A sex-trafficking victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell described how the recently released cache of documents related to their crimes is “retraumatizing to survivors.”
Elizabeth Stein, who filed a lawsuit against Maxwell and the late pedophile’s estate in November and also testified against the madam during her trial, was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology and an intern at the now-defunct Henri Bendel department store when she met the nefarious pair.
Stein noted the “constant bombardment” of news about Epstein’s sordid affairs has been “triggering” for victims in an interview with her lawyer Jennifer Freeman and Law & Crime.
“I think that one of the things we need to consider is that this document release is a release of all of the intimate details of these survivors’ experiences. So while people might know that these women are survivors, they might not know the minutiae of what their experience was,” Stein said.
“I think it’s important to remember that this is retraumatizing to survivors,” she added.
Stein said that survivors often tell their stories in generalities, but claimed the release of the “very gory details” and “most intimate secrets of your life,” makes things more difficult.
“The thing that has really been missing from this conversation is survivor voice,” she said. “You know, what is the impact on us?”
“This is a sex trafficking ring that went on for decades and all of the survivors are at various places in their recovery. And to be bombarded by this constantly in the news and to feel the invalidation that nothing is really being done about it is consistently triggering to the victims,” Stein continued.
Stein described the release of the documents as a “difficult situation,” because the victims likely thought some of the details they were providing would stay within the confines of their deposition, but said she understood why the judge made the call to release them.
Stein read an impact statement at Maxwell’s sentencing, where the heiress was given 20 years behind bars, a sentencing she said was “vindication and validation” at the time.
In court Stein detailed how Maxwell and Epstein trafficked her to their powerful friends in the 90s, ultimately leading to her having an abortion.
“I was assaulted, raped, and trafficked countless times in New York and Florida during a three-year period,” Stein said. “At one point I became pregnant (by whom I am unsure) and aborted the baby.”
Stein seeks damages in a lawsuit filed in November naming the two executors for Epstein’s estate alongside Maxwell.
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of trafficking women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. Meanwhile, Epstein was awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges when he died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019, according to a medical examiner.