Two women, identified as Jane Doe and Amy, have sued Jeffrey Epstein’s estate after alleging their photographs were found among what the complaint describes as Epstein’s extensive collection of child sexual abuse material. The federal suit seeks class-action status, unspecified damages and a court-supervised program to identify and notify other survivors. Plaintiffs allege Epstein kept a "modeling book" of sexualized images and that many depicted individuals were never informed. The suit names Epstein’s co-executors and renews allegations appearing in prior survivor litigation.
Two Women Sue Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate After Photos Found in Alleged Child-Porn Collection
Jeffrey Epstein in 2004. (Rick Friedman / Corbis via Getty Images file)
Two women, identified in court filings only as Jane Doe and Amy, have filed a federal lawsuit against the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, alleging photographs of them were discovered among what the complaint describes as Epstein’s extensive collection of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
What the Lawsuit Seeks
Filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the complaint requests class-action status, unspecified damages, and a court-supervised program to identify and notify other survivors whose images appear in the collection. The plaintiffs ask the court to require the estate to preserve and account for all materials seized from Epstein’s properties.
Allegations and Evidence
The lawsuit alleges a decades-long CSAM conspiracy beginning in the early 1990s and continuing through Epstein’s death in 2019. According to the filing, Epstein kept a so-called "modeling book" containing sexualized images of children in a locked safe. The complaint notes Epstein was never charged with CSAM offenses and alleges that Epstein and unnamed associates asserted the images were meant to "develop child models for Victoria’s Secret."
"One of Epstein's most horrific but often overlooked crimes was his possession, transportation, production, and distribution of child pornography and/or child sexual abuse material (together 'CSAM') of countless children," the lawsuit states.
Individual Claims
Jane Doe alleges Epstein stole partially nude photographs of her when she was about 12 years old; the photos, she says, were taken for an art-study project. The suit contends that, given how those images were catalogued and retained alongside other sexualized images of children, they constituted a lascivious exhibition and were transported across state lines.
Amy’s claim centers on a set of pornographic images long circulated under the label the "Misty" series. The complaint says images from that series were seized from Epstein properties, yet Amy and many others say they were never notified that their images were found in his files.
Defendants, Responses and Context
The suit names Epstein’s longtime lawyer Darren Indyke and his accountant Richard Kahn as defendants in their capacities as co-executors of the estate. Their lawyer declined to comment. The plaintiffs say few, if any, people depicted in the files were told federal investigators held their photographs. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) did not confirm broader outreach beyond a limited number of victims connected to evidence used in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial.
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 of recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be abused by Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison term for conspiring to sex-traffick minors. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Plaintiffs' Requests
Lead counsel Hillary Nappi of AWK Survivor Advocate Attorneys said the suit aims to ensure the estate preserves seized materials and that a court-supervised process identifies and notifies every survivor depicted in the collection. The plaintiffs argue survivors deserve to know their images exist in the files and to have a meaningful chance to pursue justice.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.
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