Who first reported on the Jeffrey Epstein case before 2018?

Journalist Vicky Ward wrote an early profile of Jeffrey Epstein for Vanity Fair in March 2003. Ward has stated that her original reporting included allegations of sexual abuse from victims, but that these sections were removed from the published piece. The published article portrayed Epstein as a mysterious financial figure without fully addressing the abuse allegations. Coverage in the Palm Beach Post and other local Florida outlets followed the 2008 plea deal. However, the story did not gain significant national traction until Julie Brown at the Miami Herald published her “Perversion of Justice” investigative series in November 2018more than a decade after the first formal complaints.