How US model agencies helped Epstein access victims

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. news in Washington right now and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Listen at schwab.com slash washingtonwise. That's schwab.com slash washingtonwise. Heroes don't always wear capes. Sometimes they carry a backpack. Work a shift. help their family, Mom, I'm home! and still show up for class. At Cal State East Bay, change your future and what's possible for everyone who comes after you. Cal State East Bay. Becoming a pioneer starts here. Apply or learn more at csueastbay.edu slash start. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 15 hours GMT on Tuesday the 10th of November.

1:15The BBC uncovers new evidence about how modelling agencies helped sex offender Jeffrey Epstein gain access to young women. The US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth defends his record as he fights efforts to impeach him. And negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US meet for the first time in nine months. Also in this podcast, as Russia's most prominent independent newspaper is forced to shut down, its journalists remain optimistic. Russia lost hope, but it's not the end. History always goes on circle. I truly believe that we're gonna work again. And it was like watching the movie for the first time again, with some scenes. That's why I find it so mind-blowing that it worked. Can hypnosis help you forget the end of your favourite film?

2:12A BBC investigation has uncovered new evidence about how model agencies, scouts and powerful fashion figures helped Jeffrey Epstein gain access to young women after his conviction for sex offences. BBC Eye examined court records, financial statements and emails published by the US Justice Department and spoke to more than 100 models. Shada Kiran has this report. Given the fact that I spent in the orbit around like two years, it would be probably 200 times that I was raped. Speaking exclusively to the BBC for the first time, Simona, not her real name and voiced by an actor, is breaking years of silence to talk about what it was like working as an assistant for the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

2:58A model from Eastern Europe, she came to New York hoping for a career in fashion. When you land in New York, it's like something in the air and you feel like, oh my God, the sky is the limit. I was 20 years old and I really wanted to become a supermodel. Instead, she says she was drawn into Epstein's world. I thought he genuinely wanted to help young women. Simona recounts what's happened on his private island. We were there for the purpose of serving Epstein, slaves who also have been raped. Going through the Department of Justice's files, BBC Eye has pieced together new evidence about Epstein's ties to the modelling world, including the role a modelling agency, MC Squared US, played in sponsoring models' visas before they

3:46went on to work for Epstein. One of them was Rosa. She says the agency sent her to photo shoots at Epstein's Florida mansion. Jeffrey Epstein was convicted felon of raping an underage girl, and he was in house arrest. While raping me. The job was to protect me and they failed. In fact, they put me in danger. And for that, they should be held accountable, but they're not. That's pretty. You've got the lights behind. It's gorgeous. Lisa Amor, a former model turned photographer, is also an industry campaigner. Oh, that's beautiful. She is now investigating Epstein's links to the fashion world. For Jeffrey Epstein to have such incredible access to models, there had to be other players. Here is Jeff Fuller. Jeff Fuller was president of MC Squared,

4:39Rosa's agency from 2005. His name appears more than 200 times in the DOJ files. He exchanged emails with Jeffrey Epstein discussing the agency's models with him. Lisa has been going through them. Let me look through a couple of these. Jeff Fuller to Jeffrey Epstein. Had it not been for you, we would have fired her months ago. The telling thing here is if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have kept her, right? Here he is in a 2017 interview explaining how his company operated. Where you have a more boutique atmosphere, a smaller group of models. You can be more deliberate about what you want your talent to do. I'm involved myself in all aspects of the day-to-day operation. Rosa found an expense statement showing Fuller booked a flight for her from West Palm Beach,

5:35where Epstein lived, around two weeks after she says Epstein sexually abused her for the first time. Jeff Fuller purchased me a ticket to go from West Palm Beach back to LaGuardia in August. And I'm like, he bought me a ticket? So he knew. Jeff Fuller has not responded to the BBC's questions. He has previously said he did not know Rosa was going to Epstein's home. In 2019, Jeff Fuller closed MC2US. He's now running a Miami-based agency. In 2025, the DOJ said there was nothing further to investigate. Zelna Myrie is a senator for New York State. He's bringing in a new trafficking bill. If approved, it would give the police greater power to investigate Epstein's alleged enablers. When this bill becomes law,

6:30if you are an individual that was leading an agency, you were sending models to Epstein, and you knew what Epstein was doing, or you should have known what he was doing, you will be held accountable. For Rosa, training and exercise helps her carry on, and she is now a CrossFit champion. She is sharing her story because she wants to be there for others. There are many, many survivors out there who never speak. So to all my sister survivors is, if you're sitting somewhere and you're listening to this, like, you know me now, you know my name, I say reach out. Rosa, ending that report by Shadek Kiran. And BBC Eye, the model trap, can be seen on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. He's arguably the most controversial member of Donald Trump's cabinet, not least because of his

7:23handling of the war on Iran. But Pete Hegseth still has the support of the president, and the self-styled Secretary for War is fighting back after outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massey filed an impeachment resolution against him. On Tuesday morning at the Pentagon, he gave his first news conference in half a year, and he was in a combative mood. Let's be clear about what this resolution actually does. It tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations. It tells them that a single rogue legislator loaded with personal animus for the president can attempt to veto national security decisions made by the duly

8:13elected commander in chief. It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time. This is not patriotism. This is sabotage. Our chief North America correspondent, Gary O'Donoghue, was listening to the speech. He gave his reaction to Rajini Vaidyanathan. I thought his tone was a little bit more measured than it sometimes is. Sometimes he does all this kind of thing, you know, no beards, no dudes in dresses, all that kind of stuff. There was none of that, especially today. There was a kind of robust defence of the lawfulness of what he'd done. He tied himself absolutely tightly to the president. You had him in all the sentences where he was talking about

8:55who this was an attack on. It was a sort of a much calmer Hegseth than you often see, but clearly they know there's a problem, and that's why, you know, we were summoned to the Pentagon at 6am this morning, because he wants to get his defence out there, because these votes are due, you know, in the next few hours. Just remind us what the process of impeachment actually means. So impeachment is the way of removing in the Constitution federal officers, including the president vice president judges members of the cabinet so if congress or someone in congress believes they've either committed treason or bribery or what's called high crimes and misdemeanors then they could bring an article of impeachment the house will vote on it it needs a simple majority to impeach them which is

9:40effectively just formally charging them and then it then would go to the Senate, which acts as a court to decide whether or not they're guilty. And that would require two thirds of the Senate to vote in favour of that, to have that person removed and potentially disbarred from public office in future. And what's your assessment of where this will go for Pete Hegseth? No one really knows. The numbers are so close. We're dealing with the old Congress, not the one that was elected in the midterms. Don't forget, we're still in the end days of this Congress. Republicans have a majority. You don't need the fingers of one hand to count. A lot of Republicans who lost their seats might not even bother to come back.

10:18So the margins are incredibly tight and no one really knows whether or not these articles will go through, although they do have to be in some way or another voted on in the next day or so. And he's got the president squarely behind him, at least for now. Yeah, for now, and it's always for now with the president. Don't forget his support of people is conditional and transactional. It can evaporate in an instant, and you can become the worst person on the planet overnight. So there's a political calculation here. Do they hang on to him, Hegseth, and try and get through because he's going to be investigated, no question, by the next Democratic controlled Congress? And it will be harder to get the agenda through in terms of money for the

10:54military. Or do they sacrifice him now and hopefully get someone else they can live with nominated? And that's a calculation only the president can make. And that's what they will be thinking hard about in the White House, because he has become the focus of the Republicans' mid-term problem and that is the Iran war and the impact on people of the Iran war in terms of prices. Gary O'Donoghue talking to Rajini Vaidyanathan. The eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo has endured decades of brutal conflict and fighting continues between government forces and various rebel groups. Now at least 66 Congolese soldiers have been sentenced to death for cowardice, mutiny and refusing to obey orders. I heard more from our global affairs reporter

11:37Richard Kugoy. There have been an increasing tendency by some of the soldiers to abandon their positions. The military courts say that they were accused of refusing even actually to take orders and causing even a revolt. So generally you look at an attempt by the army to perhaps convince and also threaten the soldiers to make sure that they put up a fight against rebel forces in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. And what is life like for these soldiers in the army as they try to battle these rebels and seemingly are unable to defeat them? Well, it's quite a huge challenge for the soldiers there. But there have been issues, you know, systemic. Part of it being complaints from the soldiers that their salaries are low,

12:24that delays even in payment of their salaries. They complain of lack of equipment to deal with some of these rebel groups who seem to be even better equipped compared to the Congolese forces. There have been complaints, especially in terms of organization within the ranks of the Congolese army. And I guess maybe perhaps that's really what's causing the disquiet amongst its troops. And it's really been quite a difficult cooperation for the army. Dozens of militia groups now operating in different parts of the Congolese region of North Kivu province, the larger eastern region of Congo. And of course, while the fighting goes on, the suffering continues for the local population. Yes, the local population who have been caught

13:05up in these conflicts that have been running for decades are bearing the brunt. And not only just that, there's also the Ebola outbreak that has been concentrated in parts of the eastern DRC. So the local population continue to suffer. They have been displaced by the health crisis. They have been displaced now by this conflict. Richard Kugoy in Nairobi. Now, you may have heard about a novel idea to allow film fans to watch their favourite movie as if for the first time, by hypnotising them so they forget the plot. Well, on Monday, a cinema in the Netherlands tried it out with the Christopher Nolan blockbuster Interstellar. So how did it go? Vanessa Heaney has been investigating. You might have to decide between seeing your children again

13:49and the future of the human race. We'll find a way. We always have. Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic Interstellar has a huge following. The 30 fans who signed up to the experiment called Rewind by the film production company Pathé were all hoping to see it again, as though for the first time. Last week, the Chilean hypnotist Victor Kramer did one-to-one hypnosis sessions with them from the comfort of their own homes. On Monday, they went to the comfort of their own homes. On Monday, they went to the screening in The Hague. Before the film started, the Russian hypnotist, known as Alex the Great, worked on putting the audience into a trance. I gave them a little magical, sensational experience of illusion, how hypnosis works,

14:41something light and visual. And then we started inducing hypnosis. It's changing frequency and brainwaves like sleeping condition. I regressed them to the point where they never saw the movie. Pathé rewinds as the reactions were mixed. Milo Melison had never been hypnotized prior to taking part. He said it wasn't easy going into the trance as there were so many cameras in the cinema snapping photos. But he thinks he forgot about 70% of the film. There were some scenes that I could still remember, but most of the scenes I did forget. And it was like watching the movie for the first time again with some scenes. That's why I found it so mind-blowing that it worked. I've watched the movie four or five times before.

15:30So every emotion, every shock, it was in my memory still. But yesterday when I sat at the theater, I experienced the shock and the emotions again, like it was my first time watching it. There were some scenes like the end of the movie that I could still remember. But most of scenes like the end of the movie that I could still remember, but most of the feelings, most of the emotions, they were brand new. Boyd Aldick was also in the audience. It's really my number one favourite movie, so I really went there hoping I would forget the whole movie plot and just sit there and be amazed by it because it's a really beautiful film. He last saw Interstellar six months ago and this was his sixth time,

16:08but unfortunately it didn't work. The experience was quite something different than I ever did. I wouldn't say I completely forgot the whole movie, but I really enjoyed it, seeing it again, maybe quite in a more calmer state or something, but I didn't forget the whole movie plot or anything when we got hypnotised. Pathé Rewind say the aim was not to cause memory loss or permanently erase memories, but to explore whether hypnosis could help moviegoers experience the film with a fresh perspective. A report by Vanessa Heaney. And still to come on this podcast. We're talking about five hugely incredible sportswomen and their consistency is really what shone out I think for us to nominate them for this award. We reveal the

16:59nominees for the 2026 BBC World Service Women's Footballer of the Year. Though we are not responsible for any of this we are proud to provide comprehensive financial planning services designed to help clients achieve their goals so we're sorry and you're welcome pnc wealth management member fin recidic results vary by customer and are not guaranteed what if you could get more from what you already do? As a Shell Fuel Rewards member, that's just a regular weekday morning. You get more rewards, more savings, and more special offers. Earn rewards when shopping, dining out, and fueling up. And all of that becomes fuel savings when you're at the pump. See? There are no extra steps and no changes to your routine, just more value built into it.

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18:56And with your first month's order, we're giving you the second month free. Visit orderlymeds.com. Bringing orders to the chaos of GLP-1s. Individual results may vary. Eligibility and prescription required. Not medical advice. Visit orderlymeds.com for details. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Premier hosts on Vrbo deliver quality vacation rental stays with fast responses and clear instructions. Oh, I had a question and our host replied super quick. Premier move. Wish I had a Premier group chat. They won't even write me back. Book a top-rated stay with a Premier host. If you know, you're Verbo. You're listening to the Global News Podcast. Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire

19:34to end the war in Ukraine, even if it means handing over Ukrainian territory to Russia. So there can have been little surprise in Kiev when the US president said that Ukraine would end up in a little bit of a different shape after the conflict. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and America are meeting for the first time in nine months. As the talks opened in Abu Dhabi, Trump envoy Jared Kushner said the US hoped to create a new security framework that would ensure decades of peace. European powers have stressed that any settlement must include robust guarantees for Ukraine. Ukraine's chief delegate is Rustem Umarov. Our delegation is committed to fruitful and productive negotiations. We're committed.

20:17Our people are waking to end this war and would like to once again thank everybody for their support. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would not agree to European demands for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. So what can this meeting in Abu Dhabi achieve? Our correspondent, Abdul Jalil Abdurassulov, is in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. So far, we haven't seen any signs that the positions of Kiev and Moscow on the issue of territory have changed. Moscow wants the entire region of Donbass in the east to be given to Russia and recognized as Russian, and Kyiv is categorically against that. They say that they want to have an unconditional ceasefire in place and also the security guarantees before they can sit down and

20:58discuss the issue of territory. However, the American officials say both sides have shown a bit of flexibility on this matter. We still don't know what that means. Does President Trump's setback in the recent midterm elections change the calculation at all? Because until now, he has seemed somewhat reluctant to put pressure on Vladimir Putin. Well, the Ukrainian foreign minister has said that for Ukraine, nothing has changed because they still need to work with Washington, D.C. It doesn't matter who controls the American Congress, whether it will be Republicans or Democrats, they still need American support to continue defending their land. And therefore, it is important for them to continue their bilateral relations and continue getting

21:37American support. Of course, now when President Trump has about two years before the end of his term, there is a fear in Ukraine that he may rush and reach a deal with the Russian side that will happen at the expense of Ukraine. President Trump already said that once the deal is in place, Ukraine may not have the same shape as it has today. That means that probably the Ukraine will be forced to give up some of the territories in the view of the American side. And this is, again, something that Kiev is totally against. They don't want to recognize any part of their land as Russian. They may agree on a temporary ceasefire to freeze the conflict along the current front line. However, they are adamant that no formal acknowledgement

22:18that those territories belong to Russia will happen. Abdul Jalil Abdurasulov in Kiev. Meanwhile, one of the few independent news outlets left in Russia, Novaya Gazeta, has shut down. It's the latest victim of a crackdown on any voices trying to hold the authorities to account. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg was there to witness the death of one of the country's most famous newspapers. I'm standing outside an office block in Moscow, which for the last 30 years has been the home of Russia's leading independent newspaper, Nouvelle Gazette, a paper which gained a reputation for fearless reporting about corruption, about human rights abuses, about abuse of power in Russia. But this is the newspaper's final day. It's closing down.

23:04Nouvelle Gazette has had its funding blocked and it's being evicted from final day. It's closing down. Norvegazeta has had its funding blocked and it's being evicted from the building. It accuses the authorities of killing it off. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, independent Russian voices, critical of the war and of the Kremlin, have come under huge pressure. Norvegazeta had already lost its licence. Its website had been blocked. It was designated a foreign agent. Yet it had survived until now. The paper's co-founder, journalist and Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov, tells me that the wave of repression in Russia has caught up with his newspaper. When I hear people say repressions in Russia are limited,

23:48first of all, it isn't true, and second, repression is not knowing if there'll be a knock at your door at six in the morning. We now live expecting that knock at the door. Some of the journalists have found a guitar and are keeping their spirits up with a song. Others sit in empty offices in quiet contemplation. I get chatting to Anastasia, a photographer. She says that in the six years she's worked here, she's learnt a lot from her colleagues. I grew up with these people. They taught me everything I know about journalism, everything I know about being human. With the closure of your newspaper, what has Russia lost? I would say Russia lost hope for a few years, maybe, but it's not the end. History always goes on a circle.

24:47I truly believe that we're going to work again. Maybe it's not going to be the same newspaper. It will be a beautiful, young newspaper, and I believe that it will be a different country, a different newspaper, but still with high standards of journalism. As for the Kremlin, it thinks this is all a fuss about nothing. President Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that the age of independent Russian media was over. Some media get replaced by other media, he claimed. It's just normal rotation. But as the staff of Norway Gazeta leave the building, evicted from their office, and pose for one final photograph, this feels like anything but a normal rotation. What was the flagship of investigative journalism in Russia

25:43is now falling silent and can no longer hold the authorities to account. Our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. When passengers on board the Odyssey cruise ship set off from Northern Ireland in October 2024, they were expecting to visit around 150 countries over the course of at least three and a half years. But two years on, they've been left stranded in Cambodia and the vessel has now been seized in Singapore after its owners ran out of money. Richard Hamilton told us more about the ship. It can take up to 600 passengers. It's thought there were about 200 on board. The website says there's several bars and restaurants, a pool deck and a pickleball court. It was advertised as a trip of a lifetime.

26:31And passengers had the option of paying, actually buying a cabin outright for between $100,000 to $400,000 or renting a cabin for around $3,000 a month. But the big problem was that the Iran war caused, as we know, fuel prices around the world to rocket. And so the average price of fuel per passenger per month went up from $1,800 to $8,000. And the company said they tried to reduce fuel consumption, but that was insufficient to offset the extraordinary increase in fuel costs. And a firm of solicitors have been named in Singapore as arresting solicitors. Presumably they're acting for the creditors of the company. And what has happened to the passengers? Well, last month, they were just given seven hours to disembark. There was an abrupt message from the company saying it could no longer carry on operations.

27:30And 200, all the passengers on board, got off at the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia. They've been offered some temporary accommodation. Many of them will be flying off to different parts of the world or making their way home slowly. And the port authority said the crew are reported to be well. There's some 50 crew members still on the boat and their welfare is being managed by the vessel's creditors. And things went wrong right from the start. Exactly. There have been so many problems, like a catalogue of errors, really. The departure was delayed by four months at the beginning from Belfast because of repairs needed to the vessel and paperwork as well. And then in Vietnam, bizarrely, crew members were seen hopping off the boat

28:15and buying food from local grocery stores after a supplier refused to deliver any more food, saying they'd not been paid. Just as in the original Odyssey, Odysseus had to face monsters like the Cyclops and witches and whirlpools, it seems that the passengers on board the Odyssey have had to deal with their own extraordinary obstacles and setbacks. Richard Hamilton. For the past 12 years, the BBC World Service has been celebrating the best of women's football with an annual award for the best player. Well, a panel of coaches, journalists and former professionals has now come up with the shortlist for the 2026 BBC World Service Women's Footballer of the Year. The five nominees will now be put to a public vote.

29:01Who is your choice for the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2026? It's so amazing because it's our first time to go to the World Cup. Not only for me and my sister, but for the whole country, Malawi. Oh, what a brilliant finish. Temwa Chawinga cannot stop scoring at the moment. Malawi's remarkable fairytale run at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations continues after the tournament debutants reach their first ever final. So it's just like a dream come true. Because when I was young, I never thought I was going to be this level. People trained me like that. Sometimes I just think, if I listen to my mum now, I'm not going to be here. Because I'm just being Malawi, doing maybe nothing. Driven shot, Payor, Barcelona have the equaliser.

29:41It's a special year for me, for the team, because we did something big. We won four titles. Payot! Barcelona have the breakthrough. And of course, it had to be Eva Payot. When I was a small girl, I didn't know that I could play football professionally because it was not like this. This dream, growing up with me, this kind of moment, they are very special for me. And it's Alexia Puteas! Every moment was so emotional. To be able to achieve 500 games in a Champions League game in Spotify Camp Nou, winning four trophies, was something special. Fantastic finish from Pateas. You wouldn't expect anything less. I am who I am because of Barca. I started playing there being a kid and I left being a woman.

30:37Russo! There it is! Playing at the Emirates and winning a trophy there feels really nice and I hope it's something that we can continue to do. Arsenal needed a moment, they needed a leader and Alessio Russo steps up to the plate. I'm always so self-critical of myself and want to find the extra 1% and I think that the staff as well push me to find those extra 1%. And when Manchester City score, inevitably it's Bonnie Shaw who scores and I think that the staff as well pushed me to find those extra 1%. Winning the league, the FA Cup, fastest hat-trick, 100 goals, the last 12 months from my career have been the best. I'm not just doing it for me, I'm doing it for my country and the little girls who would like to be a Bonnie one day.

31:31To vote, go to bbc.com slash women's football where you'll also find the terms and privacy notice. It's your choice, it's your champion. And voting closes on Wednesday the 18th of November at 9pm GMT. And that is all from us for now. You can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk and watch our episodes in full on YouTube. This edition was mixed by Louis Griffin and produced by Nicky Verrico. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. self-directed investing. Or perhaps you pick up a few farm fresh trades while you peruse. You can even get help from a dedicated advisor. That's full service wealth management. Mix, match and change your mind whenever you want. Because at Schwab, you can invest your way.

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