One of the women who has spoken publicly about her experience with American financier Jeffrey Epstein, Juliette Bryant, has revealed new details about how, according to her, she was recruited with the promise of an international modeling career.
Bryant was living in South Africa, where she was studying psychology and philosophy, and had also started working as a model, when, according to her testimony, she met Epstein in a restaurant.
She says a girl approached her and told her that an influential person was in the room, accompanied by well-known public figures, including former US President Bill Clinton and actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker. She said she was also told that Epstein's friend Leslie Wexner owned the Victoria's Secret brand and that a meeting with them could help her career.
Bryant claims that after that meeting she was contacted again and asked to submit her modeling portfolio. She says Epstein's office provided her with visa documents, tickets and travel arrangements to the United States.
According to her, the procedures for obtaining a visa were unusually expedited. "Usually it is very difficult to obtain a visa in South Africa, but within about three weeks I was in the US," she said.
Bryant says it was only years later that she fully understood the situation she was involved in. She claims she was taken to a private island and isolated, never given any real modeling opportunities.
"I was shocked at the time, especially because it involved powerful people. They took me to an island and isolated me. There was never any concrete modeling offer. Basically, they cheated me," she confessed.
The island in question is linked to Epstein's private Caribbean property, known as Little Saint James, which became a symbol of his scandal.
Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors and later found dead in his New York City cell. His case has involved a wide range of charges and raised questions about his connections to prominent political and business figures.
