Four women who say they were abused by Jeffrey Epstein urged state lawmakers on Monday to remove legal restrictions that limit victims' ability to seek justice from convicted sex traffickers.
“Our justice system allowed a web that protected the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected,” said Lara Blume McGee, who encountered Epstein when she was 17. “People and institutions that profited from and covered up a pedophile’s network.”
Blume McGee and the others testified before the Senate Codes Committee at the State Capitol in Albany as members considered three bills on the subject. One, sponsored by state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, D-Brooklyn, the committee’s chairman, would add penalties for those who benefit financially from sex trafficking, and allow victims to collect punitive damages from their estates.
Some of the women who testified at the hearing were sharing their stories for the first time. Glendys Espinal said she first met Epstein when she was a sophomore in high school. She said he manipulated her into giving him massages, which led to abuse.
“The Epstein estate has refused to help me, because they are arguing that the statute of limitations means that what happened to me is worth zero,” Espinal said.
Myrie’s bill also would provide a one-year window for victims to file claims that are beyond the statute of limitations. That would be key for victims of Epstein and other sex traffickers, according to other testimony at the hearing.
“Justice delayed, as we know, is justice denied,” said Kathryn Robb, a sexual abuse survivor, attorney and advocate for child protection legislation.. “In this case, the delay is not neutral. It is destructive, because with each passing day ... the Epstein estate is shrinking, and with it, survivors’ ability to maintain or have meaningful relief is shrinking as well.”,” said Kathryn Robb, a ‘sexual abuse survivor, attorney and advocate for child protection legislation.
The measures received bipartisan support from committee members but still face some hurdles in the Legislature. As of Monday, the package did not have an Assembly sponsor with just more than a month left in the session. But lawmakers are confident the legislation will receive wide support.
“We had survivors that came forward today for the first time ever in a very public way,” Myrie said. “And if they can demonstrate courage and bravery to speak about something so traumatic and do so in a public way, then we can get our act together and try to get some justice for them, too.”
The bills now head to the Senate floor.
