A New York judge has rejected Jeffrey Epstein accuser Jennifer Araoz’s request to have a list of his ‘recruiters’ after his legal team filed a motion to suppress the files and said the case was moot in light of his death.
The 32-year-old woman, who claims Epstein raped her when she was 15, sought to have a court order release the name of the woman who recruited her to be abused by the billionaire along with a roster of his employees in on his alleged trafficking ring.
But the billionaire pedophile and his legal team refused to name names and dismissed the petition as an ‘utter waste of judicial resources’.
In court documents filed Monday and obtained by DailyMail.com, Judge Melissa Crane declared the petition as moot and prosecutors confirmed the criminal case against Epstein was closed due to his death.
Following his death, Epstein’s counsel wrote to the Judge saying they didn’t have to release the recruiter information following Epstein’s suicide on August 10 and because Araoaz filed another lawsuit against the billionaire pedophile’s estate.
The court papers, dated August 16, disposed the case ‘due to death of respondent and petitioner commencing on action.’
A New York judge has rejected Jeffrey Epstein accuser Jennifer Araoz’s request to have a list of his ‘recruiters’ and employees, according to court documents filed Monday
On August 16 Judge Melissa Crane disposed Araoz’s case against Epstein declaring her motion requesting the documents as moot due to Epstein’s death and Araoz’s legal action against the billionaire’s estate
On August 15 Epstein’s legal counsel shared this letter with Hon. Melissa Crane declaring Araoz’s motion requesting Epstein’s documents as moot in light of his suicide on August 10 and because she filed legal action against his estate
Araoz sought to have the name of Epstein’s confidantes and employees on his payroll released to hold them accountable for recruiting young girls into his $77million New York mansion lair for sexual abuse.
She claims that the billionaire pedophile groomed her for sex when she was 14 and raped her a year later at his $77million New York mansion.
According to papers filed July 10, Araoz requested for Epstein to be deposed and forced to turn over a log of every individual who visited his Upper East Side mansion from 2001 to 2003, and a list of people he kept employed during the time period, as per the New York Post.
But his legal counsel refused to cough up any names and stated that it ‘would defy common sense’ for the court to approve the request, which would require the defendant to hand over his employment records from that time in addition to identifying the woman.
Epstein’s shocking death ended the criminal prosecution against him, but amped up the legal action against his estate.
Araoz filed a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate on Wednesday August 14, when New York’s new Child Victims Act came into effect, which opens a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse regardless of how long ago it occurred.
Her lawsuit was among the first of an expected wave of suits against Epstein following his apparent suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on Saturday.
In addition to Epstein’s estate, Araoz also sued Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and three female members of his household staff.
Araoz alleges in the complaint that Maxwell, who is accused of overseeing the recruitment of young girls for Epstein, and the three staffers conspired with each other to facilitate her rape.
She has claimed she was recruited outside her Talent Unlimited High School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to spend time with Epstein when she was 14 when she was ‘approached by a brunette woman’ in her early 20s.
Araoz said she was recruited outside her New York City school to spend time with Epstein when she was 14. In addition to Epstein’s estate, Araoz is also suing Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and three female members of his household staff
The lawsuit accuses Maxwell of facilitating Epstein’s abuse of several girls by overseeing their recruitment and ‘ensuring that approximately three girls a day were made available to him for his sexual pleasure’.
Maxwell has previously denied allegations she helped recruit or arrange visits for Epstein’s alleged victims.
Araoz said she eventually met with Epstein who, in turn, showered her with gifts and cash for a month.
She claims she was asked to strip down to her underwear and give Epstein massages while he masturbated. The massages and sexual abuse became more depraved and continued for a year until Epstein allegedly raped her in 2002.
Prior to his apparent suicide, Epstein had been hit with drafts and related documents associated with Araoz’s lawsuit.
Epstein and his legal team responded on August 9 to a petition for a pre-action discovery that was submitted by Araoz in her lawsuit against him. In it, he refused to name the three female staffers identified as Jane Does 1, 2 and 3 in Araoz’s suit.
In a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday, Araoz said she was angry Epstein wouldn’t have to face her in court.
‘I want my story to hold Epstein to account and also his recruiters, the workers on his payroll who knew what he was doing and the prominent people around him who helped conceal and perpetuate his sex-trafficking scheme,’ she wrote.
‘Their hideous actions victimized me and so many young girls like me.’
She has claimed she was recruited outside her Talent Unlimited High School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to spend time with Epstein when she was 14
In her lawsuit, Araoz claims the recruiter appeared outside her high school, which was about eight blocks from Epstein’s mansion, for about two weeks.
She offered to buy Araoz meals and got her to slowly open up about her family and the death of her father just two years prior from an AIDs-related illness, according to court documents.
‘The Recruiter then told Ms. Araoz that Epstein felt horrible about the loss of her father and said that he wanted to help her. The Recruiter said that Epstein is a ‘caring guy,’ that he said she ‘should not be struggling,’ and that he wanted ‘to be there for her’,’ the lawsuit stated.
Epstein was described as a ‘nice guy’ with a great deal of wealth by the recruiter, who also told Araoz ‘you have to see his house’.
The recruiter was ultimately able to convince Araoz to come meet Epstein at his mansion, which according to the complaint was filled with surveillance cameras.
At the end of the first visit, Epstein gave Araoz $300 in cash and said: ‘Here’s a little something to help you out. I take care of the people I care about.’
He also informed her that he was ‘a big AIDS activist’ according to the complaint.
Araoz’s visits became more frequent and she would spent between one to two hours at Epstein’s home in the company of him and the recruiter. After each visit, Araoz says she was given $300.
A month into this arrangement, the recruiter was removed from the occasion and Epstein’s secretary would call Araoz to directly set up her visits.
The first instance of sexual abuse allegedly occurred when Epstein showed Araoz his massage table.
The complaint described Epstein’s massage room as having a ceiling painted as a blue sky with clouds and angels, ‘to give the appearance that you were in heaven.’
Jeffrey Epstein was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he was found dead on Saturday having apparently hanged himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan
Araoz has filed a lawsuit against the billionaire pedophile’s estate after claiming she was raped by him at his New York $77 million mansion when she was 14
He later told the Araoz ‘you really should be a model,’ ‘you’re beautiful,’ ‘I’ll bet your body is incredible,’ and that ‘in order to help you with your modeling career, I will need to see your body’.
‘He then asked her if she was good at giving massages and, considering all of the financial help he had been giving her family over the past month, insinuated that he would like one,’ according to the suit.
The complaint also detailed a variety of alleged misconduct by Epstein toward Araoz, including what she called an insinuation that she owed him because of the money he paid her.
‘I take care of you, you take care of me,’ the complaint quoted Epstein as saying.
Araoz’s lawsuit against Epstein’s estate was filed the same day New York’s new Child Victims Act was put into effect.
The law enables child abuse victims to file civil complaints against their alleged abusers for the next 12 months regardless of when it took place. After the year-long time frame, the victims will have until the age of 55 to file civil lawsuits.
To obtain damages, alleged victims will need to prove their claims only by a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt as in a criminal case.
Los Angeles attorney Lisa Bloom and New York lawyer Roberta Kaplan said this past weekend that they intend to file lawsuits in New York against Epstein’s estate this week.
Araoz’s allegations were not included in the sex-trafficking indictment filed against Epstein in July. She came forward and revealed her allegations in an interview with NBC’s Today following Epstein’s arrest on July 6.
Epstein, who once counted Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former President Bill Clinton as friends, pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005.
Epstein was already a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of unlawfully paying a teenage girl for sex.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and the suspension of two guards after condemning ‘serious irregularities’ at the facility
In the days since Epstein’s death, a portrait has begun to emerge of Manhattan’s federal detention center as a chronically understaffed facility that possibly made a series of missteps in handling its most high-profile inmate.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and the suspension of two guards after condemning ‘serious irregularities’ at the facility.
Barr also said the criminal investigation into Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking and the role of possible co-conspirators would continue.
Trump has also called for an investigation into Epstein’s death.
A document filed by Epstein’s lawyers last month listed his total assets at about $559 million, including two private islands and four homes. One residence, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is worth an estimated $77 million.