Boies Schiller Sues Jeffrey Epstein Estate on Behalf of 3 Sexual Abuse Accusers
The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, include claims for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress by plaintiffs who said they met Epstein and his companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, between 1995 and 2002.
November 12, 2019 at 03:21 PM
5 minute read
Boies Schiller Flexner attorneys on Tuesday sued the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on behalf of at least three women who said they were sexually abused by the deceased financier after being recruited into his alleged sex-trafficking network in New York.
The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, include claims for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress by plaintiffs who said they met Epstein and his companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, between 1995 and 2002.
Two of the women, Maria and Annie Farmer, were the subjects of New York Times reporting in August, which identified the two sisters as the first to report abusive behavior by Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse. Though the FBI took up an investigation, the Times reported, a widely criticized 2008 plea deal eventually derailed any federal prosecution.
According to Maria Farmer's complaint, Epstein had hired her to purchase art for him, though her job responsibilities soon shifted to "focus on monitoring and keeping records of who entered Epstein's New York mansion." She said that Epstein took interest in personal details about her family, and upon hearing that she had a younger sister, arraigned to have 16-year-old Annie flown to New York.
While there, Maria Farmer said, Epstein groped Annie in a movie theater and eventually flew the girl to his New Mexico ranch, where he assaulted her. In her own lawsuit, Annie Farmer said that Maxwell, a British socialite who has been accused of procuring young women and underage girls for Epstein, pressured her to have physical contact with Epstein and that both adults participated in the abuse, under the guise of a massage.
Both of the Farmer sisters are represented in the litigation by David Boies, Joshua Schiller and Sigrid McCawley of Boies Schiller.
Maria Farmer claimed in her filing that "Maxwell was regularly bringing school-aged girls to the mansion" in New York, and that they were always escorted upstairs. Maria Farmer, who was 26 years old at the time, said she was told that the girls were interviewing for modeling positions with lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret and was unaware of Epstein's sex-trafficking conspiracy at the time.
The complaint included a reference to former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who she said visited the mansion "on a number of occasions" and "would go upstairs at the same time the young girls were there."
While the filing did not contain any explicit allegations of wrongdoing by Dershowitz, it did signal the latest salvo in an ongoing feud between the professor and Boies Schiller, which has represented Epstein accusers in a range of civil litigation.
Until recently, Boies and McCawley represented Virginia Giuffre, who claimed that Dershowitz had defamed her through his strong denials of forced sex. Dershowitz has filed counterclaims against Giuffre, and last week Boies sued Dershowitz, claiming that he had falsely accused him of extortion.
Dershowitz has repeatedly and forcefully denied allegations that he had sex with anyone in Epstein's orbit. On Tuesday he said Maria Farmer's account that she had seen him at Epstein's mansion in 1995 was "categorically" false.
According to Dershowitz, he never visited Epstein's home until after Maria Farmer ended her connection to the financier in the summer of 1996. He said the passage would work to undermine her credibility moving forward.
"It just shows that Boies is more interested in going after me" than in helping his own client, Dershowitz said in a brief phone interview.
Boies was not immediately available to comment Tuesday.
A third plaintiff, Teresa Helm, on Tuesday said that she was recruited by a fellow massage-therapy student in 2002 to interview for a traveling masseuse position with a wealthy couple in New York. After speaking with Epstein employee Sarah Kellen, Helm said she was flown to Manhattan, where she was to be housed at a 66th Street apartment, which housed "many of the models and other young women" Epstein was abusing.
Soon after, Helm said, Epstein sexually assaulted her as she tried to leave the room after he pushed his foot into "her intimate parts" during a foot massage. Helm said she was so traumatized by the encounter that did not finish massage therapy school with the same certification that she initially set out to achieve and returned to Ohio shortly after the alleged assault.
All three lawsuits named Darren Indyke, a longtime attorney for Epstein, and Richard Kahn, who were named executors of Epstein's estate following his apparent suicide in August. Indyke and Kahn are named solely as executors of the estate
While Epstein's death in federal custody terminated the criminal case against him, plaintiffs have sued his estate for civil damages—a process experts have said could take years to complete.
Prosecutors in Manhattan, meanwhile, say they are continuing to investigate whether any of Epstein's associates and employees could have been linked to the conspiracy.
Read More:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllManhattan Prosecutors Say They Will Oppose Efforts by Trump Legal Team to Dismiss Case
Trump's SEC Likely to Halt 'Off-Channel' Texting Probe That's Led to Billions in Fines
White & Case Settles Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit With City Agreeing to Pay $9.45 Million
Trending Stories
- 1Voir Dire Voyeur: I Find Out What Kind of Juror I’d Be
- 2When It Comes to Local Law 97 Compliance, You’ve Gotta Have (Good) Faith
- 3Legal Speak at General Counsel Conference East 2024: Virginia Griffith, Director of Business Development at OutsideGC
- 4Legal Speak at General Counsel Conference East 2024: Bill Tanenbaum, Partner & Chair, AI & Data Law Practice Group at Moses Singer
- 5Morgan & Morgan Looks to Grow Into Complex Litigation While Still Keeping its Billboards Up
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250