Epstein survivors say financier lured them with promise of college education | Jeffrey Epstein

A New York artist who says Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sold her to men is among survivors who claim that Epstein used the lure of a college education to ensnare her in a web of sexual abuse.

Rina Oh was a 21-year-old art student when she was introduced to Epstein in 2000 by Lisa Phillips, a model and survivor of Epstein. He has since emerged as a powerful voice in a network of survivors pushing for full accountability in the long-running scandal of money, sex and power.

“He said to me: ‘You’re really talented. I think you should go to school,'” Oh recalled.

Epstein invited him to sit next to him. “He told me that he was a well-known philanthropist, a very generous man, and that he sent many young people to university, often the children of women he had been with at school. I completely believed him.”

Oh said Epstein told her he needed a bachelor’s degree in fine arts to succeed in the art world and offered him a scholarship “with no strings attached” to New York’s School of Visual Arts. But Oh said: “He put a lot of conditions on this scholarship. When I didn’t do everything he wanted, he took it away.”

Oh, who spent nearly two years in Epstein’s network, is one of several survivors who have detailed how Epstein used offers to help gain admission and sometimes paid tuition to maintain his influence over prestigious universities.

Similar stories emerged last week in victim interviews with Democrats on the House judiciary committee. This also comes as a new and perhaps voluminous portion of Epstein-related documents is expected to be released by the justice department in the coming days.

“Mr. Epstein repeatedly lured young women into his network by promising to help them gain admission to colleges and universities,” Maryland Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin said in letters to Columbia University and New York University requesting more information about this aspect of the scandal.

Raskin added that Epstein “not only lured young women whom he and his collaborators would come to sexually abuse and rape, but also ensured that his victims were indebted to him and less likely to report the crimes to law enforcement.”

For Oh, this sounds like his experience. “He was obsessed with infiltrating the minds of young people,” says Oh. “He didn’t want to infiltrate just for physical abuse, he wanted to infiltrate their brains because he was a brain monster.”

In his case, Oh says, the promise of a scholarship was replaced by a few classes at school and a painting commission. “It was a terrible painting. He was obsessed with parts of the female body. He didn’t want a whole person. He didn’t want abstract.” Epstein wanted a crotch. “He just said to keep it real.”

Phillips, who like Oh was in his 20s when he met Epstein, told the Wall Street Journal this week that Epstein delayed his studies at New York University, arranged for him to visit campus and eventually took classes. Another woman who was sexually abused by Epstein also studied at NYU, Phillips and Oh said.

Another woman told the Journal that Epstein sexually abused her and made her feel indebted to him, implying she got the job through college contacts. “She framed it as if she was the one who let me in and told the other girls she let me in too,” she said.

According to the committee, Epstein paid for and arranged for a scholarship for a victim he abused from 2002 to 2005 to attend NYU between 2000 and 2002. Another survivor, then in high school, said Epstein repeatedly promised to get her accepted and pay for her to attend NYU. The third said he helped her get to Columbia between 2004 and 2007. The fourth said he was promised a visa and admission to NYU by an associate of Epstein, but did not accept the offer.

A spokesperson for NYU said in an email to the Guardian that it had reviewed Raskin’s letter and was “fully committed to cooperating with this investigation.” The spokesperson added: “We also support efforts to bring transparency to Epstein’s egregious behavior.” A Columbia official said the university had received the letter and was reviewing it.

Raskin’s outreach to Columbia and NYU is likely part of an effort to better understand Epstein’s financial operations and possibly his connections at universities. Enrollments and tuition payments were managed by Epstein and handled by Epstein attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn. Both men are co-executors of Epstein’s estate and have been subpoenaed to testify before the oversight committee.

Epstein’s connections to other universities and senior faculty members, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were revealed after he died in custody in 2019. Many university officials maintained their connections with Epstein after he pleaded guilty to molesting a minor in 2008. MIT administrator Joi Ito resigned in 2019 due to her extensive financial ties to Epstein.

In November, former Harvard president Larry Summers announced he was stepping away from public life following the release of emails revealing the close relationship between him and Epstein. Epstein had an office at Harvard, where Summer’s wife, Elisa New, ran Poetry in America, a nonprofit that Epstein supported.

“It’s pretty scary,” says Oh. “There appears to be a broader plan and pattern. Epstein wasn’t just sending students to school, I think he was infiltrating schools. His reach appears to be broad and deep beyond state lines through many educational institutions.”

Epstein-related documents, released last month as part of the justice department’s obligation to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, revealed a lawsuit alleging that he met his first known victim in 1994 at the Interlochen Arts Center, a Michigan fine arts summer camp.

The lawsuit alleged that the victim, Jane Doe, met Epstein and Maxwell at the camp when she was 13 years old. Allegedly, Epstein boasted that he was a patron of the arts and gave scholarships to talented young artists. The complaint also alleges that Doe was used as a “guinea pig” for grooming schemes and was subjected to escalating sexual abuse over the years.

Epstein’s ties to academia and educational offerings created financial dependence that could later be withdrawn, creating a form of dependency and control disguised as generosity.

“He definitely wanted access to younger students—high schoolers bringing other high school students, college girls bringing other college girls—but he also had ties to professors at prestigious universities,” Oh says. “He wanted to round up these people so he could own them. He was all about ownership. Nothing came for free with Epstein.”