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Case 9:10-cv-80309-KAM Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/09/2010 Page 1 of 19 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA Civil Action No. ---- 10-80309 JANE DOE No. 103, Plaintiff, V. JEFFREY EPSTEIN, Defendant. I ---------------- COMPLAINT AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL t11119"'al611 ~31~1,6 seated FILED by tb D.C. FEB 2 3 2010 STEVEN M. LARIMORE CLERt< U '3 DIST CT S. D. ot FU\. - MIAMI Plaintiff, Jane Doe No. 103 ("Plaintiff'), brings this Complaint against Defendant, Jeffrey Epstein ("Defendant"), and states as follows: PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE 1. At all times material to this cause of action, Plaintiff was a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida. 2. This Complaint is brought under a fictitious name to protect the identity of Plaintiff because this Complaint makes sensitive allegations of sexual assault and abuse of a then mmor. 3. At all times material to this cause of action, Defendant owned a residence located at 358 El Brillo Way, Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. 4. Defendant is presently a citizen of the United States Virgin Islands. Pursuant to the plea agreement entered by the Defendant in state court and the sentencing which occurred on June 30, 2008, Defendant is currently under community control in Palm Beach County, Florida. Sealed Podhurst Orseck, P.A. 25 West Flagler Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33130, Miami 305.358.2800 Fax 305.358.2382 • Fort Lauderdale 954.463.4346 www.podhurst.com Case 9:10-cv-80309-KAM Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/09/2010 Page 2 of 19 5. Defendant is an adult male born on January 20, 1953. 6. This Court has jurisdiction over this action and the claims set forth herein pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2255. 7. This Court has venue of this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), as a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claim occurred in this District. STATEMENT OF FACTS 8. At all relevant times, Defendant was an adult male spanning the ages of 45 and 55 years old. Defendant is known as a billionaire financier and money manager with a secret clientele limited exclusively to billionaires. He is a man of tremendous wealth, power, and influence. He owns a fleet of aircraft that includes a Gulfstream IV, a he1.icopter, and a Boeing 727, as well as a fleet of motor vehicles. Until his incarceration pursuant to the plea entered and sentencing, which occurred on June 30, 2008, he maintained his principal place of residence in the largest dwelling in Manhattan, a 51,000-square-foot eight-story mansion on the Upper East Side. He also owns a $6.8 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, a $30 million 7 ,500-acre ranch in New Mexico he named "Zorro," a 70-acre private island known as Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a mansion in London's Westminster neighborhood, and another residence in the Avenue Foch area of Paris. The allegations herein concern Defendant's conduct while at his lavish residence in Palm Beach and numerous other locations both nationally and internationally. 9. Defendant has a sexual preference for underage minor girls. He engaged in a plan, scheme, or enterprise in which he gained access to countless vulnerable and relatively economically disadvantaged minor girls, and sexually assaulted, molested, and/or exploited these girls, and then gave them money. Podhurst Orseck, P.A. 2 25 West Flagler Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33130, Miami 305.358.2800 Fax 305.358.2382 • Fort Lauderdale 954.463.4346 www.podhurst.com Case 9:10-cv-80309-KAM Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/09/2010 Page 3 of 19 10. Beginning in or around 1998 through in or around September 2007, Defendant used his resources and his influence over vulnerable minor girls to engage in a systematic pattern of sexually exploitative behavior. 11. Defendant's plan and scheme reflected a particular pattern and method. Defendant coerced and enticed impressionable, vulnerable, and relatively economically less fortunate minor girls to participate in various acts of sexual misconduct that he committed upon them. Defendant's scheme involved the use of underage girls, as well as other individuals, to recruit underage girls. Defendant and/or an authorized agent would call and alert Defendant's assistants shortly before or after he arrived at his Palm Beach residence. His assistants would call economically disadvantaged and underage girls from West Palm Beach and surrounding areas who would be enticed by the money being offered and who Defendant and/or his assistants perceived as less likely to complain to authorities or have credibility issues if allegations of improper conduct were made. The then minor Plaintiff and other minor girls, some as young as 14 years old, were transported to Defendant's Palm Beach mansion by Defondant's employees, agents, and/or assistants in order to provide Defendant with "massages." 12. Many of the instances of illegal sexual conduct committed by Defendant were perpetrated with the assistance, support, and facilitation of at least three assistants who helped him orchestrate this child exploitation enterprise. These assistants would arrange times for underage girls to come to Defendant's residence, transport or cause the transportation of underage girls to Defendant's residence, escmi the underage girls to the massage room where Defendant would be waiting or would enter shortly thereafter, urge the underage girls to remove their clothes, deliver cash from Defendant to the underage girls and/or their procurers at the conclusion of each "massage appointment," and assist Defendant in taking nude photographs Podhurst Orseck, P.A. 3 25 West Flagler Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33130, Miami 305.358.2800 Fax 305.358.2382 • Fort Lauderdale 954.463.4346 www.podhurst.com Case 9:10-cv-80309-KAM Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/09/2010 Page 4 of 19 and/or videos of the underage girls with and/or without their knowledge. Defendant would pay the procurer of each girl's "appointment" hundreds of dollars. 13. Defendant designed this scheme to secure a private place in Defendant's Palm Beach mansion where only persons employed and invited by Defendant would be present, so as to reduce the chance of detection of Defendant's sexual abuse and/or exploitation, as well as to make it more difficult for the minor girls to flee the premises and/or to credibly report his actions to law enforcement or other authorities. The girls were usually transported by his employee(s), agent(s), and/or assistant(s) and/or by taxicab(s) and/or motor vehicle(s) paid for by Defendant, which also made it difficult for the girls to flee his mansion. 14. Upon her initial arrival at Defendant's Palm Beach mans10n, each underage victim would generally be introduced to one of Defendant's assistants, who would gather the girl's personal contact information. The minor girl would be led up a remote flight of stairs to a room that contained a massage table and a large shower. 15. At times, if it was the girl's first "massage" appointment, another female would be in the room to "lead the way." Generally the other female would leave, or Defendant would dismiss her. Often, Defendant would start his massage wearing only a small towel, which eventually would be removed. Defendant and/or the other female would direct the girl to massage him, giving the minor girl specific instructions as to where and how he wanted to be touched, and then direct her to remove her clothing. Defendant would then perform one or more lewd, lascivious, and sexual acts, including masturbation; fondling the minor's breasts and/or sexual organs; touching the minor's vulva, vagina, and/or anus wit