The FBI Ignored an Early Warning About Epstein. Decades Later, It Went Looking for the Evidence.

The FBI is entangled in a long-running legal battle with Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors, who blame the agency for ignoring their complaints and allowing the wealthy sex offender to harm as many as 1,000 women around the globe.

Internal documents found by Sourcebase in a trove of Epstein files released by the Justice Department offer new details of the FBI’s slow response and its scramble to find missing records after victims began publicly speaking out about Epstein’s crimes.

In 2019, after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and died in his prison cell, agents in New York scrambled to track down the original victim complaint, the documents show. Two sisters who claimed Epstein abused them had detailed their frustrations with law enforcement in a New York Times story.

The first complaint from one of the sisters, artist Maria Farmer, had been logged into FBI files on September 3, 1996. She alleged that Epstein stole semi-nude photographs of her underage sisters and threatened to burn down her house if she tried to retrieve them. She told the FBI she suspected Epstein was collecting child pornography for possible commercial use.

Farmer, who worked for Epstein in New York, later claimed she was sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell while visiting another of his homes in New Albany, Ohio. Farmer claimed she was rescued by her family after making panicked phone calls for help from Epstein’s property.

Back in New York, Farmer sought help from law enforcement. She filed a report focused on the stolen photographs with the Sixth Precinct of the New York City Police Department, but officers referred her to the FBI because the stolen property may have crossed state lines.

Farmer wrote about the incident in her journal, noting that she went to law enforcement because “the evil J. Epstein and Maxwell tried to ruin my life.” Farmer, who is battling cancer and other health issues, was unavailable for comment.

Farmer’s 1996 complaint received “no action,” according to an email exchange among FBI officials. It was buried in what the agency calls a“zero file,” an FBI term for miscellaneous tips or complaints not linked to an active criminal investigation.

One assistant FBI director, whose name is redacted, fretted in an email that the paper copy of Farmer’s original complaint might have been destroyed in Hurricane Sandy, when thousands of archived FBI records were lost because of flooding.

If so, the official said, “then obviously we are SOL [shit out of luck] on getting content.” The records show the Miami field office dug out an electronic copy of the complaint and forwarded it to New York on August 28, 2019.

The issue resurfaced again inside the FBI in 2023. Farmer was preparing to bring an administrative claim with the FBI seeking $600 million in damages for “grievous psychological injury.” Farmer claimed she had reported that young girls came and went from Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion, and she believed he and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, kept images of young girls and boys in a “modeling book” they stored in a locked safe.

Farmer’s complaint recapped her attempts to notify law enforcement in 1996 but said the FBI took no action until agents showed up unannounced at her home in North Carolina and interviewed her in November, 2006. They told her they were aware of her 1996 complaint. The agents kept notes of the interview but did not file a formal report.

Agents told her they were working on a case in Florida involving Epstein’s solicitation of minors for prostitution, and said “ they wanted her to testify against Epstein to make sure that he was stopped,” she said in her claim.

When the FBI searched Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, they seized pornographic photos, including nude pictures of underage girls.

Farmer and others never testified in Florida because Epstein negotiated a lenient non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty to state charges. He served 13 months in jail, much of it in a work release program, then returned to New York and his jet-setting lifestyle.

A 2020 investigation by the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility found that then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta exercised “poor judgment” by negotiating the plea deal that left Epstein survivors feeling betrayed by their government.

Documents show that in August 2023, an attorney in the FBI’s general counsel’s office began seeking information on what happened to Farmer’s 1996 complaint.

“Does anyone have any insight on whether this report existed and if we have documentation on it?” the attorney asked.

“Based on the fact that it ended up in a Zero file, Id [sic] assume no action was taken on it,” replied an agent in the New York child exploitation task force, which handled the Epstein case.

Farmer proved correct that Epstein was stashing pornography in the safe of his limestone mansion. When the FBI searched his New York residence after his 2019 arrest, agents reported finding thousands of photos and videos, including many involving underage girls.

“Another disc is labeled ‘Nudes 00-24.’ Another is labeled ‘Misc. Nudes.’ Yet another is labeled ‘Girl Pics Nude,’” according to an affidavit from an FBI agent involved in the search.

Farmer filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI in May 2025 and it was transferred to the Southern District of Florida, where a separate case brought by more than 30 survivors is pending before US District Court Judge David S. Leibowitz. The judge is also weighing whether the cases should be consolidated.

The anonymous survivors are seeking damages of up to $320 million in damages. Plaintiffs lawyers have cited as precedent a 2024 federal settlement of $138.7 million to resolve claims brought by more than a hundred sexual assault victims of Larry Nassar, a physician and official of USA Gymnastics. The FBI declined to comment on pending litigation.

Cases alleging law enforcement negligence face steep hurdles, however, under federal tort laws that limit government liability. “Federal law enforcement agencies often make mistakes but rarely pay for them,” concludes a recent legal analysis by the editor of the Emory Law Journal, Justin R. Harvey.

Plaintiffs in one case, who are mostly anonymous, had a setback last week when US Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe sided with DOJ lawyers to block a subpoena for Attorney General Todd Blanche. McCabe based his decision on a separation-of-powers doctrine intended to protect high-ranking government offricials from judicial subpoenas “except in rare circumstances,” according to his order.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have contended that Blanche “told a roomful of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking twice that the FBI failed to properly investigate Jeffrey Epstein before 2007,” according to a court filing. They say Blanche made the comments during a tense meeting with survivors on July 16, when Blanche agreed to meet with them after a Republican senator demanded it before voting for his confirmation.

Blanche told reporters after the meeting that he could not guarantee the women that the DOJ will bring more criminal charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term for sex trafficking.

“There’s something that they want that I don’t think I can give them, which is some form of justice,” Blanche said.