에프스타인 피해자들의 정의 추구, 새로운 무대 찾다: 뉴욕 올버니

Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein will testify at the State Capitol next week in support of a bill that would enable them to seek punitive damages from his estate.

More than a half-decade after Jeffrey Epstein’s death, the pursuit of justice — and of financial damages — has found its way to the New York State Capitol.

Two women who have accused Mr. Epstein of sexual misconduct are expected to appear in Albany next week to describe the horrors they experienced and the system that allowed the financier’s abuse to continue for so long. Their testimony will come at a hearing for a bill that seeks to alter the state’s sex-trafficking laws to better account for the kinds of crimes that Mr. Epstein was accused of.

The proposed legislation would make it possible for victims of Mr. Epstein to seek punitive damages in state lawsuits against his estate and the people who worked with him. It would also criminalize the actions of people who help perpetuate sex trafficking and benefit from schemes set up by people like Mr. Epstein.

“When the abuser dies, the impact does not die,” said Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat from Brooklyn who introduced the bill. “The effects do not die, and, for victims and survivors — notably in the Epstein cases but more broadly — they cannot recover from the estate in a way that I think New Yorkers would expect for them to recover.”

State law prevents people from seeking punitive damages from the estate of someone who has died, on the theory that the accused cannot be punished or deterred from future crimes, Mr. Myrie said. The New York Times reported in February that a recent court filing showed that Mr. Epstein’s estate was valued at $120 million, though the estimate might be an undercount.

The proposed legislation would also create a one-year look-back period for victims to sue for behavior that falls outside the statute of limitations. In this manner, it resembles the Adult Survivors Act, which in 2022 opened a one-time window in New York permitting people to file sex-abuse lawsuits after the statute of limitations had expired. The result was more than 3,000 civil suits, including many against prominent figures such as Eric Adams, the former mayor of New York, and Sean Combs, the producer and music mogul.

In his capacity as chairman of the Senate’s Codes Committee, Mr. Myrie plans to take testimony next Monday from the two women — Carine Silva De Deus and Lara Blume McGee — who have accused Mr. Epstein of sexual misconduct. Kathryn Robb, a lawyer who has been pushing for these sorts of legislative changes across the country, is also expected to appear.

Ms. Blume McGee, a nonprofit executive based in Little Rock, Ark., began speaking out publicly late last year about being groomed by Ghislaine Maxwell and subsequently abused by Mr. Epstein. She said she was an aspiring model in New York City when she was brought to Mr. Epstein's home by Ms. Maxwell.

“The second time I met him is when the abuse started,” she said.

Ms. De Deus said she was 17 and working as a masseuse when Mr. Epstein abused her. It has taken her years to understand the trauma she experienced and to be able to seek justice, she said.

“It is still very hard to talk about, but I’m starting,” she said in an interview.

Ms. De Deus, now 42, broke her silence about her ordeal last year, when she testified before the New York City Council at a hearing for a bill that would create an 18-month look-back window to allow lawsuits to be filed under the city’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act.

“When I was a child, I was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein,” she said at that hearing. “I could not come forward before. I wasn’t ready. Awareness and courage take time.”

After the Council passed the bill, Ms. De Deus sued the executors of Mr. Epstein’s estate. Lawyers representing the estate have argued in court papers that only the state could implement such a statute.

The City Council’s first effort to create such a window for old cases in 2022 was struck down by a judge. Jordan Merson, Ms. De Deus’s lawyer, said the legislative changes Mr. Myrie is seeking would make it easier for his client and others to obtain justice.

“It is not right that the Epstein estate and his enablers hide behind arguments around the statute of limitations of laws and benefit from the fact it can take survivors a long time to come forward,” he said.

Lawyers for Mr. Epstein’s estate did not respond to several emails seeking comment.

There is not a matching bill in the Assembly as of yet, but Mr. Myrie is confident there will be. He hopes the testimony on Monday can show that there is often a broader network of people and companies who enable and cover up the actions of an abuser.

Mr. Myrie said the bill and the women’s appearance at the State Capitol has the support of some Republicans — a rare glimmer of bipartisanship in Albany where Democrats hold large majorities in both the Assembly and Senate.

The collaboration resembles what has taken place at the federal level, where a small clutch of Republican members of Congress helped Democrats hasten the release of the Epstein files. Their support proved so resolute that President Trump dispensed with his misgivings about the dissemination of the files and signed the bill last fall to release the documents.

“As a former prosecutor, I think that some of the emotion and the ongoing torture that these victims suffer from as a result of those incidents is a little bit lost on my colleagues,” said State Senator Anthony Palumbo, a Republican from Long Island who is the ranking member of the Codes Committee.

“So any opportunity to hear the voices of victims loudly, clearly and openly in the State Capitol, I’m on board,” he added.

Daniel C. Richman, a professor at Columbia University’s law school, said the proposed legislation draws on federal laws regarding sex trafficking and expands the range of people who can be sued for misdeeds related to sexual abuse.

“The idea of suing someone for criminal activities is something that’s been on the books for several years,” he said. “The extension here is to go after other people.”

Andrew Finkelstein, a lawyer and president of the influential New York State Trial Lawyers Association, said a change like this made sense because whatever a person like Mr. Epstein “would have been liable for in life, his estate is liable for in death.” But he cautioned that recouping punitive damages requires meeting a high evidentiary bar that should not change.

“The plaintiffs still have to show his actions were willful, wanton, reckless, malicious, evil motive or conscious disregard of others’ rights,” he said. “In New York, punitive damages are available in only exceptional cases.”

Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.