Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Maria Farmer Sues the Federal Government Over Its Handling of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 4) (11/5/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to dive right
- 0:06Speaker 1: back in to Maria Farmer and her allegations against the
- 0:11Speaker 1: United States government. E. Maria's August 1996 FBI report about Epstein,
- 0:18Speaker 1: child sex abuse, sex trafficking, and child pornography crimes. Maria
- 0:25Speaker 1: did what she thought every American would should do when
- 0:28Speaker 1: they become crime victims, suspect children are sex crime victims,
- 0:32Speaker 1: and believe there is going or an ongoing serious criminal activity.
- 0:36Speaker 1: On August 29, 1996, she reported Epstein and Maxwell to
- 0:40Speaker 1: law enforcement. Initially, Maria reported Epstein's crimes to the New
- 0:45Speaker 1: York Police Department, 6th Precinct. Maria disclosed to the NYPD
- 0:49Speaker 1: that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused her, and that
- 0:53Speaker 1: Epstein and Maxwell, together with others, were committing multiple ongoing
- 0:57Speaker 1: illegal sex abuse crimes, including crimes against minors and vulnerable
- 1:02Speaker 1: young women, child pornography crimes, and possibly crimes against her
- 1:06Speaker 1: minor siblings. According to NYPD Police Report Complaint No. 1996-0067241,
- 1:17Speaker 1: dated 8-29-96, Maria states, Epstein did call her and stated
- 1:22Speaker 1: he was going to burn victim's painting and send her
- 1:25Speaker 1: Polaroids of the burnt paintings. Epstein has keys to the
- 1:28Speaker 1: victim's apartment. The NYPD explained that they could only address
- 1:33Speaker 1: the local fire threats that she needed to report her
- 1:36Speaker 1: additional allegations to the FBI. They gave her the FBI's
- 1:39Speaker 1: telephone contact information, which she believes had an area code
- 1:44Speaker 1: as part of the phone number. Following the NYPD's instructions
- 1:48Speaker 1: and believing that federal law enforcement would help her, Maria
- 1:51Speaker 1: promptly contacted the FBI, making at least two calls to
- 1:55Speaker 1: two different offices. Maria told the FBI what happened, including
- 2:00Speaker 1: Epstein and Maxwell's sexual abuse of her and her concern
- 2:04Speaker 1: that they had likely had also abused one of her
- 2:06Speaker 1: minor sisters, who she often took care of and assumed
- 2:10Speaker 1: caretaking responsibilities for, and other young women. Their possession, production, distribution,
- 2:16Speaker 1: and transportation of CSAM, including the stolen images of Maria's
- 2:21Speaker 1: younger sisters, their operation of a child sex trafficking ring,
- 2:25Speaker 1: and her belief that that they were continuing to hurt children.
- 2:30Speaker 1: Maria specifically told the FBI about the explicit images of
- 2:34Speaker 1: children she observed at Epstein's home, and that Epstein and
- 2:38Speaker 1: Maxwell kept a binder of what appeared to be CSAM
- 2:42Speaker 1: in a safe. Maria also notified the FBI that Epstein
- 2:47Speaker 1: had recording devices and sophisticated computer monitoring equipment throughout his
- 2:51Speaker 1: New York City mansion, which presumably recorded sexual activity and
- 2:56Speaker 1: other activities there. Without notice or explanation, while Maria was
- 3:01Speaker 1: in mid-sentence, the FBI abruptly hung up on her. The
- 3:05Speaker 1: FBI made no effort to meet with Maria or otherwise
- 3:08Speaker 1: follow up. Upon information and belief, the FBI failed to
- 3:12Speaker 1: comply with CFR 28 section. 85 and the MIOG regarding
- 3:16Speaker 1: Maria's report. In particular, the FBI failed to conduct a
- 3:24Speaker 1: thorough investigation of federal law violations concerning the interstate transportation
- 3:30Speaker 1: of obscene matters and the sexual exploitation of children, failed
- 3:34Speaker 1: to carry those matters to a logical conclusion, and failed
- 3:38Speaker 1: to exhaust all logical leads to ensure that no legitimate
- 3:41Speaker 1: law enforcement interests justify their involvement. The FBI also failed
- 3:46Speaker 1: to conduct a proper prelim inquiry to prevent, detect, and
- 3:50Speaker 1: prosecute multiple federal law violations. Maria's allegations of Epstein's child
- 3:56Speaker 1: sex abuse, child exploitation, and child pornography could have been
- 4:01Speaker 1: corroborated with minimal investigatory effort. As established at Maxwell's federal trial,
- 4:07Speaker 1: Epstein maintained a bevy of minors and young women in
- 4:10Speaker 1: New York, Florida, and wherever he went in his private jet.
- 4:14Speaker 1: Given Epstein's strongly suspected widespread deployment of recording devices and
- 4:19Speaker 1: the well-established use of CSAM bisexual abusers to normalize sexual
- 4:24Speaker 1: conduct and groom victims, there was a significant likelihood of
- 4:28Speaker 1: multiple serious ongoing CSAM crimes centered on Epstein and his cohorts. Indeed, recently,
- 4:36Speaker 1: Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the FBI's possession of vast
- 4:40Speaker 1: numbers of those kinds of videos from Epstein. Maria confirmed
- 4:46Speaker 1: her report to the FBI in 97, an entry in
- 4:49Speaker 1: her personal journal. The FBI confirmed Maria's 1996 report in
- 4:55Speaker 1: field notes of a 2006 meeting with her. Those notes
- 4:59Speaker 1: revealed that Maria had previously reported Epstein to the NYPD
- 5:03Speaker 1: 6th Precinct, who advised her to contact the FBI. The
- 5:07Speaker 1: United States government expansion of focus on protecting children from crimes,
- 5:11Speaker 1: Part F. In January of 1997, The FBI established the
- 5:16Speaker 1: Office of Crimes Against Children, a division within the Criminal
- 5:20Speaker 1: Investigative Division, to address the victimization of children and issues
- 5:25Speaker 1: on interagency liaison, legislative concern, budget, and training. FBI policy
- 5:32Speaker 1: required FBI field offices to maintain regular contact with violent
- 5:36Speaker 1: crimes against children unit personnel and request assistance and guidance
- 5:42Speaker 1: whenever there was a suspected child abuse incident. when necessary
- 5:45Speaker 1: to contact field office victim specialists for matters related to
- 5:49Speaker 1: the Victim Assistance Program and along with VCACU to cooperate
- 5:54Speaker 1: with state and local law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations, and
- 5:59Speaker 1: social service agencies to protect children. VCACU and FBI field
- 6:06Speaker 1: offices were required to develop working relationships with relevant outside agencies,
- 6:12Speaker 1: including federal, state, and local agencies charged with enforcing laws
- 6:17Speaker 1: pertinent to combating crimes against child threats. An investigative partnership
- 6:22Speaker 1: was encouraged for such investigations. Investigative partners serve as a
- 6:28Speaker 1: force multiplier for investigative matters that have federal, state, and
- 6:32Speaker 1: local jurisdiction by coordinating investigations with field offices, participating in
- 6:38Speaker 1: task forces, and assisting in prosecutions. This partnership allows for
- 6:43Speaker 1: multiple venues to prosecute the cases, and circumstances of each
- 6:47Speaker 1: case will dictate the resources brought to bear by partner agencies.
- 6:52Speaker 1: In May of 1997, the FBI began requiring each of
- 6:56Speaker 1: its 56 field offices to appoint at least two special
- 6:59Speaker 1: agents to serve as crimes against children coordinators. As the
- 7:04Speaker 1: primary go-to persons within each FBI field office, the CAC
- 7:08Speaker 1: coordinators were responsible for liaising with local law enforcement and
- 7:13Speaker 1: social service agencies to help coordinate crimes against children investigations
- 7:18Speaker 1: in their jurisdiction. In keeping with this ongoing federal law
- 7:22Speaker 1: enforcement priority, along with significant resources devoted to CSAM and
- 7:27Speaker 1: sex abuse crimes, the 2005 USAO manual established general prosecution
- 7:33Speaker 1: policies and priorities, strongly encouraging the prosecution of all crimes
- 7:38Speaker 1: involving the sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of children, and
- 7:42Speaker 1: the distribution of CSAM. The USAO manual repeated the 1991
- 7:48Speaker 1: MIOG recognition that persons who collect CSAM often engage in
- 7:54Speaker 1: child sex abuse and use child pornography to normalize their
- 7:58Speaker 1: criminal activities. Research has shown that many individuals who produce, distribute,
- 8:03Speaker 1: or collect CSAM do so repeatedly with full knowledge that
- 8:08Speaker 1: it's illegal. In addition, many of these individuals engage in
- 8:12Speaker 1: child sexual abuse or would like to if given the
- 8:15Speaker 1: right opportunity. Many of these people also intentionally engage in
- 8:20Speaker 1: occupation or activities that bring them into frequent contact with children. Finally,
- 8:26Speaker 1: many people use CSAM to encourage their child victims to
- 8:30Speaker 1: engage in sexual activity. G. The FBI's failure to comply
- 8:36Speaker 1: with their mandatory reporting obligation and other failures. Upon information
- 8:41Speaker 1: and belief, contrary to federal and state law and policy,
- 8:45Speaker 1: which considered the FBI a mandatory reporter, no one from
- 8:49Speaker 1: the FBI reported Maria's 1996 complaint to the New York
- 8:53Speaker 1: State Police, state or local law enforcement, or child welfare officials,
- 8:58Speaker 1: allowing Epstein unchecked abuse of children and young women to
- 9:01Speaker 1: continue unabated for decades. Further, the FBI failed to follow
- 9:07Speaker 1: up with Maria. informer of her rights as a crime
- 9:10Speaker 1: victim under the VRRA, undertake a multidisciplinary child abuse investigation
- 9:16Speaker 1: or prosecution, or try to reduce Maria's trauma or the
- 9:20Speaker 1: endless trauma of countless child victims. Upon information and belief,
- 9:25Speaker 1: the FBI failed to contact Ohio authorities to investigate Maria's report.
- 9:30Speaker 1: Given the utmost seriousness and urgency of Maria's allegations regarding
- 9:33Speaker 1: child sex abuse and exploitation and law enforcement's need To
- 9:38Speaker 1: prioritize such investigations, the FBI failed to notify the appropriate
- 9:42Speaker 1: authorities of the allegations, adequately respond to the allegations, or
- 9:47Speaker 1: take other steps to mitigate the ongoing serious threat posed
- 9:51Speaker 1: by Epstein. In violation of the MIOG, the FBI failed
- 9:56Speaker 1: to conduct thorough investigations in a legal and ethical manner. manner,
- 10:01Speaker 1: through to a logical conclusion or to terminate their investigation
- 10:04Speaker 1: when all logical leads had been exhausted and no legitimate
- 10:08Speaker 1: law enforcement interest justifies their continuance. There was no lawful
- 10:13Speaker 1: or legitimate reason to fail to report to law enforcement
- 10:16Speaker 1: or investigate a child sex abuse and exploitation complaint. the
- 10:20Speaker 1: FBI's outrageous and cavalier disregard for Maria's 1996 report and
- 10:26Speaker 1: her subsequent report 10 years later about Epstein's crimes constituted
- 10:30Speaker 1: a fundamental violation of applicable law, as well as a
- 10:34Speaker 1: dereliction of the FBI's mission, principles, statutory obligations, and operations manual.
- 10:42Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're going to wrap up right here.
- 10:43Speaker 1: And in the next episode, we're going to pick up
- 10:46Speaker 1: where we left off. All the information that goes with
- 10:48Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box.