Many of the children and young women who were sexually abused and trafficked for profit by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are still awaiting justice. But no amount of money can undo the damage they suffered.

In the fever pitch of coverage of the Epstein scandal and the political implications for President Donald Trump and his MAGA base, one thing is notably absent: discussion about the mental health impacts on girls and young women who were subject to sexual exploitation, sometimes on a prolonged basis.

Child and teen sexual abuse is linked to long-lasting trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a condition in which victims suffer from flashbacks, nightmares, depression, severe mood swings, and emotional detachment from family and friends. Victims might also suffer with dissociation, feelings of unreality, compulsive behaviors and depersonalization, “in which the world and people seems foggy and dreamlike,” according to the Mayo Clinic. It is not controversial to condemn such abuse – every major political party does.

So MAGA fury over Trump’s refusal to release Epstein-related files – a central promise of Trump’s campaign – isn’t surprising. The files would likely expose many rich and powerful perpetrators, as well as the long timeline of abuse, something I touched on in an Epstein-related story for Medium in September 2019: “Epstein’s Friend in Paris: Why Did the Modeling Industry Not Protect Its Teen Models After ‘Bombshell’ Expose of Sexual Abuse?” The story centered on an investigation that journalist Craig Pyes, a former colleague at the Center for Investigative Reporting, did for 60 Minutes in the late ’80s about French model agency founder and director Jean Luc Brunel, a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

My story about Epstein’s French connection began: “‘Wanted: Looking for beautiful American teenagers seeking an exciting, well-paid career as a model in Paris. Must be willing to grant sexual favors in exchange for work.” This wasn’t a real ad for Brunel’s agency, Karin Models, but for many women who passed through its doors, it might as well have been.”

Brunel reportedly drugged and raped many teenage models at his agency more than 30 years before financier Epstein’s arrest on alleged sex trafficking of dozens of minors, but sparked no investigation at the time. Brunel had a close relationship with Epstein, allegedly procuring underage girls for his pipeline, according to the Washington Post.

Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre was working as a teen at Mar-a-Lago when she was recruited as a masseuse by Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. She later charged in court documents that Epstein pressured her to have sex with Brunel when she was underage. 

She also quoted Epstein as saying he had slept with “over 1,000 of Brunel’s girls” and that Brunel once flew three French 12-year-olds to him as a “birthday present.” French police sought Brunel for questioning after Epstein’s arrest for sex trafficking, and he “vanished” for a year before being found at an airport, bound for Senegal. He died in prison in 2022.

Public photos of Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell show an ostensibly glamorous couple at high-society parties, but behind closed doors the pair was like The Sopranos, according to accounts from several victims. A story that has not received much coverage lately appeared in 2021 in USA Today, Business Insider, the Toronto Sun and others on a lawsuit filed against Epstein by a young woman who says that in 2008 she was sex-trafficked for months by Epstein, and he threatened to feed her to nearby alligators if she ever told anyone what had happened.

In the lawsuit, the woman says she was called to Epstein’s house when she was 26 to give him a haircut, but was instead raped by Epstein with the assistance of Maxwell. When she said she would call the police, Epstein and Maxwell called in two men who claimed to be police officers; they threatened to arrest the woman for prostitution and deport her 8-year-old son.

The two then ordered the crying woman to drive them to Naples, Florida, in her car, picking up her young son along the way. They stopped by an alligator-infested body of water along the road, the accounts said, and the two forced the woman and her son out of the car. 

“(Epstein) told her in explicit detail that, as had happened to other women in the past, she would end up in this body of water and be devoured by alligators should she ever reveal what Epstein had done to her,’’ the lawsuit stated.

Donald Trump had a close social relationship with Jeffrey Epstein for many years and frequently partied with him. His DOJ now says that Epstein’s “client list” never existed, although Attorney General Pam Bondi said in February that she had the list on her desk, and news reports say she “pressured” 1,000 agents to work 24-hour shifts combing through Epstein-related records. flagging any mentions of Donald Trump. 

Since this story first appeared, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump’s name appears in the Jeffrey Epstein files and quoted sources saying he had asked Bondi not to release the files for that reason, according to their sources. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson closed down Congress early for the summer in order to avoid a vote to release the Epstein files. 

Nonetheless, conservative Republican congressman Thomas Massie had vowed to call a vote on the files as soon as Congress is back in session:  “Americans were promised justice,” Massie said July 23 on social media. “Our binding bipartisan legislation to release the complete Epstein files now has 20 sponsors. Soon we can begin collecting signatures required to force a public vote in the U.S. House. Is your member on this list?”

Without the release of the files, it will be harder for survivors to find closure, especially since Epstein, Brunel, and Virginia Giuffre are now dead – all reported as suicides – although recent reporting found that the prison footage of Epstein on the night of his death has a nearly-three-minute gap. Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex trafficking, was moved to a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida in 2022. Late last week, Trump filed a libel lawsuit over another Wall Street Journal report on a birthday note about “wonderful secret(s)” he allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003.

Meanwhile, in what veteran prosecutors describe as a highly troubling and unorthodox move, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche just met for two days behind closed doors with Maxwell, a move that has caused speculation that the meeting involved discussion of a deal or pardon.

Update: On July 29, four days after this story reported Virginia Giuffre was hired by Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell at age 16 from her job at Mar-a-Lago and forced into sex trafficking by Maxwell and Epstein, Trump told reporters that Epstein had hired people away from Mar-a-Lago, and confirmed for the first time that Virginia Giuffre was one of them. He refused at first to say whether the other “people” Epstein hired were young women, but then confirmed it, adding “everyone knows who they were.” Trump claimed today that he broke off his relationship with Epstein after learning he ‘stole’ employees at Mar-a-Lago; however, the timeline does not match up, according to several outlets.