Epstein survivor says model agency put me in danger by sending me to his home

A woman raped by Jeffrey Epstein says the president of the model agency representing her put her in danger when he sent her to two photoshoots at the convicted sex offender's Florida beach house.

Roza told the BBC that in 2009, when she was sent there, Epstein was serving a jail sentence for sex offences against a minor but was allowed to work each day from his home.

In her words, her agency's job was to protect her, and they failed. In fact, they put her in danger, and for that they should be held accountable.

She was 18 at the time. About a month after arriving in the US from Uzbekistan, MC2 Model Management's US branch sent her to Epstein's Palm Beach home. MC2's US president at the time was Jeff Fuller, who now runs another US model agency called The Source Models. Roza said her agency knew exactly where she was going, so Jeff knew exactly where she was going.

An expense statement suggests Fuller himself booked her flight home from Palm Beach after her second shoot at Epstein's home. Fuller had previously claimed he did not know Roza was going to Epstein's house. He has not responded to the BBC's allegations, and he has previously said he did not know Roza was being abused.

Roza said the photoshoots led to her being employed as an assistant to Epstein. Other survivors have explained how the recruitment of assistants was used as a ruse to allow him to continue abusing young women. Roza says Epstein went on to systematically rape her.

Documents on Epstein released by the US Department of Justice show that 10 models from MC2 met, or were in communication with, Epstein after his conviction. The files also show Epstein gave 1 million dollars to MC2 in 2005, despite the agency owners telling a US publication two years later that Epstein had no involvement in their company.

Testimony shared with BBC Eye raises questions about the role played by two other individuals active in the model industry, former agent Ramsey Elkholy and agency director Faith Kates. The DOJ files show they had close relationships with Epstein. A DOJ statement from last year said no evidence had been uncovered that would warrant further investigation against uncharged third parties. New York State senator Zellnor Myrie is now challenging that position.

Myrie has proposed a new sex trafficking bill to give police greater power to investigate Epstein's alleged enablers. He told the BBC he wants those who knew, or should have known, about Epstein's abuse to be held accountable. Sara Ziff, founder of the Model Alliance, which campaigns for stronger protections for models in the US, said model agencies are often the problem, as they are the link between the model and these predatory men.

Roza said the person behind the camera at the photoshoots MC2 sent her to was not a professional photographer, but Epstein's girlfriend at the time, Nadia Marcinko. In her words, the set-up was strange, there was no stylist, and the photos were never used. She has since become convinced the shoots were stage-managed by Epstein and MC2.

An email in the DOJ files, from Fuller to Epstein in March 2012, reads: Had it not been for you, we would have fired her months ago. And I would be careful as she blabs about things.

A month after Epstein's second arrest in 2019, MC2's US branch was dissolved and Fuller opened a new agency, The Source Models, which is still operating. The BBC has found that 50 models from MC2 were transferred to his new agency. The Source Models did not reply to the BBC's request for comment.

Sigrid McCawley, the lead lawyer for more than 100 of Epstein's victims, said Epstein told many people he wanted three different girls a day, and asked people to think about those numbers. In her words, the model scouts were really critical because they were the ones identifying the type of woman Epstein liked.

BBC Eye has discovered that Elkholy tried to connect 34 women to Epstein, including an 18-year-old who was still in school. One of the women said that at her first meeting with Epstein, aged 19, he sexually abused her in his New York townhouse. Elkholy told the BBC he completely rejects any allegation that he knew of or facilitated abuse of any kind, and said at the time he had no knowledge of any abuse.

Another model, Simona, not her real name, from eastern Europe, said Epstein raped her more than 200 times. In her words, people think they gained something, that they agreed to this abuse in order to gain something, whether monetary or influential, but it is not true, and they are left with deep trauma. She said that when she first met Epstein, aged 20, already signed with a model agency in New York, he offered to introduce her to his good friend Faith Kates. At the time, Kates was the head of Next Management, one of the world's biggest model agencies. Simona said Kates suggested she undergo plastic surgery and sent details of a surgeon to Epstein.

Lawyers for Faith Kates told the BBC that Jeffrey Epstein was a master manipulator and that Ms Kates was one of those grossly misled by Epstein. They said that had she known then what she, and everyone else, now knows, she would have never associated with him. They added that she had never asked a model to have plastic surgery. Next Management did not reply to the BBC's request for comment.

Roza hopes sharing her story will encourage others to come forward. In her words, there are many, many survivors out there who never speak, because it is scary. So to all her sister survivors, she says, you know me now, you know my name, and she says, reach out.