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NEW YORK, New York – The criminal trial against Jeffrey Epstein may have come to an abrupt end due to the sudden death of the accused, but the judge still gave those who allege were his victims a chance to tell their stories.

The alleged victims are now pursuing civil claims against the Epstein estate, reportedly worth more than half-a-billion dollars.

With Epstein dying, and the Medical Examiner ruling his death was at his own hand, the criminal case against him will close. There are still the civil suits against the estate and others, the claimants maintain procured their services on his behalf.

Epstein apparently had an addiction to massages, and would have as many as three a day. He liked them to be performed by young women, whom he paid around $300 per massage.

Some of those women were in New York on Tuesday telling their stories in open court, by agreement with the judge even though the case is not proceeding.

Many of them wept as they claimed their client sometimes asked them to do things they didn’t want to do.

They would be asked to do a massage, oftentimes Epstein was nude or covered just by a towel. The women were asked to be scantily dressed, sometimes he would persuade them to be in the nude as well.

And sometimes things went further.

The difficulty now as Epstein has hanged himself, allegedly (the FBI is still conducting an investigation into his death), the claimants counsel will be unable to test their claims against the accused. The fact that there are a number of them, possibly dozens, will help their case, however their claims still need to be proved, and beyond a reasonable doubt.

In recent years civil cases brought against Epstein have been settled out of court, however it is understood the settlements have been modest, and with the accused not conceding that anything wrong had taken place.

As the claimants were paid extraordinary sums, presumably for ‘massage’ services, and were paid extra if other services were provided, sometimes up to $1,000, the courts will be faced with the dilemma of determining whether the claimants are victims and survivors of sex abuse, or whether they were engaged in prostitution.

One 14-year old, who was interviewed along with her family, and was one of the victims to first go forward to police, was in an altercation at her school when a rival for her boyfriend, responding to rumours, called her a ‘whore.’ When school authorities questioned her they found she $300 in her possession. That led to the story of what happened to her unfolding.

One of the difficulties in the case would be that her procurer, according to the Patterson book ‘Filthy Rich,’ was her boyfriend’s cousin, a somewhat older woman who had gone down the ropes herself, would tell the girl to lie about her age. She had offered to introduce the girl to Epstein. When the 14-year old agreed, after talking it over with her boyfriend (who was opposed to the idea), she was taken by her boyfriend’s cousin to Epstein’s house. On three occasions during the ride, according to the Patterson book, she was told that when Epstein asked, she was to tell him she was 18.

Nonetheless she was a minor, and any sexual engagement constitutes rape. The girl became a prominent witness before the Grand Jury which famously and shockingly, after being presented with swathes of evidence of contact by Epstein with young women, many of them underage, decided on putting forward a single felony count of soliciting for prostitution. This is the charge Epstein pleaded guilty to as part of a controversial deal, however the charge had the words ‘from a minor’ added to it. Epstein received an 18 months jail sentence, of which he served thirteen months. He was also required to register as a sex offender and make restitution to his victims.

Whether the renewed charges, particularly those that he trafficked young women, some underage, and some over state lines would have succeeded, no-one will ever know.

The girls left behind though are determined they will still have their day in court.

“Today we stand together. I will not remain a victim and be silent for one more day,” actress Anouska De Georgiou, told the Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.

Chauntae Davies outlined how she spent 2 weeks “vomiting myself to death” in a hospital after being raped by Epstein after she was recruited to give him massages, AFP reported.

She described Epstein’s actions as “sick abuse of young girls”.

“Every public humiliation I have endured, I have suffered, and he has won,” she said.

Another victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I was his slave. I felt powerless and ashamed,” adding that Epstein had threatened to kill her if she was not a virgin.

(Image credit: You Tube | Miami Herald).