Alleged Epstein victim files first suit against estate

Four days after alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s death in federal custody, a woman alleging abuse by the late financier sued his estate under a New York law that suspends the statute of limitations for civil claims against sex crimes, according to Reuters.

The plaintiff, Jennifer Araoz, filed a lawsuit in state court in Manhattan Wednesday, the first day to file such claims under New York’s Child Victims Act.

{mosads}Araoz, 32, says in the lawsuit that an unidentified woman approached her when she was 14 years old outside her high school on the Upper East Side. 

She said she was brought to Epstein’s nearby mansion, and that he sexually abused her over the next several months, eventually raping her when she was 15, according to the news service.

Araoz also named former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell as a defendant, echoing other accusers’ claims that Maxwell was in charge of recruiting underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.

The lawsuit claims Maxwell was responsible for “ensuring that approximately three girls a day were made available to [Epstein] for his sexual pleasure.”

Lawyers for Maxwell and Epstein did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Epstein, who was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New Jersey in July, was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday morning. Attorney General William Barr has vowed a full investigation into the circumstances of his death, and reports this week indicated that guards overseeing him fell asleep and did not check on him for hours.

Hundreds of lawsuits are expected during the one-year window the state law provides, with complaints against the Archdiocese of New York, the Boy Scouts and Rockefeller University coming just after midnight.