‘He liked to see fear in our eyes’: reports from women enticed by Epstein to the BBC

Five Epstein survivors sitting with Victoria Derbyshire in the BBC Newsnight studio. From left to right: Jena-Lisa Jones, Wendy Pesante, Victoria Derbyshire, Joanna Harrison, Chauntae Davies and Lisa Phillips BBC Warning: This report contains explicit sexual descriptions. Joanna Harrison never wanted to talk about the abuse she suffered at the hands of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Like many of his victims, Harrison says Epstein’s attacks left her with shame and embarrassment. But after his name was disclosed without authorization in the US government’s release of millions of documents, Harrison told Newsnight, the BBC program hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, that he felt he needed to speak out. “There comes a point where you’re being suffocated and you need to breathe, and I feel like this is my way of trying to breathe,” Harrison said. Newsnight brought Harrison and four other Epstein victims together for the first time in the same room. During the conversation, which lasted hours, there were gestures of support and, as they looked at photos of themselves from the time they met Epstein, there were tears. In the extensive interview, the victims told stories of pain and anger. Some recalled their time on Epstein’s private island, Little St James, while others recalled “disturbing” moments at his ranch in New Mexico. They said they believed the powerful figures he associated with probably knew what was happening. ✅ Follow g1’s international news channel on WhatsApp ‘Renewed trauma’: Epstein victims sue US government and Google for disclosure of identities Identity exposed to the public Millions of documents related to the various investigations into Epstein were released by the US Department of Justice, but some of the unredacted material (covering images or sensitive information) did not hide the identity of his victims. Harrison was one of the people whose name was made public. ‘This is my way of trying to breathe,’ says Joanna Harrison as she talks about Epstein for the first time BBC She told Newsnight she never wanted the files to be leaked, fearing she would lose her anonymity. “It’s not normal to see your attacker’s face every day for six years on TV,” Harrison said. She reported meeting Epstein in Florida when she was 18 and, like other survivors, said it all started with a massage. “Everything seemed normal,” Harrison said. “When he started masturbating, I just froze. I don’t think I said two words in the car on the ride home.” She later said that Epstein raped her on his birthday. Speaking publicly for the first time, Harrison said she doubts she and other victims will ever get justice now that Epstein is dead. “I have questions that I will never have answers to.” Five countries in five days with Clinton, Spacey and Maxwell Chauntae Davies shared with Newsnight never-before-seen footage of when he traveled with Epstein on his private plane to Africa. The photos included Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice, as well as actor Kevin Spacey and former American president Bill Clinton. Spacey and Clinton were participating in a humanitarian trip to promote AIDS prevention. “At the time, I described it in my diary as the most eclectic group of people you could get together…it was almost like a camp atmosphere because we were traveling to five different countries in five days,” he said. “On the plane, they ate snacks, played cards and told stories,” Davies said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and, unfortunately, it had to be marred by what was happening behind closed doors,” he said. Davies said she was raped by Epstein on his private island after being hired to give him massages. Davies, who is a qualified massage therapist, recalled during the Newsnight conversation that he gave Clinton a neck and back massage at an airport in Portugal while the plane was refueling. At the time, she said she wrote in her diary that the former president was humble, kind and charismatic. Chauntae Davies with the former US president on a plane BBC/Chauntae Davies The former president was asked about this interaction with Davies when he gave evidence before the US House Oversight Committee in February. He told the committee he wished Davies had told him about Epstein’s wrongdoing. But Davies said he never considered telling Clinton: “I would never talk about it to anyone.” “What would he have done, really? Would he have [Clinton] Could he have prevented this?” Davies questioned about Epstein’s actions. “I don’t think we’ll ever know.” At one point, while in Portugal with Clinton, Davies recalled helping the former president buy jewelry for his daughter, Chelsea. Chauntae Davies said she was raped by Epstein on his private island after being hired to give him massages BBC/Thierry Humeau Clinton has repeatedly stated that she did not witness the abuse committed by Epstein. Her name appears hundreds of times in files related to the case. Appearing in documents linked to Epstein does not imply Spacey publicly defended the release of all of Epstein’s files, saying, “For those of us who have nothing to fear, the truth cannot be long in coming.” shadows of Zorro Ranch,” said Davies. Recalling what it was like to be there, she told Newsnight that she felt “trapped”. “It had a cold, dark, unsettling feeling in there,” Davies said. Lisa Phillips, another survivor who spoke to Newsnight, echoed this perception about the ranch. “I remember thinking, ‘This place is really scary,’ I just had that feeling,” he said. Davies said he believes there is much more to be discovered about what happened at Zorro Ranch. ‘I like to hold things against people,’ Epstein told the survivor Epstein liked to brag about his well-connected and influential friends, Davies said. She said he boasted about lending money to Sarah Ferguson, former Duchess of York “It wasn’t a secret,” Davies told Newsnight. Epstein’s connections to Mountbatten-Windsor and related the story of a friend — who has not spoken publicly and wishes to remain anonymous — who was allegedly instructed to have sexual relations with Mountbatten-Windsor. She said her friend went to Epstein’s apartment on New York’s Upper East Side in 2003, where she was told to enter a room and have sex with a man she said was Mountbatten-Windsor. irregularity. ‘I think he [Epstein] he liked to see that we were paralyzed and scared, not knowing what to do,’ said Lisa Phillips BBC/Thierry Humeau Phillips told Newsnight that he later asked Epstein why he had made his friend have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor. She said Epstein smiled wryly and responded, “I like having things against people.” “He liked the fear in our eyes,” she said of Epstein’s abuse. “I think he liked the fact that we were paralyzed and scared, not knowing what to do, and I think he took pleasure in that.” In the Newsnight interview, Phillips asked UK police to speak to her about what they know about her friend’s alleged assault and Mountbatten-Windsor’s involvement. Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February (19/2) on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The investigation focuses on allegations that he shared confidential and sensitive information with Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy. Survivors who spoke to BBC Newsnight said they did not believe Epstein committed suicide. “We knew him, we knew what kind of person he was,” Phillips said. Epstein was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019, while being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges prior to trial. The death was ruled a suicide by the coroner. ‘I don’t smile the same way anymore’ — Epstein’s lasting impact Jena-Lisa Jones and Wendy Pesante met Epstein when they were 14. The two were friends at the time and, years later, after surviving Epstein’s abuse, they remain friends to this day. “When you go through something like that at such a young age, it kind of distorts your reality for a long time,” Pesante said. “You’re not supposed to have the mentality of a sex worker at 14.” At one point during the interview, the five survivors were given photos of themselves at the age they met Epstein. “I don’t smile the same way anymore,” Harrison said, looking at the image of herself at 18. Phillips looked at a photo of herself wearing a pale pink ensemble on a boat and noticed Epstein’s island in the background. “I was enjoying my life and had no idea what was about to happen to me,” she said of herself in the image. “I wasn’t like this when I left the island.” Read more: Crown Princess of Norway says she was ‘manipulated and deceived’ by Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Epstein: who he was, what crimes he committed and how Brazil appears in the case

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