EFTA00023292.pdf

Case 1:19-cv-10577-LJL-DCF Document 1 Filed 11/14/19 Page 1 of 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK JANE DOE 1000, Plaintiff, CASE NO: v. DARREN K. INDYKE and RICHARD D. KAHN, in their capacities as the executors of the ESTATE OF JEFFREY EDWARD EPSTEIN, Defendants. COMPLAINT BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP 1 EFTA00023292 Case 1:19-cv-10577-LJL-DCF Document 1 Filed 11/14/19 Page 2 of 14 Plaintiff Jane Doe 1000, by her attorneys Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, for her Complaint against Defendants, Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn in their capacities as the executors of the Estate of Jeffrey Edward Epstein ("Epstein"), avers upon personal knowledge as to her own acts and status and upon information and belief and to all other matters as follows: NATURE OF THE ACTION 1. This suit arises out of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of Plaintiff. 2. Jane Doe 1000 was sexually trafficked by Epstein as part of his organized ring of procuring young and underage girls for sex. One of Epstein's co-conspirators contacted Jane Doe after a modeling appearance and arranged to have Jane Doe meet Epstein under the false pretense that he was involved in the modeling industry and wanted to interview her about opportunities. Rather than help her with her modeling career, Epstein manipulated and intimidated Jane Doe and subjected her to years of sexual abuse in his New York mansion. 3. Epstein's trafficking scheme involved recruiting young females by making false promises and using his wealth, power and threats to intimidate the females into submission to his demands. This same pattern was repeated numerous times with numerous young women. 4. As United States District Judge Kenneth Marra found, "From between about 1999 and 2007, Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused more than 30 minor girls . . . at his mansion in Palm Beach Florida, and elsewhere in the United States and overseas. . . . In addition to his own sexual abuse of the victims, Epstein directed other persons to abuse the girls sexually. Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him. Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others." Doe 1 v. United States, 359 F. Supp. 3d 1201, 1204 (S.D. Fla. 2019) (internal citations omitted). 2 EFTA00023293 Case 1:19-cv-10577-LJL-DCF Document 1 Filed 11/14/19 Page 3 of 14 5. Epstein organized this sex trafficking network to obtain hundreds of young females for himself for sex, and also lent these females out to other powerful and wealthy individuals to be sexually abused. 6. Epstein conspired with others and hired staff to maintain and keep secret this network of sexual abuse for years, which sprawled throughout Epstein's residences in New York, Florida, New Mexico, the United States Virgin Islands, and Paris. Epstein's preference was to have three different young females a day for his sexual pleasure. 7. Despite his significant criminal activity, in 2008 Epstein received a shockingly minimal charge pleading guilty to a single Florida state law charge of procuring a minor for prostitution and a non-prosecution agreement (a "NPA") with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Unknown to the public and the victims at the time, Epstein's lawyers were pressuring the Government to commit to the NPA without informing the victims. Epstein's multiple victims were kept in the dark and told to be "patient" while Epstein's lawyers worked to protect him and other potential co-conspirators from prosecution. Epstein served one year in jail, but was afforded the privilege of being able to leave the jail to go to work for twelve hours per day, six days per week. 8. The NPA allowed Epstein to escape proportionate punishment for his actions and to continue operating his sex trafficking enterprise with liberty. 9. A few years later, Epstein flippantly referred to his sexual abuse of multiple minors, and the slap on the wrist he had received for it, in a 2011 interview with the New York Post: "Billionaire pervert Jeffrey Epstein is back in New York City — and making wisecracks about his just-ended jail stint for having sex with an underage girl. 'I am not a sexual predator, I'm an offender,' the financier told The Post yesterday. 'It's the difference between a murderer and a 3 EFTA00023294 Case 1:19-cv-10577-LJL-DCF Document 1 Filed 11/14/19 Page 4 of 14 person who steals a bagel,' said Epstein." Amber Sutherland, Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein: I'm a Sex Offender Not a Predator, N.Y. Post (Feb. 25, 2011), https://nypost.com/2011/02/25/billionaire-jeffrey-epstein-im-a-sex-offender-not-a-predatort 10. In August 2018, just one year before his death, Epstein told a New York Times reporter "that criminalizing sex with teenage girls was a cultural aberration and that at times in history it was perfectly acceptable." James B. Stewart, The Day Jeffrey Epstein Told Me He Had Dirt on Powerful People, N.Y. Times (Aug. 12, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-interview.html. II. When Plaintiff was a young woman, Epstein added her to his long list of victims by committing sexual assault and battery against her. As such, Epstein is responsible for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress pursuant to New York common law. The damage to Plaintiff has been severe and lasting. 12. This action has been timely filed pursuant to N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 215(8)(a), which provides that a plaintiff shall have at least one year from the termination of a criminal action against the same defendant to commence an action with respect to the event or occurrence from which the criminal action arose. A criminal action against Epstein with respect to the same sex trafficking enterprise from which Plaintiff's claims arise was terminated on August 29, 2019. 13. This action has also been timely filed pursuant to N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213-C, which provides that a plaintiff shall have 20 years to file civil claims "for physical, psychological or other injury or condition suffered by such person as a result of conduct which would constitute" certain sex crimes under New York Penal Law Article 130. Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sexually assaulted Plaintiff by forcible compulsion within 20 years of filing this Complaint, and that sexual assault constitutes one or more sex crimes described in N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213-C. 4 EFTA00023295 Case 1:19-cv-10577-LJL-DCF Document 1 Filed 11/14/19 Page 5 of 14 14. Any statute of limitations applicable to Plaintiff's claims, if any, is tolled due to the continuous and active deception, duress, threats of retaliation, and other forms of misconduct that Epstein and his co-conspirators used to silence his many victims, including Plaintiff. Epstein's actions deprived Plaintiff of the opportunity to commence this lawsuit before his death. Until his death, Plaintiff feared that Epstein and his co-conspirators would harm her or her family, or ruin her life, if she came forward. 15. Defendants are equitably estopped from asserting a statute of limitations defense. Allowing Defendants to do so would be unjust. Epstein and his co-conspirators intimidated each of his victims into silence by threatening their lives and their livelihoods. They therefore prevented Plaintiff from commencing this lawsuit before his death. By using threats, along with his wealth and power, Epstein was able to escape punishment for his intolerable and brutal crimes against countless young women and underage girls for the duration of his life. PARTIES 16. Plaintiff Jane Doe 1000 is a citizen and resident of New Jersey. 17. Defendant Darren K. Indyke is sued in his capacity as an appointed executor of the Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein. 18. Defendant Richard D. Kahn is sued in his capacity as an appointed executor of the Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein. JU