Maria Farmer Reports Assault to FBI — First Law Enforcement Complaint

Maria Farmer, a young artist who had been hired to work at Jeffrey Epstein’s New York mansion in the mid-1990s, became the first known person to formally report Epstein’s sexual crimes to law enforcement.

In 1995, Farmer was assaulted by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Epstein’s Manhattan property. She later described being held against her will for an extended period. Separately, her teenage sister Annie Farmer was brought to Zorro Ranch in New Mexico and was assaulted there.

Maria Farmer contacted both the FBI and the New York City Police Department. She later described the experience to reporter Julie K. Brown of the Miami Herald: investigators seemed interested initially, but the case went nowhere. She felt she was not believed, or that pressure from Epstein’s lawyers and connections suppressed the investigation.

The FBI interview occurred approximately in 1996. No charges were filed, and there is no public record of a serious investigative follow-through at the time.

Farmer’s report is historically significant as it establishes that law enforcement had received credible, specific allegations against Epstein as early as 1996 — more than nine years before the Palm Beach investigation that eventually led to his 2008 plea deal. The failure to act on her complaint is cited by survivors and advocates as one of the most significant institutional failures in the case.

Both Maria and Annie Farmer became prominent public advocates following Epstein’s 2019 arrest and testified or cooperated with prosecutorial investigations.