The lady who offered vital proof that allowed federal prosecutors to cost Jeffrey Epstein with intercourse trafficking of minors in 2019 is talking out publicly for the primary time, urging lawmakers to launch information associated to the convicted intercourse offender to assist his victims heal.
Sources say Marina Lacerda, 37, was recognized in Epstein’s 2019 indictment as “Minor-Sufferer 1” and offered key info that helped prosecutors put the intercourse offender behind bars.
Talking publicly for the primary time in an interview with ABC Information, Lacerda known as on the Trump administration to launch their information associated to Epstein and inspired different survivors of abuse to return ahead.
To see the complete interview, tune into ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET.
“I would love for them to provide all of the victims transparency, proper, to what occurred and launch these information. It is also not just for the victims, however for the American individuals,” Lacerda advised ABC Information’ Linsey Davis relating to Epstein, the rich financier and convicted intercourse offender who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.
Federal investigators first contacted Lacerda in 2008, however Epstein secured a controversial and once-secret non-prosecution settlement with federal prosecutors earlier than she might inform a grand jury about her allegations of childhood intercourse abuse. Investigators returned to Lacerda greater than ten years later, utilizing her experiences to construct a case that charged Epstein with intercourse trafficking minors in New York.
In response to the indictment, Lacerda first met Epstein when she was 14 years outdated in 2002 when she was recruited to return to his palatial New York dwelling to supply a therapeutic massage to Epstein — an interplay that in the end led to years of sexual abuse.
“His home was a revolving door. There was all the time ladies,” Lacerda advised ABC Information. “If he was in New York, he had his week prepped to see as many ladies as doable. I might say he was seeing about 5 to possibly eight girls, possibly much more, possibly as much as ten girls a day.”
Jeffrey Epstein in court docket in West Palm Seaside, Fla., July 30, 2008.
Uma Sanghvi/The Palm Seaside Publish by way of AP
After immigrating from Brazil together with her household, Lacerda mentioned she was dwelling in Queens and sharing a single bed room together with her mom and sister when she first met Epstein. A good friend first launched her to the financier, framing it as a possibility to generate profits to help her household.
“She had mentioned that, , I used to be going to therapeutic massage any person and there wasn’t a lot specifics,” Lacerda mentioned. “I wasn’t anticipating what led on to that day as a result of I believe with Jeffrey Epstein, it begins someplace, however then it ends. Both you having intercourse with them whether or not you prefer it or not.”
Over the following three years, Lacerda mentioned she turned part of a rising community of younger ladies recruited by Epstein in New York, assembly and being pressured to have intercourse with the disgraced financier two to a few instances per week.
“He pressured me to have intercourse with him. Principally. I actually had no alternative,” she mentioned.
Lacerda mentioned Epstein ultimately paid her 1000’s of {dollars}, and she or he believed being related to the financier would open doorways for her as an immigrant from Brazil.
She recalled that Epstein displayed images of high-profile celebrities and politicians in his dwelling, and that he performed cellphone calls with high-profile people.
“I believed that if I simply performed alongside that I would not be this immigrant from Brazil, , and that I might have one thing to look ahead,” she mentioned.
However Lacerda mentioned Epstein’s curiosity in her light as she grew older, and she or he started recruiting different younger girls for him.
“It got here to some extent after I was, I would say, 16 and a half or 17. He did not need me anymore. He was identical to, you are too outdated,” she mentioned.
Years later, Lacerda mentioned that FBI brokers arrived at her doorstep to ask questions on Epstein. She mentioned she instantly known as Epstein, who offered her with a lawyer. Whereas she ready to talk to the grand jury in 2008 about Epstein, the chance was minimize brief when Epstein secured a cope with prosecutors.
“I might have felt a lot better immediately talking if I used to be capable of communicate in 2008,” she mentioned. “In the event that they gave me the prospect to talk, these girls wouldn’t be by means of this.”
Eleven years later, the FBI contacted Lacerda again, as New York prosecutors opened a case into Epstein. Her expertise in the end offered prosecutors with key info to unravel his alleged community of kid intercourse abuse in New York.
The Trump administration has been dealing with the fallout from its resolution to not launch supplies associated to the investigation into Epstein following the blowback it obtained from MAGA supporters after it introduced final month that no further information could be launched.
Epstein, whose personal island property was within the U.S. Virgin Islands, has lengthy been rumored to have stored a “consumer record” of celebrities and politicians, which right-wing influencers have baselessly accused authorities of hiding.
The Justice Division and FBI introduced in July that that they had found no evidence that Epstein stored a consumer record, after a number of high officers, earlier than becoming a member of the administration, had themselves accused the federal government of protecting info relating to the Epstein case.
On Tuesday, Lacerda met with Congressional lawmakers alongside different survivors of Epstein. Many years after her abuse, she mentioned that the incessant protection of Epstein and the dearth of transparency solely exacerbate the hurt suffered by his victims.
“We have to have transparency. We want the Epstein information to be out,” she mentioned. “Right this moment I spoke about it — I need to have my information in order that I can start to heal.”
