New York (AFP)

Four days after the death in prison of financier Jeffrey Epstein in New York, a victim of his alleged sexual assault filed a lawsuit against his alleged heirs and accomplices, while it appeared that the guards responsible for him had asleep.

Jennifer Araoz, 32, who claims that Mr. Epstein sexually assaulted her several times when she was 14 and 15 years old, claimed compensation from her heirs in the New York State Supreme Court, as well as than his alleged friend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and three other women whose identities were not revealed.

Ms. Araoz is one of the first known victims of Jeffrey Epstein to file a complaint under a New York law that comes into effect on Wednesday: adopted after the repeated pedophile scandals in the Church, she gives a year to alleged victims of sexual crimes to file a civil complaint, regardless of the age of the assaults.

"Epstein was found dead, apparently from a suicide, in his cell last week, and the fact that he will not have to personally answer me in court makes me angry, but my quest for justice is just beginning. ", wrote Ms. Araoz in an editorial published by The New York Times.

She explained how she was caught in Jeffrey Epstein's "trap", describing a similar modus operandi to that used against other victims of the rich and charismatic financier.

He had been charged in early July for multiple sexual assaults on minors, which would have occurred in his residences in Manhattan and Florida.

One of the "rappers" of the financier would have approached Ms. Araoz on the sidewalk in front of his high school New York. She would have told him about a rich man who could help her start the actress career she dreamed of.

The first visits to Manhattan's luxurious, camera-laden financial home were uneventful, according to Jennifer Araoz: For an hour or two, Jeffrey Epstein spoke to her, and she received $ 300 in cash after each interview.

But after less than a month, Mr. Epstein would have asked him to massage him and remove his top, claiming he had to see his body to help him find work as a model.

The aggression then worsened: he demanded to touch her to masturbate. After a year, in 2002, he raped her, she reports. She ended her visits, changed schools to get away from her neighborhood, and took years to talk to her relatives.

"To face the network of power and wealth that surrounded Epstein is frightening, but I am no longer afraid (...) The law is with me, we will see me, we will hear, I will ask for justice."

Other alleged victims would be preparing to sue the heirs of the American billionaire - his only known family is his brother Mark.

- Forged prison register -

Since the death of Jeffrey Epstein, who apparently hanged himself in his cell on Friday night at Manhattan federal prison, the US Attorney General has promised to hunt down the financier's possible accomplices.

Britain's Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late British media mogul Robert Maxwell, who has been close to Jeffrey Epstein for years, is the number one suspect.

Invisible for months, the British tabloid The Daily Mail said Wednesday have found its trace in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, where she would live discreetly with a companion.

While awaiting possible new charges, prison officials told the New York Times that jail guards in charge of guarding Jeffrey Epstein had slept for about three hours in the night from Friday to Saturday, when they were supposed to perform rounds every half hour.

They allegedly falsified a register by claiming to have made these rounds.

This information has not been officially confirmed. But the Justice Ministry on Tuesday announced the temporary transfer of the director of the prison, deemed one of the safest in the country, and the suspension of the two guards.

© 2019 AFP