Epstein victim says 50 other Brazilian women were abused

A victim of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein claims that at least 50 Brazilian women — many of them minors — passed by the American financier’s mansion, where they were abused.

The report, published this Wednesday (24) by BBC News Brazilis from Minas Gerais state Marina Lacerda, who since September has been publicly denouncing the crimes committed by Epstein. The revelation of Brazilian women’s involvement in the case gains strength after the United States Department of Justice released a document that mentions a “large Brazilian group”, although names and other details are kept confidential.

According to the report from BBCMarina lived in the Astoria neighborhood, in the Queens district of New York — an area known for its large Brazilian community. She says she arrived in the US at the age of 8, with her mother, and had to work from an early age to support herself as an illegal immigrant.

At the age of 14, the Brazilian received an offer from a friend: to give massages to “a rich and powerful man”, who paid US$300 for around 40 minutes of work. The abuse, says Marina, began during the first visit to Epstein and continued until he was 17 years old.

Over time, she began to recruit other young women, mainly Brazilians. “Brazilians arrive here and have no documents. There’s no way to find a way in life. It’s very difficult to be an immigrant here, even more so as a Brazilian when you come alone,” he told BBC.

Marina Lacerda was wanted by the FBI in 2008, but was afraid to speak out at the time. It was only in 2019 that he decided to tell his story in detail to investigators. Epstein died in a New York prison cell in August of that year while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.