Control, threats, disfiguring surgery: My life inside Jeffrey Epstein's 'cult'
A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's inner circle describes the coercive control and abuse she experienced while working as one of his assistants. She details how Epstein manipulated women through financial control, psychological abuse, and forced medical procedures.
Why it matters
This testimony provides critical insight into the mechanics of abuse used by high-profile sex traffickers to maintain control over victims.
By Chi Chi Izundu , Olivia Davies and Will Dahlgreen , BBC News Investigations Published 18 July 2026, 06:10 BST In the week after the sex-criminal financier Jeffrey Epstein died, Anya (not her real name) opened the door of her New York apartment. Outside was Epstein's brother, Mark, telling her she had to leave, she says.
Anya had lived for years in one of several flats on East 66th Street in Manhattan used by Jeffrey Epstein to house women he abused. In one moment, she lost her home but escaped a nightmare. (Mark Epstein denies he was aware of his brother's wrongdoing.)
"I'm still struggling to reconcile with the fact that I was abused for years," Anya says. "You were not chained to a door or something, right? You were not locked up in a basement. The chains were less obvious, but they were there."
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