Annie Farmer was 16 years old when she met Jeffrey Epstein y a Ghislaine Maxwell. It was through his older sister, Maria Farmera young artist who had made some paintings for the late financier accused of child sex traffickingwho in 2019 was found dead in his cell before being tried.
Both reported having been victims of abuse in 1996but only now is its full history known, after the declassification conducted by the United States Department of Justice of thes of three million case files.
In dialogue with CBS NewsAnnie Farmer spoke about the media repercussions, after learning new names from Epstein’s contact list, photographs and details of the stories of the complainants.
More united than ever, the sexual abuse survivors group holds press conferences in front of the doors of the Capitol in Washington to demand Justice at each hearing, even on behalf of the deceased Virginia Giuffrethe best-known whistleblower He uncovered the scandal when he accused Prince Andrew.
«It has been a very difficult few daysand I think what bothers me the most is the way he did this. «A lot of information was revealed, some of which we wanted to clarify, but not in such a careless manner that it put the victims in danger,» Farmer said.
«There was a lot of talk about protection of victimsbut included unedited nude images of potential girls and young women, complete unedited victim lists; Even I found my date of birth and my phone number published,» he said.
He commented that his sister Maria filed a lawsuit against the government for negligence. «It’s one of the many ways we haven’t been protected, but we won’t be intimidated or give in; people need to understand that These people must be held accountable.«, he stated.
Annie did a PhD and graduated from psychotherapist. Specializes in helping people with anxiety, grief and trauma recovery. She herself admitted in multiple interviews that choosing that profession was an attempt to give meaning to everything she and her sister experienced.
«Epstein was a master at detecting vulnerabilities»: the testimony of Annie Farmer
The Farmer sisters are recognized for being the first to report that there was a child sex trafficking ring led by Epstein and the shady socialite who then presented herself as his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of five counts of child sex traffickingand another count of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and another of conspiracy.
«My sister Maria Farmer was chasing her dreams. In the mid-’90s he moved to New York to become a visual artist and was very successful; He entered an excellent figurative painting graduate program, and there met Epstein and Maxwell«Annie told The New York Times in an extensive 2019 interview.
At that time the couple was known for their large art collection that they constantly fed with works to order. «While my sister worked on the paintings, he asked her many questions about her family, her father and her brothers; and She, like a proud older sister, talked about me, about my desire to go to college, about some of my hopes. and the stress that that entailed,» he said.
Epstein offered to have a private meeting to discuss Annie’s academic future, and He also convinced the sisters’ parents for that to be possible.
«There was manipulation of the entire family, and that is something that happens in many cases of child sexual abuse. «These people not only focus their energy on manipulating the victim, but also on building trust in the community and family,» he argued.
After introducing himself to his mother, he told her that he wanted to take Annie to New Mexico, to a ranch where he used to host many young people so that they could put that experience in their academic letters, as a kind of internship with a financial tycoon and philanthropist who had created a net worth of 630 million dollars.
«He sat me down at his desk very seriously to talk about what it would be like to go to college. and what I could do to improve my resume, which I now understand is a common tactic of exploitation, the search for the weak point in the aspirational: ‘What is your dream? I can make it happen‘», he stated.
«Like many 16-year-old girls, I was worried about my future, I was looking at a good university, but I was worried about how to pay for it, so I think Epstein was a master at recognizing vulnerabilities,» she recalled.
While his family was analyzing the possibility of accepting the alleged academic help that Epstein wanted to give his daughters, he invited them both on a trip to New York. He sent them to pick them up in a limousine and left them paid tickets to a Broadway play.
«Then the three of us went to the movies, my sister, Epstein and I. And it seemed very strange to me that he grabbed my hand and then touched my leg. I was 16 years old and this man is about forty, so I couldn’t understand those actions,» he said.
Even with his professional training, he acknowledged that he still blames himself for having naturalized these types of attitudes. «My mother took me to the airport, and I traveled to New Mexico for a weekend with them. «We thought it was a great opportunity, and there I met Maxwell, who tried so hard to make me feel special, he took me shopping, we went horseback riding on this huge ranch,» she described.
She felt a little calmer when she learned that a woman, Maxwell, would be there for the entire stay, and she assumed she was Epstein’s girlfriend. But his internal alarms went off when he learned that there were no other young women on the immense property.
Little by little everything became uncomfortable and degrading. «There was a time when Maxwell said to me: ‘Let’s learn to rub Jeffrey’s feet’sat down next to me and started showing me what I should do and I didn’t want to do it,» he revealed.
After that disturbing insinuation, Maxwell offered to give her a massage. «Suddenly he lowered the sheet and touched my breasts, I was terrified,» she said. The situation worsened when that same night Epstein appeared in her room and got into her bed to tell her that he wanted to hug her.
«I knew that wasn’t right, and I ran away by telling him I wanted to go to the bathroom. That’s how the whole weekend went, a cycle of fear where my limits were constantly crossed without me being able to fully understand what was happening at that moment,» he said.
She didn’t tell her older sister, Maria, about this because she didn’t want Epstein to retaliate against her and deny her job opportunities in the art world.
«I came home and didn’t talk to anyone. I felt strange, and when my mother asked me questions I told her that I didn’t want to talk about it, that I was tired,» she explained.
One of the expensive gifts Epstein and Maxwell gave him at the time was a pair of leather texan bootswhich 25 years later would be part of the evidence presented in the trial against Epstein.
Maria Farmer, Annie’s sister, and her report to the FBI about Jeffrey Epstein
His sister Maria, through her lawyer Jennifer Freeman from Marsh Law, also decided to make her name visible to demand Justice. «Maria Farmer denounced the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 1996and if the government had done its job and investigated properly, these could have been avoided. more than 1000 victims and 30 years of trauma«said Freeman.
«After several years of requesting their records, the government finally published at least some of them today,» the lawyer said. In one of the published reports it is confirmed that Maria was one of the first victims who reported to the authorities the striking number of girls entering Epstein’s property.
He also mentioned Maxwell’s comments about «getting him girls», and the theft of photographs of his sisters aged 12 and 16, where they appeared partially naked.
«Epstein stole the photographs and negatives and is believed to have sold the images to potential buyers of child pornography,» Farmer’s attorney added.
The report also details that Epstein asked her for «photographs of young girls in swimming pools,» and threatened her that «if she told anyone about the photos, he would burn her house down.».
In the course of that investigation, Epstein’s agreement with prosecutors in Florida emerged, which ruled out the possibility of federal criminal charges involving at least 40 teenagers.
In 2008 the financier pleaded guilty to much lesser state charges, a fact the Farmer sisters describe as «very demoralizing.»
When Epstein was finally arrested in 2019, prosecutors alleged that he had «sexually exploited and abused dozens of minors» between 2002 and 2005 at their homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.
«For a long time I was afraid to tell his story, even after Epstein died«Maria revealed. That same year she was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. and underwent targeted radiation therapy to treat the tumor, and further surgeries followed.
He still struggles with the aftermath and writes his memoirs. «My sister was disgusted by her own paintings, because she realized that Epstein never appreciated their artistic value, but only wanted to see naked girls that she had painted, He had to abandon his career for 20 years«Annie lamented.
Annie Farmer’s testimony and the recreation of everything she said when she took the stand in 2021 is available in the Netflix documentary, Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Richa spin-off of the central production, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Richwhich reveals how the figure of the financier emerged in high places and how he met his ex-partner.
