Epstein Survivor Exposes Cultish Control, Money Scheme

When Julia Molchanova opened a credit-monitoring app in 2019, she says it revealed something she hadn't fully grasped: Jeffrey Epstein, she says, had been using her name to facilitate his sex trafficking. In a detailed piece for the Wall Street Journal, Khadeeja Safdar reports that Molchanova, a Russian design student who met Epstein on a New York sidewalk at 22, was groomed with false promises of a fashion career and an education at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Instead, she says, she became one of the "assistants" he used as cover for years of sexual abuse and manipulation, including dictating her clothing, relationships, and income.

But there was a financial twist, too: Safdar reports that Epstein's team registered an LLC and bank accounts in Molchanova's name. At the time, she says she felt hopelessly ensnared in Epstein's financial web and even confronted him in an email in which she wrote that she wanted her "normal life" back. Afterward, she cut ties with him. The story reveals that Molchanova, now 37, was the lead plaintiff in a class-action suit filed last year accusing Bank of America of ignoring red flags, which resulted in a $72.5 million settlement for dozens of victims. For the full account of how Molchanova got pulled in—and got out—read the Journal investigation.