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Jeffrey Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell (undated recording): Repeated reports, complaints and tips about sexual crimes and human rights violations

Photo: SDNY / imago images/ZUMA Press

In the USA, a dozen alleged victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have filed a lawsuit against the FBI. They accuse the US Federal Police of failing to investigate adequately.

“For more than two decades, the Federal Bureau of Investigation facilitated the sex trafficking and sexual abuse of numerous children and young women by Jeffrey Epstein,” says the lawsuit filed in a New York court. The FBI did not do the job the American people expected of it. The civil lawsuit should now clarify “the FBI’s role in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring once and for all.”

The twelve plaintiffs demanded an unspecified compensation payment. Her lawsuit follows the release last month of court documents that named the identities of 150 to 180 people said to have had ties to Epstein and his former mistress Ghislaine Maxwell.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019. The businessman, who had connections in the highest circles, is said to have sexually abused numerous girls, including underage girls, and introduced them to other men. About a month after his arrest, Epstein was found dead in his cell at the age of 66. According to official information, he took his own life.

For decades, the abuse of numerous minors is said to have taken place at Epstein's properties in New York, Florida, Santa Fe and the Virgin Islands. An earlier indictment against Epstein resulted in a very advantageous deal for the entrepreneur, which made him a symbol of a social elite that can get away with crime.

The FBI lawsuit that has now been filed is based on information that from 1996 to 2006 the US Federal Police repeatedly received reports, complaints and tips about sexual crimes and human rights violations by Epstein and his accomplices, but did not sufficiently investigate them.

In 2005, the Palm Beach police informed the FBI that a 14-year-old had been brought to Epstein's estate for sex. However, the FBI did not initiate an investigation until a year later, according to the lawsuit. The “gross negligence of the FBI” led to “continued sexual abuse in the hands of Jeffrey Epstein” for the twelve plaintiffs.

kha/AFP/Reuters