ALBANY – Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein choked back tears Monday as they demanded state lawmakers fix a legal loophole barring them from going after the wealthy pedophile’s estate.
The four women begged state senators to give them an avenue to seek recourse against Epstein, who lived a lavish lifestyle before he was busted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019 and died behind bars while awaiting trial.
“It should not be a political issue. This is a human rights issue,” Lara Blume McGee, an Arkansas woman who has said she was sexually abused by Epstein while pursuing a modeling career in New York City, told reporters after the hearing.
Glendys Espinal, a Bronx woman who spoke publicly for the first time about Epstein’s alleged abuse, said his estate has argued it doesn’t owe her a dime due to the existing statute of limitations.
“The Epstein estate has refused to help me because they are arguing that the statute of limitations means that what happened to me is worth zero,” Espinal said, choking back tears and needing to pause at moments during her testimony.
She said she was a sophomore in high school when she was first introduced to Epstein, who “tricked” her into “massages” before sexually assaulting her.
The emotional testimony — which also included two other women who said they were abused by Epstein, Carine de Deus and Alexandra Golematis — came as state Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) seeks support for his bill that would update New York’s sex trafficking statutes.
Existing law prevents people from suing the estate of someone who has died for punitive damages.
Jordan Merson, an attorney for several of the victims, said that many politicians have “talked the talk” on demanding justice for Epstein’s survivors, but that they need to actually do something now.
“New York really has a chance to be a leader on this issue,” he said.
Myrie’s bill passed in committee unanimously, including with support from Republican senators, but a version of the legislation has yet to be introduced in the state Assembly.
It’s unclear whether it will be able to pass both houses of the legislature and land on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk before lawmakers bolt for the year on June 4.