficking, but then he also did domestic minor sex trafficking where he went to the poorest communities.”
She continued, “[He’d] get girls to recruit each other and get girls to do peer-on-peer exploitation in schools in Florida, where over 82 cases did go to the police in Florida and say that they were being trafficked through school.”
Recruited into sex tracking during her junior year of high school, Litvak was trafficked across the country for three years by a man who kidnapped after a school dance after she was expected to go to a sleepover after. She was taken, drugged, and assaulted; the perpetrator even took her phone from her. She now advocates for sex trafficking victims, such as the ones who were a part of the Epstein Files. Visit justice.gov to read the Epstein Files by searching the full library.