- Title: 'I will not let him win': Epstein victims testify weeks after his death
- Date: 27th August 2019
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 27, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ATTORNEY, DAVID BOIES, WALKING WITH ALLEGED VICTIMS OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN INTO COURT
- Embargoed: 10th September 2019 17:53
- Keywords: Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking jail suicide
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA001ATZUTL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Women who say Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused them voiced anger and defiance in a packed New York courtroom on Tuesday (August 27) during a dramatic hearing less than three weeks after the financier killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
"I feel very angry and sad that justice has never been served in this case," Courtney Wild, one of the women, told the hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard Berman.
"I will not let him win in death," another woman, Chauntae Davies, told the court.
Federal prosecutors appeared at the hearing to ask the judge to formally dismiss their case against Epstein.
Berman explained why he gave the women and their lawyers an opportunity to address the court.
"The victims have been included in the proceeding today both because of their relevant experiences and because they should always be involved before, rather than after, the fact," Berman said at the outset of the hearing.
Epstein, who once counted U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton as friends, was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of girls as young as 14.
The 66-year-old was found dead Aug. 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan. An autopsy concluded that he hanged himself.
Davies said she was hired by Epstein to give massages. The financier raped her the third or fourth time they met on his private island and continued to abuse her, Davies said.
Another woman, who chose not to give her name, said Epstein's death must be investigated.
"We do need to know how he died. It felt like a whole new trauma. ... It didn't feel good to wake up that morning and find that he allegedly committed suicide," she said, holding back tears.
Another unnamed woman said she came to New York to become a model and was victimized by Epstein.
"I'm just angry that he's not alive to have to pay the price for his actions," she said.
Berman ordered prosecutors and defense lawyers for Epstein to appear in court after the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said it wanted to dismiss the indictment against the financier in light of his jail cell death.
Just two days before his death, Epstein signed a will placing all of his property, worth more than $577 million (USD), in a trust, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.
(Production: Angela Moore, Andrew Hofstetter) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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