A woman who once worked for Jeffrey Epstein reported his interest in 'child pornography' to the FBI in 1996, roughly a decade before federal investigators began scrutinising his predatory behaviour in a sustained way, The New York Times reported.
This week’s newly released tranche of Epstein files includes an FBI record dated September 3, 1996, describing a complaint to the FBI’s Miami office that accused Epstein of involvement in 'child pornography,' the earliest known report to federal law enforcement alleging child sexual exploitation by Epstein, according to coverage of the release.
For Maria Farmer, the existence of the document is the point. She has said for years she contacted federal authorities in the summer of 1996, a claim that, she told NYT, was doubted even by people closely tracking the case.
Farmer’s account also names Trump; White House denies it
Farmer told The New York Times she saw Donald J. Trump in 1995 at Epstein’s Manhattan office, describing an encounter in which she says Trump hovered near her and stared at her legs while she was wearing running shorts. She recalled Epstein entering the room and telling Trump: “No, no. She’s not here for you.” After the two men left, Farmer said she heard Trump comment that he thought she was 16, according to the Times. The White House has denied her account.
Farmer later broke with Epstein after what she described as a sexual assault by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the Times reported. She said she then discovered nude photographs of her sisters were missing.
What the FBI report says
The FBI document describes the complainant (name redacted) as a 'professional artist' who had taken photographs of her younger sisters, ages 12 and 16, for her artwork, and believed Epstein 'stole the photos and negatives' and may have sold them. It also records a claim that Epstein asked for pictures of young girls at swimming pools, and includes an alleged threat to “burn [her] house down” if she told anyone, according to reporting on the released file.
The FBI has not publicly explained what action, if any, it took in response at the time. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, The New York Times reported.
“They can’t call me a liar anymore”
Farmer told The New York Times she felt vindicated after the Times showed her the FBI report stamped September 3, 1996, and devastated that nothing appears to have stopped Epstein for years after. Her reaction underlines a second story inside the paperwork: not just what Epstein did, but what institutions failed to do.
The accountability question that follows the paper trail
Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented many Epstein victims, told the Times that if the FBI had acted on Farmer’s complaint, the government could have stopped Epstein in the 1990s and prevented hundreds of victims from being abused. Edwards called for a full investigation into who knew about the report and why it was not acknowledged publicly, the Times reported.
Separately, broader coverage of the files release has highlighted the political and institutional tension around what was disclosed, what was redacted, and what remains unreleased. The Justice Department’s first tranche has drawn criticism for being incomplete and heavily redacted even as officials cite victim-protection and legal constraints.
A case that keeps circling back to power
Farmer has also said she urged investigators to look beyond Epstein himself, toward his 'orbit' and access to powerful people. In her account to The New York Times, she cited figures including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. The White House has denied her account, the Times reported.
The newly released FBI report, as described in public coverage, does not include names like Ghislaine Maxwell or other powerful associates, despite Farmer’s long-held focus on Maxwell’s role.
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