Two women have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the estate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, alleging their photographs were discovered within his massive collection of child sexual abuse material. The suit was filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York.
The plaintiffs, identified in court documents only as Jane Doe and Amy, claim that the vast majority of women whose images were found in Epstein’s possession were never informed that their photographs are now held by federal investigators. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and calls for a court-supervised program to identify and notify all victims depicted in the collection.
Court filings describe Epstein as having orchestrated a multi-decade conspiracy involving the possession, production, transportation and distribution of child sexual abuse material dating back to the early 1990s until his death in 2019. The lawsuit alleges he kept a so-called modeling book containing sexualized images of minors stored in a locked safe, which he and co-conspirators falsely claimed was used to develop child models for Victoria’s Secret.
Jane Doe alleges she was approximately 12 years old when Epstein obtained partially nude photographs of her that had originally been taken as part of an art study. Despite reports made to law enforcement at the time alerting officials that Epstein had obtained the images, the lawsuit states no investigation or prosecution followed.
Amy’s case centers on a set of images known as the “Misty” series which have circulated since the 1990s and frequently appear in child pornography collections. Photographs from that series were reportedly seized from Epstein’s properties, yet Amy was never contacted by authorities.
The lawsuit names Epstein’s longtime attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn as defendants in their roles as co-executors of the estate. Their attorney declined to comment on the litigation.
Attorney Hillary Nappi, representing the accusers, said the lawsuit aims to hold the estate accountable for crimes that were largely overshadowed by Epstein’s sex trafficking case. She emphasized that many survivors have no knowledge their images exist within his files and deserve the opportunity to seek justice.
Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 at a federal detention facility in New York City while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein and is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence.