Jeffrey Epstein, the late US financier and convicted sex offender, used to house women who said he abused them in different flats across London in the years after the UK police chose not to pursue an investigation, the BBC reported on Friday.
Citing evidence from receipts, emails, and bank records shared in the Epstein files, the report noted that at least four flats were rented in Kensington and Chelsea, where six women, now alleging abuse, said they were housed by the convicted sex offender.
Earlier this week, a CNN report revealed that several women accused multiple men of sexually abusing them; however, the Epstein files show little effort on the part of investigators to pursue the leads.
Women trafficked from Russia, Eastern Europe to UK
Most of these women were brought to the UK from Russia, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world. This came after the Metropolitan Police decided not to investigate the allegations levelled by Virginia Giuffre in 2015 that she had been a victim of international trafficking to London.
The police noted that it followed “reasonable lines of inquiry” at the time by interviewing Giuffre on several occasions following her complaint and cooperating with investigators in the US.
Epstein victims coerced into recruiting others
Emails also hint that some of these women, who were housed in flats across London, were coerced by Epstein into recruiting others into joining his sex-trafficking network, and were reportedly regularly transferred to Paris on Eurostar to meet him.
To build the most detailed picture yet of his UK operations, the BBC reviewed millions of pages of records gathered by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and released as part of the Epstein files.
Epstein’s UK network
The investigation revealed how his operation became more extensive than what was known previously, with more victims, an established infrastructure, including housing, and regular cross-border movement of women, which continued up to Epstein’s death, despite warnings to UK police.
It further showed that the UK police had other chances as well to open an inquiry into Epstein’s activities and his network in the country, along with Giuffre’s complaint that she was trafficked and forced to engage in sexual activities with former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2001.
Another woman came forward in early 2020, stating that she was abused by Epstein in the UK. However, it remains unclear if her complaint was investigated or not.
Months before his arrest for trafficking children for sex, Epstein was reportedly messaging a young Russian woman on Skype, who was residing in one of those flats. He sent her an image, now absent from the files but believed to have been a photograph of himself, prompting the woman to jokingly ask who the good-looking man in the picture was. The woman also asked him to pay for her English classes in London and to help buy cutlery and furniture for the apartment. She also sought visa advice for another Russian woman who was scheduled to come and stay.
Despite their prestigious locations, the flats were at times overcrowded, with women forced to sleep on sofas. Emails show that Epstein sometimes reacted angrily when they complained about the living conditions.
The emerging picture raises difficult questions for authorities, pointing to potential gaps in scrutiny that allowed Epstein’s UK network to operate longer than previously known. As more details surface, the focus is likely to remain not only on the scale of his activities but on whether earlier intervention could have altered their course.
