Life Inside Jeffrey Epstein's 'Cult': Control, Threats, and Disfiguring Surgery
A woman identified as Anya (not her real name) gives a rare account of being one of Jeffrey Epstein's 'assistants,' revealing how the financier used long-term, deceptive grooming to control and exploit women.
In the week after sex-criminal financier Jeffrey Epstein died, Anya (not her real name) opened the door of her New York apartment to find Epstein's brother, Mark, telling her she had to leave, she says. Anya had lived for years in one of several flats on East 66th Street in Manhattan used by Epstein to house women he abused. In that moment, she lost her home but escaped a nightmare.
Anya says Epstein used to say his operation was 'like a cult, and he was the cult leader.' She was one of Epstein's 'assistants' — a group of women, roughly a dozen at a time, who were housed by him, worked all hours, and were regularly sexually abused.
The process began with elaborate deception. Anya met modelling scout Daniel Siad in Paris, who praised her intelligence and suggested introducing her to Epstein. At their first meeting, Epstein asked Anya to undress so he could examine her body, telling her she was 'not in shape.' Over nearly a year, Anya exercised religiously to meet his demands, but Epstein stringed her along with empty promises of career connections.
Eventually, Epstein sexually assaulted her in Palm Beach, Florida, while he was on day release from his sentence for abusing a teenage girl. After the assault, he acted as if nothing had happened, and Anya blamed herself.
Anya became completely dependent on Epstein. He controlled her finances, dictated who she could see, psychologically demeaned her, and forced her to undergo unnecessary, disfiguring surgery. She had no bank account; he was her 'medical insurance.' He only started paying her a small salary years later.
Epstein also collected compromising material — nude photos and videos — and used them as leverage. He made assistants write 'gratitude letters.' When one assistant ran away, he hired a private investigator and showed Anya a bill for $700,000, making clear she would be hunted if she left.
Anya finally escaped after Epstein's death when she was evicted from her apartment. Psychologist Dr. Tara Quinn-Cirillo notes that adults can be vulnerable to such grooming, and Epstein's method was slow and stealthy. Anya hopes her story helps others understand that such abuse can be as confining as physical chains.
