Survivors are suing Epstein’s estate over the handling of images of them as children, while the lawsuit revisits what investigators missed in Palm Beach.
Survivors are suing Epstein’s estate over the handling of images of them as children, while the lawsuit revisits what investigators found — and missed — in Palm Beach.
The lawsuit was filed Sept. 15, in federal court in New York by two anonymous women who say images of them as children were part of Epstein’s collection. They are seeking to represent more than 40 people depicted in the material.
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The complaint alleges Epstein’s abuse of children through images stretched back decades, including activity at his Palm Beach residence.
According to the lawsuit, when law enforcement searched Epstein’s Palm Beach home after his first arrest in the mid-2000s, his computers were conspicuously missing, with wires left dangling as if the devices had been removed in a rush.
The complaint says investigators were told Epstein’s attorneys or other agents had the computers.
The lawsuit also alleges that investigators believed those computers were likely to contain evidence of Epstein’s solicitation of minors and possibly child pornography. But efforts to access the computers during the Florida investigation were abandoned after Epstein entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
No access to the computers was provided at the time, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint points to another alleged incident at Epstein’s Palm Beach home involving a teenage girl. According to the lawsuit, a 16-year-old victim told law enforcement that Epstein wanted sexually explicit photographs taken of her.
The lawsuit alleges she traveled to Epstein’s Palm Beach home, where his assistant Sarah Kellen used a digital camera to photograph the girl nude in several locations on the property. The girl was paid $500 for the photographs, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also alleges that few, if any, of the people whose images were found in Epstein’s collection were told that those photographs were still in the hands of federal investigators.
The lawsuit says the Florida investigation ultimately failed to uncover the full extent of the material Epstein possessed. When federal agents searched his properties again in 2019, investigators found substantial child pornography, child erotica and other CSAM on computers, in safes and elsewhere, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that some survivors photographs "consistently appear in collections maintained by individuals who possess child pornography." Meaning some images connected to the plaintiffs remain in circulation today.
Reuters, which reviewed the lawsuit, reported that attorney Hillary Nappi said the case could potentially involve thousands of class members.
“Most people pictured in Epstein’s collection had never been identified,” Nappi told Reuters.
That is central to what the lawsuit is trying to accomplish.
The women are asking the court to certify the case as a class action and oversee a coordinated effort to identify and notify others whose images were allegedly part of Epstein’s collection. They also want the estate to preserve the material and create an inventory of the images and related records.
The lawsuit also asks the estate to work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other custodians of the material to help identify potential survivors.
The plaintiffs are seeking actual and other damages, along with at least $150,000 in liquidated damages for each class member under federal law. They are also seeking punitive damages, legal costs and other relief.
The complaint seeks recovery only from Epstein’s estate and names his co-executors, Darren Indyke of Delray Beach and Richard Kahn, who are both reportedly under federal investigation, as defendants in their representative capacities. The lawsuit does not seek damages from them personally.
The case is separate from previous lawsuits involving allegations that Epstein sexually assaulted or trafficked women and girls. This lawsuit specifically seeks to address people whose images were allegedly acquired, possessed, produced or distributed as part of Epstein’s CSAM collection.
