A woman whose concerns about Jeffrey Epstein were brushed off by the FBI three decades ago was vindicated Friday after the Department of Justice finally made her complaint public.
Maria Farmer’s complaint was buried in the thousands of files related to Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases that the DOJ published as part of its obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The document was dated Sept. 3, 1996, more than 10 years before Epstein first faced prosecution for sex crimes involving girls. In it, Farmer accused Epstein of stealing and selling photos of her young sisters. Farmer worked as an artist for Epstein and has long been outspoken about what she said was his abusive behavior.
Farmer has said the photos of her sisters cited in the 1996 complaint included nudity, and the complaint is labeled as a possible ‘child pornography’ case.
Names on the complaint were redacted, but The New York Times confirmed with Farmer that she was the one who filed it. Farmer told the outlet she felt ‘vindicated.’
‘I’ve waited 30 years. … I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore,’ she said.
The complaint noted that Farmer was a professional artist whose work included the images of her then 12- and 16-year-old sisters.
‘Epstein stole the photos and negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,’ the complaint stated. ‘Epstein at one time requested [redacted] to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools. Epstein is now threatening [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.’
Farmer and her sister Annie brought separate lawsuits in 2019 alleging Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted them, but the suits were dropped as part of a settlement involving accepting compensation from Epstein’s estate.
Farmer also sued the DOJ in July, alleging the Clinton administration FBI ‘chose to do absolutely nothing’ with her complaint in 1996, and that in the years since, Epstein was able to victimize more women. Farmer said she also complained again to the FBI in 2006 during the Bush administration.
Farmer’s complaint was among the tens of thousands of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell that the DOJ released on Friday, the transparency bill’s deadline. Other accusers, such as Marina Lacerda, have spoken out about their dissatisfaction with the file release, observing that it was incomplete and contained heavy redactions. The department has said more files are coming within the next two weeks.