Six of the women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexually abusing and assaulting them when they were minors are sitting down for an interview that will air this Friday on Dateline.
Among the women who are speaking out is Virginia Roberts, who is giving her first ever TV interview about the years she spent travelling the world as Epstein’s sex slave.
Roberts claims she was ordered to have sex with a number of men, including Prince Andrew, who has denied that allegation.
Last month, Roberts stood outside a federal courthouse in Manhattan and delivered a message to Prince Andrew, saying: ‘He knows exactly what he’s done. And I hope he comes clean about it.’
Breaking her silence: Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts says she is mourning his death in a new interview on NBC
Loss: ‘I wasn’t mourning the death of this man. I was mourning the death of my ability to hold this man accountable,’ says Roberts
Survivors: These interviews, and more, will air in an all-new special investigative edition of Dateline NBC, Reckoning on Friday night
Roberts also spoke about her reaction to Epstein’s death last month, and the impact it had on her after all these years fighting to bring him to trial
‘It was such a shock to me. I mean when I say, “shock,” didn’t have the words. I was in mourning, not because the world lost a monster,’ said Roberts.
‘I was not mourning him. I wasn’t mourning the death of this man. I was mourning the death of my ability to hold this man accountable,’ Roberts told Savannah Guthrie in a preview for the upcoming interview.’
The interview will also address the sweetheart deal Epstein got from prosecutors, and the relaxed regulations he faced in prison.
Guthrie asks Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter just how so many things worked out in Epstein’s favor in this case.
‘There is no explanation. I didn’t believe it back then, I don’t believe it now,’ says Reiter.
‘It’s just unfathomable to me.’
These interviews, and more, will air in an all-new special investigative edition of Dateline NBC, Reckoning on Friday night.
Epstein traveled the world with Roberts in the years before his arrest, and even took the photos to prove it according to court papers.
Roberts, included these photos as proof of Epstein’s depraved behavior in multiple lawsuits.
In one she is seen on a New York City ferry while others show her horse riding and posing up in front of a museum treasure chest.
Those three photos were taken by Epstein himself she claims, when he shuttled her to New Mexico for the weekend.
All the while raping her and letting his friends do the same, according to Roberts’ lawsuit.
Law and order: Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter said he has no idea how so many things worked out in Epstein’s favor in this case, calling it unfathomable
Kids incorporated: Virginia Roberts (above in NYC at 15 in a photo taken by Epstein was just 15 when she was recruited while working at the Mar-a-Lago spa to be Jeffrey Epstein’s sex slave
Snow day: She is now suing the United States for how they handled the prosecution of Epstein, and in her filing has included pictures he took of her around the world (above in New Mexico at 17)
Fool’s gold: Robert was able to see the world during her years with Epstein, who flew her around the world while he and his friends raped the teenager (Roberts above at a museum in New Mexico in 2001 in a photo snapped by Epstein)
‘Epstein took me on a ferry boat on one of the trips to New York City and there he took the picture above. I was approximately 15 or 16 years old at the time,’ she writes of the first photo.
In that picture, Roberts looks years younger than her age as she smiles for the camera while on an unchaperoned trip with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell over 1,000 miles away from home.
‘You can see how young I looked in the photograph,’ she notes, while also revealing she was raped by Epstein at his Manhattan mansion on that trip.
‘Over the next few weeks, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trained me to do what they wanted, including sexual activities and the use of sexual toys,’ she wrote.
‘The training was in New York and Florida, at Epstein’s mansions. It was basically every day and was like going to school. I also had to have sex with Epstein many times.’
Roberts said that she was trained to be ‘everything a man wanted me to be.’
The photos that were used by Roberts make it clear that she was with Epstein at some of his properties, most notably his ranch in New Mexico.
Epstein served just a year in prison for his offenses following a 2005 criminal probe
‘The first one is a museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had gone sightseeing for the day. Epstein took this picture of me. I was approximately 17 at the time, judging from the looks of it,’ write Roberts.
‘At the end of the day we returned to Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The second picture is me on one of Epstein’s horses on the ranch in New Mexico. The following two are from wintertime in New Mexico.’
Roberts and another underage victim are suing the government for the sweetheart plea deal they offered Epstein, and for failing to provide the plaintiffs and other victims with any concrete information about the sex offender.
In her case, Roberts did in fact get a letter from the FBI, but not until long after the plea deal had negotiated and Epstein’s non-prosecution deal and signed.
That letter is attached as an exhibit in one filing, and shows it was mailed in September, more than two months after Epstein signed off on the deal in June .
‘You can see how young I looked in the photograph,’ Roberts noted in one court filing
Tree of life: ‘If I left Epstein, he knew all kinds of powerful people. He could have had me killed or abducted, and I always knew he was capable of that,’ said Roberts
Roberts, who was the first and remains one of the few Epstein victims who has gone public with her allegations, recounted how she found herself being shuttled around the world and raped by men three times her age in court papers.
‘Epstein had promised me a lot, and I knew if I left I would be in big trouble. I also knew that I was a witness to a lot of illegal and very bad behavior by Epstein and his friends,’ stated one filing.
‘If I left Epstein, he knew all kinds of powerful people. He could have had me killed or abducted, and I always knew he was capable of that if I did not obey him. He let me know that he knew many people in high places. Speaking about himself, he said ‘I can get away’ with things. I was very scared, particularly since I was a teenager.’
And she was not the only one who was scared she claims in court documents.
‘When I was with him, Epstein had sex with underage girls on a daily basis. His interest in this kind of sex was obvious to the people around him,’ noted Roberts.
‘The activities were so obvious and bold that anyone spending any significant time at one of Epstein’s residences would have clearly been aware of what was going on.’