One by one, they stepped up to the podium before a wall of cameras, holding a few notes. Behind them, the imposing white façade of the Capitol provided a solemn backdrop. Ten survivors of Jeffrey Epstein – the financier and sexual predator who died in prison in 2019 – appeared before the press on Wednesday, September 3, with their lawyers and several lawmakers from both parties. Their goal was to put faces to a case that had become a whirlpool of confusion and speculation, and to push for the full publication of all case documents.

Marina Lacerda was only fourteen years old when she first went to Epstein's residence in New York. At the time, she was living in a tiny apartment in Queens after arriving from Brazil with her family. "It was the summer of high school. I was working three jobs to try to support my mom and my sister when a friend of mine in the neighborhood told me that I could make $300 to give an older guy a massage," she explained. "It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare." She recounted three years of sexual abuse that followed, until Epstein lost interest in her, as he had with so many others. Lacerda is now 37. Several women who spoke on Wednesday described sexual abuse they suffered as minors.

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