Sex-criminal financier Jeffrey Epstein housed women who say he abused them in several London flats in the years after UK police decided not to investigate him, the BBC can reveal. We found evidence of four flats, rented in the affluent borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in receipts, emails and bank records contained within the Epstein files. Six of the women housed in them have since come forward as victims of Epstein's abuse.
Many of them - from Russia, eastern Europe and elsewhere - were brought to the UK after the Metropolitan Police decided not to investigate Virginia Giuffre's 2015 allegation that she had been a victim of international trafficking to London. The Met said it followed 'reasonable lines of inquiry' at the time, interviewing Giuffre on multiple occasions following her complaint and co-operating with US investigators.
Some of the women housed in the London flats were coerced by Epstein to recruit others into his sex trafficking scheme, as well as regularly transported to Paris by Eurostar to visit him, according to emails in the files. The BBC searched through millions of pages of records gathered by the US Department of Justice in its investigation of the disgraced financier, and released as part of the Epstein files, in order to piece together the most detailed picture yet of his operation in the UK.
It shows how the operation grew more extensive than was previously known - with more victims, established infrastructure such as housing, and frequent transportation of women across borders - right up to Epstein's death, despite warnings to UK police. We are not publishing any details about the young women to protect their anonymity as the victims of sexual abuse. Our investigation found British police had other opportunities to open an inquiry into the disgraced financier's activities in the UK, in addition to Giuffre's complaint that she had been trafficked and forced to have sex with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2001. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing.
Despite their desirable addresses, the flats were sometimes crowded, leading to poor living conditions that Epstein would react angrily to when complained about. Reports indicate that Epstein orchestrated a far-reaching trafficking network that spanned across not just the UK but also Europe, raising serious concerns about the roles played by others in his criminal endeavors.
Many of them - from Russia, eastern Europe and elsewhere - were brought to the UK after the Metropolitan Police decided not to investigate Virginia Giuffre's 2015 allegation that she had been a victim of international trafficking to London. The Met said it followed 'reasonable lines of inquiry' at the time, interviewing Giuffre on multiple occasions following her complaint and co-operating with US investigators.
Some of the women housed in the London flats were coerced by Epstein to recruit others into his sex trafficking scheme, as well as regularly transported to Paris by Eurostar to visit him, according to emails in the files. The BBC searched through millions of pages of records gathered by the US Department of Justice in its investigation of the disgraced financier, and released as part of the Epstein files, in order to piece together the most detailed picture yet of his operation in the UK.
It shows how the operation grew more extensive than was previously known - with more victims, established infrastructure such as housing, and frequent transportation of women across borders - right up to Epstein's death, despite warnings to UK police. We are not publishing any details about the young women to protect their anonymity as the victims of sexual abuse. Our investigation found British police had other opportunities to open an inquiry into the disgraced financier's activities in the UK, in addition to Giuffre's complaint that she had been trafficked and forced to have sex with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2001. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing.
Despite their desirable addresses, the flats were sometimes crowded, leading to poor living conditions that Epstein would react angrily to when complained about. Reports indicate that Epstein orchestrated a far-reaching trafficking network that spanned across not just the UK but also Europe, raising serious concerns about the roles played by others in his criminal endeavors.
