All language subtitles for Chasing.Ghislaine.S01E02.Power.Geisha.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor[eztv.re]_Legendas01.ENG

[Dramatic music playing]

[Christopher] The first time
I really heard about Jeffrey

was when ghislaine
called me and told me

that she was throwing a
party in honor of her mother.

She said it was at the house
of the guy she was dating.

I remember people talking
about ghislaine's boyfriend

had suddenly struck it rich.

As I recall, Jeffrey
wasn't there.

And there was this
rumor going around

that this guy, Jeffrey Epstein,

he, kind of, likes...

He likes dating...

High school girls.

That's kind of what he's into

and ghislaine is...

Introducing him to
these young women.

She's finding these girls

that he's flirting with,

spending time with, and
with, kind of, disbelief.

I am ashamed to say that
I don't remember feeling

in any way at the time

that there was
anything sinister about it.

But seemed deeply weird.

If this was the guy
that she was dating...

Why the hell would
she be finding...

Young girls for him?

[Suspenseful music playing]

Yeah. Okay.

I've known ghislaine
Maxwell since 1999.

I had no idea that she
had any connection

to Jeffrey Epstein
until I investigated him

in 2002.

Any time I had seen her
out at parties in New York,

she was either by herself

or she was with some random guy,

but nobody ever mentioned
the name Jeffrey Epstein.

There is this very
strange confusion

as to nobody quite
knowing for sure

when she and
Jeffrey actually met.

We have one of
Jeffrey's best friends,

Stuart pivar, one
of the founders

of the New York academy of art.

He says that they
definitely knew each other

before Robert Maxwell died

because Jeffrey asked Stuart

to watch ghislaine sort of 24/7

after her father died.

He put Stuart on what
he called suicide watch.

[Stuart] She was a
terrible wreck, and Jeffrey,

sort of, put me in charge of her

because he was
afraid she would...

She was so depressed
that she would...

Wouldn't make it.

She was deeply
upset about him dying

and the circumstances
of his death

because it had so
completely wrecked...

And changed her life.

She wasn't expressing sympathy

for the dead father.

It was all about her plight
in this staggering situation

that was so public.

Ghislaine's friends told me

that she was distraught.

She told one
person that I spoke to

that she had basically become
the equivalent of a leper.

She described the two-bedroom
apartment that she lived in

on the Upper East Side
as being like a toilet.

When she meets an Epstein,
she probably sees an Epstein

her father thinks,
"well, this is great.

And he's gonna provide
me with all the things

that my father
would have given me,

had he lived."

The early 90s is a
really interesting period

to watch Jeffrey's
transformation.

He goes from living in a
one-bedroom apartment

on the east 60s to
renting the former residents

of the Iranian consult
to the United Nations.

I mean, in a very short
space of time after that,

Jeffrey acquires a vast ranch

in new Mexico called Zorro.

He starts to acquire the house,

the plane, the chef, the staff

that ghislaine grew up with it,

she was used to.

But there's a one-sidedness

to the ghislaine-Jeffrey
relationship.

He definitely did see

that ghislaine could
be very useful to him.

She had this
extraordinary rolodex

and she knew rich,
powerful people

all around the world,

and he didn't.

[Martin] She had inroads
into the kind of world

that Epstein didn't have

and that was
the political world,

and I think that was
very important for Epstein.

If ghislaine knew half
of what her father knew

and what her father was doing,

she would have
been quite an asset

to someone like Jeffrey Epstein.

I was being told that he was...

Jeffrey was a social klutz,

that he was, kind of,
diamond in the rough,

had no interests or aptitude

for having normal friends
and having a, kind of,

you know, normal social life.

He wouldn't have
known, for example,

how to dress properly

for the [indistinct] closure

at askett in england.

He wouldn't
necessarily have known

how to run all the staff

that he acquired.

Ghislaine knew
how to do all of this,

one person put it
to me very simply.

She told him, you know,
which was the salad fork.

She was sort of like
the chief administrator

in his life.

She organized his
houses, his real estate.

I asked Jeffrey about
their relationship

when I interviewed him in 2002.

I preserved the transcripts
of those conversations,

one of the very few interviews

ever done with him.

[Jeffrey] She's not really
involved in the business.

You know, I was
trying to figure out

how to best describe it.

As I've said, what
I've tried to do

is search for the
best and brightest.

- [Vicky] Right.
- [Jeffrey] And that's how

ghislaine fits in.

Ghislaine is the
best at what I need.

Ghislaine speaks
five languages fluently.

So, in Europe, you know,

she'll come to a
meeting and not only

will she be able to translate
what the person's saying,

but she can also
give me a sense of,

is the person telling the truth.

I enjoy...

Yeah, I need especially
female input on that.

[Vicky] Ghislaine took her
role extremely seriously.

As I heard from one woman,
who was a local assistant

for Jeffrey for a few years,

she wishes to remain anonymous

for fear of retribution.

[Woman] There was
definitely this sense of,

"I'm better than you", and
"you're not at my level",

and "you do as I say."

She commanded
a certain level of,

not respect, but almost fear.

So, what was ghislaine's job?

The way it was described to me

was Jeffrey had all the money,

and none of the old
money connections.

Ghislaine had the name
and none of the money,

so it was a very
symbiotic relationship,

but it appeared to me,

at least from the outside,

that ghislaine was at
Jeffrey's Beck and call.

And it appeared she was
very dependent on Jeffrey.

She felt she needed him for,

I think, more than
just the money.

[Vicky] Ghislaine did continue

her very gregarious,

busy social life in New York.

But what's really
strange is that

the richer Jeffrey
Epstein became,

the more reclusive he became.

He retreated within the walls

of his Shangri-la's,

while ghislaine was the person

out and about.

At the same time,

he was always in
total control of her.

Ghislaine was one
of the few people

at that point in New
York who had a cellphone.

When you had lunch with her,

she would very ostentatiously

put the phone on the table

as a kind of show off thing.

And the phone rang,

and ghislaine got up and said,

"oh, my god, it's Jeffrey.

He's got a cold

and he wants me to
find the best chicken soup

in New York City.
Oh, god, what do I do?"

And she was dialing frantically

and trying to figure out
what was considered

the best chicken
soup in New York City.

Isn't that weird?

Couldn't he just
call for delivery?

Why is this suddenly

the most important thing
on ghislaine's agenda

that must be
accomplished immediately

in order to satisfy and
please Jeffrey Epstein?

[Suspenseful music playing]

[Vicky] Jeffrey seemed to
embrace this power dynamic.

[Jeffrey] My association
with drugs and drink

is only negative.

[Vicky] Is that why
ghislaine doesn't drink?

[Jeffrey] She did
before she met me.

[Vicky] That's what I mean.

[Jeffrey] Because I helped
most of the people around me.

What he didn't tell me

is that...

He was really unkind to her.

Sources who knew
them during this time

told me that he
insisted she lose weight,

and that she did.

That he could be incredibly

abusive to her in public,

and she put up
with it in silence.

Somebody who worked
very closely with Jeffrey

in the 1980s and 1990s

told me that ghislaine was

working in Jeffrey's offices,

and he happened

to walk in there as well,

along with a model
who was from the south.

He and the model

bounced into his
office and bounced out.

My source says that
he said to ghislaine,

"you don't have
to put up with this.

You really don't
have to do this."

And she replied,

"yes, I do.

My father taught me

you do whatever it takes

to keep your man."

[Dramatic music playing]

[Tom] Ghislaine Maxwell
was used in her life

to being the subject
and object of a rich tyrant,

and had been brought
up to be totally obedient.

So, it's natural
for her to slide

into the center of relationship

with Jeffrey Epstein,
she knew no different.

[Vicky] I turned to psychologist

Laura Saunders

who specializes
in family therapy.

She has never interviewed
ghislaine Maxwell,

but she explained what
effects childhood trauma

could have on
somebody in adulthood.

When you find that
your life is full of control,

and power dynamics, and chaos,

and things that would make it

very emotionally unstable,

that then becomes
your internal expectation

of the way life is.

It would not be surprising

that an adult female
would then engage

in a... in a
relationship with a male

that recreated that
father-daughter dynamic,

that sort... Sense
of control and power,

and absolute need for approval

and going way outside
your comfort level

just to get that approval.

[Vicky] Journalist, ed Epstein

remembers ghislaine
outrageous conversations

at a wedding at mar-a-lago.

[Edward] She didn't
show up during dinner.

Just as we were
finishing desert,

she showed up and, of course,

she needed an excuse.

So, she said, "you know,

I was just having the
greatest sex of my life,

and I've never
had such great sex

so please forgive me."

And everyone laughed.

But that was her excuse.

She talked about sex so much

that people began to wonder

if she was compensating
for something.

One person who worked

for Jeffrey and knew ghislaine

did say that there was
definitely some bond.

This person called
it a cosmic bond.

But the more I have learned

in my reporting this year,

the more it suggests

that she was truly besotted

and in love with him.

But it's not at all clear to me

or to any of my sources

that he was ever in love with

or besotted with ghislaine.

[Assistant] He had
these beautiful models,

and all of these young
eastern European women

that were around
him all the time.

It seemed to me she
played a background role.

I remember that one
time her and I discussing

their relationship actually

that led into her
sharing with me

that they had clearly
an open relationship.

And that they enjoyed the
company of other women.

But she seemed almost sad.

It wasn't what she
wanted in the relationship.

It appeared to me
that she wanted more

than he was willing to give.

[Vicky] Ed Epstein was friend

with both Jeffrey and ghislaine,

but separately.

He remembers a
dinner with ghislaine

while he saw
firsthand her efforts

to provide for Jeffrey.

At a certain point
during dinner,

she got up from the table

and she walked to another table.

And there was a
very attractive girl

who I later learned was
a model from Denmark,

and she struck up a
conversation with her.

And, you know, again,

I turned to someone else

at the table and said,
"what's she doing?

Does she know her? ""
No, she's trying to get that...

Recruit that girl
to go on with them

to palm beach because
Jeffrey likes models"

or something like that.

And then, I later found
out that she succeeded,

and that girl did go to
palm beach with them.

[Laura] When your level
of distortion is so great,

you lose touch with what is real

and what's not real.

And so, when you
lose touch with reality,

it makes it harder for
you to do the things

that you need to
do to help yourself,

and you really continue
to engage in behavior

despite the fact
that it will have

long term negative
effects for you.

[Vicky] What I would
call the New York crowd

of people who knew ghislaine,

they talked about
something dark,

something quite sick

about the way ghislaine

worshipped this man,

and it clearly
wasn't reciprocated.

Certainly, in all
my conversations

that I ever had with Jeffrey,

even as he was
praising ghislaine,

he was distancing
himself from her.

[Jeffrey] You know,
she's my best friend.

[Vicky] Right. Well,
that is what I thought.

[Jeffrey] And she has
been for a very long time.

[Vicky] Right.

I mean, the picture that
I have is of, you know,

people who are very,

very mutually
dependent on each other.

[Jeffrey] Mutually dependent

has sort of a
syrupy connotation.

[Vicky] When you
have your set up dinners

for the scientists
at your house,

she's the one organizing it.

[Jeffrey] That's correct.

[Vicky] She's involved
in buying art sometimes,

or, you know, she
gets very involved

in a lot of administration.

[Jeffrey] She doesn't find
girls for me, by the way.

[Vicky] I didn't ask you that.

Back in 2002, I thought it was

the strangest
thing for him to say.

And I thought he was making

some really sick terrible joke.

At the time, I had no idea

how revealing
that admission was.

[Vicky] Here is the dilemma

when you're dealing
with Jeffrey Epstein.

He was someone who
bragged, he boasted.

Even the people
who sort of thought

they knew him really well

ended up wondering

what had he said
that was the truth,

and what had he said
that was a complete lie.

In the 1990s,

he'd moved to this
enormous townhouse

that's now the largest

private townhouse in Manhattan,

he acquires an island
in the Caribbean,

he acquires a private jet.

This all happens within

an astonishingly
short time period.

So, Jeffery told
people who asked about

his sudden wealth
that he was this,

sort of, money
manager to billionaires

only for a very,
very exclusive club,

and it was very hard to
get on his list of clients.

But what caused
people to ask questions

about what Jeffrey said was,

if he's really such a
good money manager,

why is there
absolutely no footprint,

no trace of him in the market.

The question that you
and I posed to each other

was where did he get that money?

The first theory had to
do with Robert Maxwell

who stole money
from the pension funds

of the newspapers
he owned and died.

So, that theory goes
that Maxwell tried to hide

some of the
money for his family.

And that Jeffrey
represented himself

as someone who is an
expert in hiding money.

And that he gave him a sum,

it could have been 50,
60 million or 100 million.

And that Jeffrey and
ghislaine lived off his money.

[Vicky] Robert Maxwell's
biographers tell me

that they're skeptical
of this theory.

After his death, the
British government

had to investigated, you know,

looking for Maxwell's
millions or billions.

They never find the
money that'd been

very, very well-hidden
by Robert Maxwell.

[Vicky] There is a theory
that one of the reasons

ghislaine was so
loyal to Jeffrey Epstein

was that he was...

Was hiding money
for Robert Maxwell,

her father, dead father...

Or, hid her... Or hid
her money, somehow.

No. I don't... I don't
think that's true.

[Tom] Maxwell was
not the sort of man

in his life who ever
entrusted his money

to somebody else to look after.

He wasn't a person
who trusted anyone

because as a crook,
the last thing he would do

is trust anybody else.

Any money he had, he needed

to keep his bankrupt
global organization afloat.

[Vicky] Tom bower
believes Maxwell

had sorted away
money over the years,

but not enough to explain
Epstein's new lifestyle.

Some of the money
that Robert stole

was in the bank accounts,
not only in lichtenstein,

but more importantly
in the Cayman Islands

and the Virgin Islands.

But that was in 1991.

The money would have
run out by about 1992, '93,

which he's spending
on a large scale.

The second theory is
the hoffenberg theory,

where basically hoffenberg
had reason to hide money,

because the government
was gonna seize all his assets.

[Vicky] Jeffrey had
become a consultant

to Steve hoffenberg and
towers financial in 1987,

and it helped build the
company into a colossus.

But prosecutors began
nosing around the firm.

In 1997, hoffenberg
was convicted

for running the
biggest Ponzi scheme

in American history at the time.

Hoffenberg took money
from new investors

to pay off earlier investors

as well as lining
his own pockets.

Hoffenberg has since said

that Jeffrey was the mastermind

behind the fraud, and
yet, he, hoffenberg,

was the one who
served 18 years in prison.

Not only did Epstein
escape prosecution,

but hoffenberg says Jeffrey
stole money from his company.

So, how much money do you think

Jeffrey Epstein siphoned
out of towers financial?

I have calculated

and added up some $100 million

that Jeffrey Epstein
was involved in in looting

from towers
financial with others.

[Vicky] Epstein
denied any involvement

in the towers fraud,

but he was certainly
close to the company.

So, why wasn't he
indicted with hoffenberg.

After November '93,

Jeffrey Epstein's name

disappears in all
the court papers

about hoffenberg's crime.

Jeffrey told me back in 2002

that he never
answered any questions,

that he hadn't cooperated
with the government.

You were never aware,

and no one ever asked
you to give testimony, or...

[Jeffrey] No, I
was never called.

I wasn't involved in that
whole trial or anything.

- [Vicky] I know, but...
- [Jeffrey] Not even as a witness, nobody.

That turns out
according to my reporting

to be complete rubbish.

He was brought
in for questioning

at least three times.

He did cooperate.

Over the last several years,

I was able to
understand and discover

some of what
Jeffrey Epstein did,

which is shocking to me.

You mean, you didn't
know all this time

that Jeffrey Epstein had
cooperated against you?

[Steven] No. I
didn't know it earlier

that he destroyed me

and blamed me for everything.

I didn't had known
that at the time

up until the last few years.

If I didn't go near
Jeffrey Epstein,

I would've never
faced the penalties

that I suffer

that was so
detrimental to my life,

my family, and towers financial.

[Vicky] I think Jeffrey
made the decision

to cooperate with the government

to save himself.

Jeffrey, not only didn't
want to pay a price

for towers financial and the
crimes connected with that,

he had told hoffenberg
much too much

about how he could
steal from the people,

whose money he managed.

Hoffenberg has always
said that Jeffrey had a plan

to rip-off all these high
net worth individuals,

and Jeffrey would
layout in detail

how he was going to do this.

He called it playing the box.

Essentially, he was in
control of every aspect

of what he did for his clients

to the point that
if they discovered

that he had stolen from them,

there was nothing
they could do about it,

unless they wanted to risk

embarrassment or exposure.

So, it's very convenient
for Jeffrey Epstein

that the witness

to all his financial planning

goes to jail for 20 years,

effectively, he silenced
Steve hoffenberg.

He kept his connection
to Steve hoffenberg

completely hidden from
the most important person

in his life, it
wasn't ghislaine.

It was Leslie wexner.

[Vicky] The only client
that Jeffrey Epstein

was quite open about,

and was sort of his calling card

was the self-made
multibillionaire les wexner,

a retailer who'd made a
lot of money very quickly

for a company that was
then called the limited,

is now called l brands.

You wanna know
Victoria's real secret?

It's the company's
77-year-old billionaire ceo,

wexner, worth more
than $7.5 billion,

is the wealthiest guy in Ohio.

Jeffrey wasn't shy
about talking about

his friendship with les wexner.

He told me that rich people

were often not
careful with numbers.

The way Jeffrey
explained it to me was that,

as people get
wealthier and wealthier,

their financial affairs need
to be completely reorganized.

[Jeffrey] I always
describe it, Vicky,

as someone who started
out in a small home,

as they become
wealthier, had add-ons.

They added on another addition,

they built a room
over the garage,

it means you have a
house that is usually a mess.

So, if you finally had to
knock the house down

and start again,
that's what I really do.

I knock their financial
houses down to some extent

because it was built over time,

and not really architected
from the overall view.

[Vicky] Wexner was
considered serious and reclusive.

A man who didn't tolerate fools.

In 1991, Jeffrey had been
given power of attorney

over all of les wexner's assets

except for his company.

That was a very unusual thing

for anyone to have done,

let alone ago who's worth
many billions of dollars.

I want to know why he did it.

Columbus, Ohio-based
activist and reporter, Bob fitrakis,

says that at the time

nobody could figure
out what was happening.

Epstein's name really started
coming out around 1991.

And the question is, you
know, what's their relationship,

you know, what
the hell is going on?

And to some extent, many people,

you know, made fun of them

and thought it was
a... Was a joke.

I mean, he was... He
was called the valet.

He was called, you
know, wexner's girl Friday.

You know, I asked
people that were

very well connected
in this town,

and some that
worked at the limited,

and many of them said,
you know, he's his enigma.

I mean, he's thought
to have some ties,

you know, to intelligence,
he's thought to be an asset

to very important people,

people who are afraid
of Jeffrey Epstein.

He was vindictive,
he could do damage.

And he had wexner's ear,
he was... he was the fixer.

[Vicky] When I spoke
with Jeffrey in 2002,

he was delighted
with his reputation

as wexner's hatchet man.

[Jeffrey] The people
hate me there.

- [Vicky] They hate you.
- [Jeffrey] Yes.

If there's a decision made

between the company
and him, I negotiate.

They only negotiate with me,

therefore, it avoids
his conflict of interest.

[Vicky] Got it.

[Jeffrey] As you probably
have heard, I am vicious

in my representation
of my clients.

[Vicky] I have heard.

[Jeffrey] And it's the
same thing, I do it all.

[Vicky] Did people
lose their jobs

at the limited because of you?

[Jeffrey] Hmm.
You should ask him.

- [Vicky] I'll ask him.
- [Jeffrey] Now, I don't...

I can't fire anyone.

[Vicky] Nope, I'm
not talking about that.

[Jeffrey] They wanted
to commit suicide.

It's not the same thing.

[Vicky] The power that
Jeffrey wielded over wexner

was not lost on wexner's
closest business associates

including Alfred taubman,
a shopping mall developer

and a crucial ally in
wexner's retailer empire.

Christopher Mason wrote a book

that included taubman.

Wexner revered Alfred taubman

and looked to him for
advice on everything,

but my source, very
close to taubman,

was saying that, you know,

taubman just
could not figure out

what the hell this grip was

that this guy
Jeffrey Epstein had

on his good friend les wexner,

he just couldn't fathom it.

I think they had
very similar beliefs

in supporting Israel as a state.

At one point, Mr. Wexner
was, you know,

listed as one of the single
largest private donors

to the state of Israel.

[Vicky] So wexner and Epstein
shared close ties to Israel.

The same strong ties
Robert Maxwell had

earlier in Jeffrey's career.

Wexner had other ties
that benefited Jeffrey.

Leslie wexner had
very deep reach

into places like Harvard.

So Jeffrey was very
quick to use wexner,

to use his contacts at Harvard.

He then expanded
the network further,

meeting people like then
law professor Alan Dershowitz.

Jeffrey Epstein
was very strategic

about the people he
collected around him.

He wanted the
legitimacy of Harvard.

There's no doubt about that.

He got an office
in brattle square,

right in Harvard square where
he would have these lunches

and the lunches were amazing.

I had been in
Harvard at that point,

what, 35 years.

He introduced me to people
at Harvard I didn't know.

He boasted friendships

with the president of Harvard.

[Vicky] This gave him access

to some of the leading thinkers

and academics in the country.

It also sets Jeffrey up
on a sort of fake pedestal

as somebody who
was really trying to do

good in the world.

Basically, it gave him
gravitas and credentials

that he shouldn't have had.

Using those credentials

and touting wealthy
clients like wexner,

Jeffrey could approach
new potential clients.

Through my recent reporting,

I've realized that he
invested that money

through friendly
bankers on wall street.

That's why there was no
trace of him in the market.

He wasn't doing his own trading.

Ed Epstein heard about
one of Jeffrey's pitches

to a potential client
who he declines to name.

Jeffrey had offered to save him

something like
$120 million in taxes

by moving the money
through charities offshore.

And a person who's very
smart, listened and said,

"well, I think this might
be a violation of the law."

And you did know
that was a gray area.

But if you're worried,

if you give me a
power of attorney,

you don't have to
know anything about it,

and that will your alibi.

[Vicky] Once again, it
was an example of Jeffrey's

basic strategy, charm,
control, and con.

It seems he often made it work.

[Tom] The one great similarity

between Robert Maxwell
and Jeffrey Epstein

is they knew how to perform.

They could convince a
snowman to buy snow.

And that is their genius,
it's the art of the deal,

the art of persuading
people to trust them.

That's the key thing.

And that is an
amazing quality to have

and is vital for the dealmaker,

especially for the crook.

[Vicky] Very few of the people
Epstein ripped off ever spoke up.

Leslie wexner, for
instance, has said publicly

that Jeffrey stole almost
$47 million from him,

but he didn't say anything
until after Jeffrey died.

Jeffrey understood
the enormous power

of social embarrassment.

He understood
that wealthy people

don't like admitting publicly
that they've been robbed.

Jeffrey also boasted

that he had so
much stuff on people.

You have no idea
what that leverage is

and Jeffrey could
have been lying

but nonetheless, he boasted.

In the 1990s,

Leslie wexner was
Jeffrey Epstein's

biggest patron by far.

Ghislaine complained
she felt like "the help"

around Leslie wexner

but at the same time,

if she had interfered
with that relationship,

she would have been
directly been hurting herself.

Christopher Mason
saw the lengths

ghislaine went to, to
keep the pair happy.

When she hired him to
perform a bawdy comic song

for Jeffrey's 40th
birthday party.

Usually, when I do
one of the songs,

I try to talk to as many
people as possible,

you know, the secretary,
the wife, the mistress,

all, you know, all
the best friends

and everyone is
sworn to secrecy.

What's surprised me was
that ghislaine was very specific

that she had to give
me all the information.

I was startled by
some of the things

that she insisted
had to be in the song.

Had to allude to when he
was teaching at Dalton school

and that he was the subject
of many schoolgirl crushes.

And then she wanted
me to include that

ghislaine claims he
has 24-hour erections.

Possibly an exaggeration.

So when I got to the
house that evening,

ghislaine asked me to change
into Jeffrey's karate outfit.

I had to climb the
stairs, sit on the floor,

cross-legged in
his karate outfit,

sing the song.

I remember it was... It
was clubby atmosphere,

only about eight guys.

[Vicky] Christopher says
that the group included

les wexner, Henry rosovsky

who was then a Dean at Harvard,

and the violinist
Itzhak perlman.

These powerful guys all
seemed to know Epstein very well,

and they were, kind
of, roaring with laughter

at these lyrics that
were poking fun at him.

[Vicky] But the other
interesting thing right

was that ghislaine
was not at the dinner.

[Christopher] It was like ghislaine
was the kind of power geisha.

[Vicky] Yeah.

[Christopher]
Orchestrating everything

for Epstein's maximum delight.

[Vicky] Soon after Jeffrey Epstein
moved into his Upper East Side mansion,

ghislaine moved to
her own townhouse.

Although it's unclear
who paid for it.

She continued to
manage Jeffrey's properties

and his social events

and to introduce him
to the rich and powerful.

One of her most
important introductions

was to prince Andrew,
whom ghislaine had known

since she was in her early 20s.

Investment banker euan
rellie describes the dinner

ghislaine invited him
to with prince Andrew.

Ghislaine was there busily
making sure everybody

was getting along
and being flirt...

She was quite
flirtatious. Quite charming.

[Vicky] What did it
strike you the relationship

between prince Andrew
and Jeffrey Epstein was?

I think Epstein was showing
off that Andrew was there,

but it seemed like a bit of a...

You know, frankly a
bit of a pissing contest

between Andrew and Epstein.

It was almost as
if these two guys

were competing
about who could seem

more bored or more, you know,

just not interested
in the evening at all.

It was a very strange situation.

This may seem a
strange question,

but did you feel at all
sorry for ghislaine while...

[Euan] No. Actually, not really.

Because it... because
she was very good at...

It felt like water
off a duck's back.

- [Vicky] Right.
- [Euan] And I think she enjoyed being the mother hen.

[Vicky] Andrew and Jeffrey
became close associates.

Former arms dealer
Ari Ben-menashe

is one of three people

who says that Jeffrey
used prince Andrew as bait

to attract new clients.

Prince Andrew is a
very important character.

He gave Jeffrey Epstein access

to quite a number of
very important people.

See, I know the
son of the queen.

[Vicky] Prince Andrew wasn't
the only high-profile person

that Epstein bragged
about knowing.

Ben-menashe, a
controversial character

whose views can run
towards conspiracy theories,

claims that just
like Robert Maxwell,

Jeffrey was part of
an influence campaign.

[Ben-menashe] The
Israelis had this thing

about President Clinton.

When he got
elected as president,

the Israelis were
genuinely worried

that he'd force them into a deal

with the Palestinians

just like president
Carter forced them

into a deal with the Egyptians.

They tried to pressure
Mr. Clinton in different ways.

Are you suggesting
that Jeffrey Epstein

was involved in a sort
of influence operation

on President Clinton?

Yes. Very much so.

So the allegations
then about Jeffrey

are similar to what you've
described with Robert Maxwell,

very similar pattern
that he was used

by the Israelis, who is
somebody who knew everybody.

Actually, there's
a name for that.

- It's called "mabua".
- "Mabua".

Mabua. Mabua means
somebody who is in-between.

I know somebody who
is close to somebody else

and I'm gonna use him
to... In the operation.

Whether Israel
would have used him?

Of course, they
will use anybody.

They would use a reporter,

they'd use you
tomorrow if they could.

Right.

I understand why many people

would be extremely
skeptical of the idea

that Jeffrey Epstein was part
of some influence campaign

trying to orchestrate
us foreign policy

under Bill Clinton.

But we do know that
Bill Clinton in 1993

gave Jeffrey Epstein
and ghislaine Maxwell

a vip tour of the white house

because Jeffrey Epstein
was one of the donors

who paid for the oval
office to be refurbished.

Now, that is what
you call influence.

So what was Jeffrey paid?

It wasn't a salary or
something of that nature.

But he was taken care of
through different means.

Jeffrey's lifestyle
was extraordinary,

you know, he had
an island, a ranch,

a plane, the biggest
townhouse in...

He needed... had
to have that lifestyle

to attract these people.

So who paid for it?

[Ben-menashe] Friends of Israel.

Who are friends of Israel?
Who do you mean by that?

I don't want to name
names, but take your pick.

Wealthy friends of Israel
were actually helping him.

[Vicky] If this is true,

the question becomes

did Israel or these friends
know about the other ways

that Jeffrey tried
to influence people?

Epstein, from what I
understand, was doing

deals of influence
for a lot of people.

He introduced people
on his private plane,

on his way to the private island

and just getting them
all together to an island

was creating what's
called "proximity."

In the process that he did,

he influenced a lot of them

using means that
were not proper.

Right. You mean the young girls?

[Victor] Yeah, the girls
and everything else.

[Vicky] Back in 2002,
this was one thing

that everybody did
talk to me about.

They all said that
it was rumored

that he had a room full
of camera equipment

and he could monitor
what was going on

in all the rooms of his houses.

What was less open was what
he was interested in filming.

That's what he was doing,
compromising people.

That's right.

I presume when you say

"embarrassed and compromised",
you mean that Jeffrey taped

a lot of these
sexual encounters,

if not all of them.

They're all blackmail tapes.

He taped, he
photographed, he did all that.

[Vicky] Steve hoffenberg says
that this is yet another element

of his life that Jeffrey
confided in him about.

They were trying to blackmail

powerful people.

That's what Jeffrey
Epstein does.

That's his mo.

Compromising
people and using them

to the fullest
extent that he can.

Influence trading,

information trading...

Right.

At the level we're discussing

is very serious.

You know, there are many stories

from people I know
and who I trust,

who said they saw
photographs that Jeffrey had

of powerful people
with young women.

I don't think anything
is beyond Jeffrey

in terms of morality
that he would say,

"I'm not gonna blackmail
a friend or anything."

That's the way Jeffrey thought.

[Vicky] Jeffrey's accusers
say he taped them as well.

And one has alleged in a lawsuit

that he kept dossiers on them

to keep them in line.

He told me when I
was reporting on him

that he had collected a dossier

on me and my husband,

and he read aloud
some bits of it

in an attempt to
try to threaten me.

So it didn't
remotely surprise me

that other people told
me he was well-known

for making dossiers

on a lot of the
people in his world.

[Newscaster] Epstein
was arrested in...

[Vicky] We now know
that whether for blackmail

or for his own pleasure,
Jeffrey had teenage girls

shuffling between
his multiple homes.

[Stephen] Jeffrey Epstein
was accused of sex trafficking

of underage girls.

He had a routine of sexual abuse

in which he would groom
these underage victims

for massages.

And the massages were
just sort of a code word

for sexual abuse.

And he would pay
the victims afterwards.

[Vicky] Ghislaine stands accused

of playing a key
role in the scheme.

[Stephen] Ghislaine
Maxwell is alleged

to have been sort of
a second-in-command

of Jeffrey Epstein's operation.

She is alleged to have
been his chief recruiter.

She was on the lookout
for victims for Epstein.

She allegedly sought
new victims for him,

and then encouraged
those victims

to find new victims themselves.

[Vicky] Jennifer araoz says

that it was an
unidentified young woman

who approached her
outside her high school

in New York in 2001.

You were 14 years old,

you've just lost your
father who just died.

So, what did she
say to you that sort of

gets you into the world
of Jeffrey Epstein?

She was like, "you know, I can really
introduce you to somebody that's been

so, like, impactful in my life.

You know, you're
so lucky you met me."

Can you remember
your first meeting

with Jeffrey Epstein?

It was, kind of, brief
but he was very just like,

"I heard so much
about you," you know.

"I'm so happy to meet you

and I'm so sorry
what happened to you

and, you know, your father."

And basically, just, you know,

would, kind of, just
give me, uh, money

without even doing
anything at all, you know.

So, I was just like, "wow, this guy
is incredibly kind and generous,"

and, you know, he
just seems so powerful

and larger than life.

Because he knew that I worked at
school for, you know, my talent school

so he's, like, "you
know, you're beautiful girl.

I could, you know, get
you into modeling agencies.

I have a lot of connections
with modeling agencies."

When these visits stopped being

just conversational...

Well, soon after, I guess,

you know, he started
promising me all those things,

he went to slowly just, like, you
know, "I need to see your body,

I need to see how you
look without clothes on,

you know, to really
help you if you wanna,

you know, get into
the modeling industry,

if you wanna get into any
type of acting industry."

I really didn't know better

and I, kind of, felt like I
owed him something in a way

because he had paid me a
lot even for not doing anything.

So, yeah, I, kind of, just,

you know, took off
my clothes, my top,

and then he asked me if
I was good at massages,

and it, kind of, just
transitioned into that.

I started not really
wanting to go there anymore

because I... at the time,

I just felt like he
was, kind of, full of it,

he was... he was kind
of just... kind of, sick.

I think he felt that and I...
And that's when raped me.

[Vicky] In the fall of 2002,

I was reporting on Jeffrey
Epstein for vanity fair.

I, of course, had no
idea about Jennifer araoz

or the other alleged
victims at the time.

But I was having my
own troubles with Jeffrey.

I asked Martha little,

who's editing my
podcast at audible,

to help me talk
about that experience.

So, you were reporting
on Jeffrey in 2002

and you were speaking
to him every day,

and you were
pregnant with twins.

The New York post's
gossip column page six

had run an item mentioning
that Jeffrey Epstein

had flown Bill Clinton and
various other celebrities

to Africa on a
philanthropic mission.

This was what
sparked my boss to say,

"you go find out who he is
and how he made his money."

It was meant to be
an easy assignment.

I had a complicated
high-risk pregnancy.

And, you know, I think my boss

thought he was doing me a favor

because Jeffrey Epstein
lived in New York, so did I,

and it seemed like a
straightforward assignment.

So, you spoke to him every day,

practically for six months.

What did you make of him?

He was a master manipulator.

He could go from being
incredibly charming

and ingratiating,

and sort of trying
to be funny to a thug.

And the reason I recorded him

was that he threatened me.

[Jeffrey] I don't know
what you're writing.

Basically, you paraphrase
some of it to me.

If there's any implication
of wrongdoing,

I will take legal action
against you personally.

I'm telling you so
you understand,

I will be as harsh as I
possibly can personally,

not for the magazine but you.

Because I had this
discussion with you.

This relationship is with you.

How did Jeffrey use your
pregnancy against you

while you were
reporting the story?

There were the avert
threats of, you know,

"I'm gonna have a
witch doctor place a hex

on your unborn children."

- To even come up with that idea...
- Yeah.

Speaks to a really sick mind.

But the other thing
that Jeffrey did

was keep on talking
about my pregnancy

in a really invasive
and creepy way.

[Jeffrey] You know what?
When you give birth...

- How many more months?
- [Vicky] March.

[Jeffrey] When you give birth,
as your vaginal canal opens,

you have these chemical

released into your
system with oxytocin.

It actually causes
you to fall in love

with the thing you
see coming out of it.

He was not afraid to
cross all boundaries

and that is what
really spooked me out,

when he started asking
me about which hospital

I was giving birth in,

and what the exact date
was, and who my doctors were,

because I was,
like, "whoa, okay.

I don't know what
you're capable of,

but this is getting
really frightening."

Around this time, I
spoke to two sisters,

Maria and Annie
farmer, who both said

that they had been
sexually assaulted by Jeffrey.

Maria said ghislaine was
present when he groped her.

Annie was only 16

when she said he assaulted her

which was truly shocking.

Remember, at that time,

no one had made
this type of allegation.

I wondered if he had
done this to other girls,

but I couldn't find any.

When I told Jeffrey
about the allegations,

he called them nonsense.

And the pressure got worse.

[Jeffrey] I'm telling you,
I want you to be clear.

My relationship with
you is friendly, if you...

[Vicky] Jeffrey, I'm doing
this as a job. This is not...

[Jeffrey] You shouldn't
risk your future as a job.

[Vicky] I'm not
risking anything.

I'm doing my job to report.

[Jeffrey] You have to make
the decision as a journalist

what you think are
reliable sources.

[Vicky] Yes.

[Jeffrey] If you think you
have a reliable source

and a reliable
allegation, you make it.

I will hold you
personally responsible.

He took his offensive
many steps further.

He actually appeared in person

at the vanity fair offices

as we were trying to
close out this piece.

This was unprecedented.

I don't think we've ever
had a subject of a profile

go to this much
trouble to control

- what was written about him.
- [Martha] Mmm-hmm.

- [Vicky] And I think that that was mounting fear.
- [Martha] Yeah.

You know, that wasn't
just me who was afraid.

Generally, people who
wondered who is this guy?

I had not interviewed
ghislaine for the story,

but I did have to ask her

about the farmers' accusations.

It was a deeply
unpleasant conversation

and she, obviously,
denied everything.

I really hoped I would not
run into ghislaine ever again.

I thought based on
what I discovered,

what the allegations had
been, that she was weird

and that, clearly,
Jeffrey Epstein

was a terrible influence on her.

[Martha] Your babies
were due in march.

It was to end of 2002.

What was happening at that time?

My doctor was getting
more and more alarmed.

He started to ask me,

"when are you going to
be finished with this article?"

He wanted me to go on bed rest.

I was still getting emails
from the research department

and from the
legal affairs editor.

I thought that I had won
this battle, that I would...

The farmers' allegations
were going to make it

into the article because I
got asked in mid-December

to produce a photograph
of Maria farmer.

So, I thought,
"hallelujah, you know.

This is great news."

I had absolutely no idea

that their allegations
would entirely be cut

from the article until one of the
fact-checkers sent me an email saying,

"have you seen the new version?"

And I'm like, "what
new version?"

That was a really bad moment.

The magazine's
editors have since said

that we didn't have
sufficient sourcing

to run the allegations,

but I had spoken to three
corroborating sources.

[Dramatic music playing]

[Vicky] The story appeared in
the march 2003 issue of vanity fair

with no mention of
Annie or Maria farmer.

I went into a very
dramatic emergency birth

and my boys were born,

you know, severely underweight.

One had lungs that were
whited out under the X-ray.

I was convinced
that Jeffrey Epstein

was coming for them.

If Jeffrey could put
me on my back foot

and has had made me so nervous,

if he could end
up winning the war

with vanity fair and
end up controlling

the article in the
way that he did,

what chance would...

A 14-year-old
struggling girl have

against somebody like that?

The farmers were
incredibly unusual

in having the
courage to speak out

about what they said
had happened to them.

You know, the fact
that we didn't publish

what they said is,
you know, I think,

you know, a complete travesty.

Just as Jeffrey had
never paid a price

for his frauds or for the
towers financial case,

he and ghislaine avoided
exposure in the magazine.

It would take
another three years

and more than 30 brave
victims coming forward

before anybody tried to
stop what was happening

to the girls behind these walls.

[Dramatic music playing]