Nicolai Haugsted
Victim says she realized Jeffrey Epstein was “untouchable” after seeing sheriff’s deputy.
Jeffrey Epstein was already serving a sentence for sex crimes when, according to multiple women, the abuse continued unchecked. New accounts are now shedding fresh light on how the convicted financier allegedly carried on offending despite being under court supervision.
One of those women, Roza Gilles, has shared her story in an extensive interview with CNN, accusing the justice system of allowing Epstein to continue exploiting young women while serving his sentence.
Roza Gilles says she first encountered Jeffrey Epstein in 2009 after moving to the United States from Uzbekistan.
Through model scout Jean-Luc Brunel, who had close ties to Epstein, she was offered a part-time receptionist job at the Florida Science Foundation. According to Gilles, her first day at work marked the beginning of years of abuse.
At the time, she had no idea who Epstein was or why he was wearing a black plastic device around his ankle.
Only later did she discover it was an electronic ankle monitor he was required to wear while serving a sentence after pleading guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution.
According to Gilles, the abuse continued throughout that period.
“He didn’t stop doing what he was doing while he was convicted. He did exactly the same thing. He had no remorse. What he did to me hurt me so deeply and left the biggest scars, and I will never… I will never be able to move on from it, no matter how hard I try,” she told CNN.
Plea deal faces renewed criticism
Epstein’s controversial plea agreement allowed him to continue working as president of the Florida Science Foundation while spending large portions of each day outside jail.
Gilles argues that the arrangement effectively gave him the opportunity to keep offending.
CNN also reports that two other women later filed complaints in 2019, alleging they too were abused by Epstein while he was serving his sentence under the same agreement.
Several women, speaking anonymously to CNN, claim law enforcement officers were stationed in nearby rooms while some of the abuse allegedly took place.
The officers were assigned to monitor Epstein because he was a registered sex offender, but the women say they never intervened.
Gilles recalls one morning walking into the kitchen of Epstein’s mansion in West Palm Beach and seeing a sheriff’s deputy inside the house.
For a brief moment, she believed authorities had finally come to stop him.
Instead, she says, the deputy laughed and chatted with Epstein before leaving.
“After I saw that sheriff, I realized that no matter what anyone did, that man would never be arrested. That man would never be stopped, and no matter if you screamed and shouted to the entire universe, nobody was going to care,” she said.
Gilles says Epstein abused her almost every weekend while she was in West Palm Beach.
According to her account, the abuse continued even after his sentence ended, this time at his New York residence.
CNN reports that additional women have described similar experiences, alleging they were assaulted both at Epstein’s office and during the period when he was serving his sentence under the controversial plea deal.
