Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir, released after her passing, has disclosed distressing accounts of how she alleges she was groomed and sexually abused following her ‘recruitment from Mar-a-Lago’ as a teenager.
The memoir, published posthumously, recounts how the late 41-year-old was just weeks shy of her 17th birthday when, on a hot day in Florida, a car pulled up behind her. At the time, she was employed at the private Mar-a-Lago Club and was unaware that what she describes as an ‘apex predator was closing in’.
In the car were British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and driver Juan Alessi, whom she refers to as John. Alessi, under oath, testified that when Maxwell saw a ‘notably young’ Giuffre with ‘long blonde hair,’ she exclaimed, “Stop, John, stop!”
“Hello,” Giuffre claims Maxwell said warmly, her British accent ‘reminding me of Mary Poppins’.
According to Giuffre, Maxwell invited her to meet a ‘wealthy man’ who needed a massage therapist for travel.
“Come tonight after work,” Maxwell reportedly instructed her.
That evening, she claims to have met Jeffrey Epstein.
“You can just call me Jeffrey,” he allegedly told her.
Giuffre describes what followed as a calculated ‘massage lesson’ that turned into a sexual assault.
“Only later would I see how, step by practiced step, the two of them were breaking down my defences,” she wrote.
Giuffre alleges that Maxwell directed her hands over Epstein’s naked body, dismissing any signs of her discomfort.
“It’s important that you don’t ignore any part of the body,” Maxwell allegedly commented during the interaction.
The situation reportedly deteriorated further, leading Epstein to ask her to leave her Mar-a-Lago job and work for him ‘full-time’ — with the condition that she move out of her parents’ trailer and live independently.
Giuffre claims he handed her $2,500, expressing concern that her parents might become ‘suspicious’, ‘seeing me come and go at all hours’.
Shortly after giving her the money, she says he issued a threat.
“Epstein must’ve sensed my qualms, because he walked around his desk, picked up a grainy photograph, and handed it to me. The image had been taken from some distance, but it was unmistakably my little brother. I felt a stab of fear,” she wrote.
“‘We know where your brother goes to school,’ Epstein said. He let that sink in for a moment, then got to the point: ‘You must never tell a soul what goes on in this house.’ He was smiling, but his threat was clear. ‘And I own the Palm Beach police department,’ he said, ‘so they won’t do anything about it.'”
According to the memoir, this marked the beginning of years of abuse, which included interactions with influential men within Epstein and Maxwell’s network. One notably significant claim involves a night in London in March 2001.
On that night, Giuffre alleges she encountered Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who was 41 at the time.
“Guess Jenna’s age,” Maxwell reportedly teased, with Jenna being the name that Giuffre’s family called her.
After guessing correctly, Prince Andrew is alleged to have remarked: “My daughters are just a little younger than you.”
Giuffre recounts that they went for dinner and to a nightclub before returning to Maxwell’s residence, where she claims she was urged to ‘do for him what you do for Jeffrey’.
She alleges the encounter was brief, lasting less than half an hour.
“The next morning, Maxwell told me: ‘You did well. The prince had fun,’” Giuffre wrote, asserting that Epstein later gave her $15,000.
Prince Andrew has consistently and firmly denied Giuffre’s allegations. Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking in 2021, and Epstein died in jail in 2019.
Representatives for Prince Andrew and Buckingham Palace have been contacted for comment.