Romanian woman reportedly featured as payment recipient in released Epstein case files
A Romanian woman reportedly appears in the infamous case files published by the United States Department of Justice concerning convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, December 19.
Although heavily redacted, the files show a history of payments made by Epstein to various individuals with Eastern European surnames. According to one of the documents, a report by JPMorgan Bank’s Anti-Money Laundering compliance group, prepared around the time of Epstein’s conviction in 2008, showed that nearly two-thirds of women trafficked for prostitution worldwide came from the region.
Among the countries mentioned as the main sources of trafficking in women are Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. The documents claim that JPMorgan knew and had evidence that Epstein made payments to several women between 2003 and 2008. The bank continued to process such payments for years, with the total amount reaching nearly USD 3 million.
Among the women in the document is a Romanian. She appears in a file concerning the C.O.U.Q. Foundation, Inc., a tax-exempt non-profit organization whose president was Jeffrey Epstein, according to the foundation’s 2012 tax return. The woman received a transfer of more than EUR 30,000 in an account opened in Iași. The woman's name was anonymized by the American justice system, HotNews pointed out.
Hundreds of thousands of files from the Epstein case were published on Friday, December 19, in accordance with the law adopted by Congress a few weeks ago and signed by Trump. The documents appear to be related to three investigations against Epstein (in 2005, 2008, and 2019) and include a large number of photographs.
The Epstein revelations have loomed large over the Trump presidency in recent months, as the current president is known to have been a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats in the US Congress have claimed that the files released so far have been heavily redacted and selected to focus on former president Bill Clinton, while protecting Donald Trump.
In response, the DOJ and Republicans argued that redactions are meant to shield ongoing investigations or “protect national defence or foreign policy.” The redactions are also meant to protect victims. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has not been accused of any crimes by Epstein's victims, according to the BBC.
(Photo source: Cpenler | Dreamstime.com)
