[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 26, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E493-E494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMAINING TESTIMONIES OF EPSTEIN SURVIVORS, ``SURVIVORS FIGHT FOR
JUSTICE: EXPOSING EPSTEIN'S CRIMES IN PALM BEACH AND ACROSS THE WORLD''
______
HON. MELANIE A. STANSBURY
of new mexico
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, on May 12, 2026, Oversight Committee
Democrats convened the first-ever hearing to solicit testimony from
survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. The
hearing, ``Survivors Fight for Justice: Exposing Epstein's Crimes in
Palm Beach and Across the World,'' marked a critical step forward in
the fight for justice and accountability.
On behalf of all the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine
Maxwell's crimes, I rise to include in the Record the remaining
testimonies offered by Epstein survivors:
[[Page E494]]
Ms. Marijke Chartouni
Dear Ranking Member Garcia and Democratic Members of the
Committee, I am writing to you as a survivor of Jeffrey
Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. What was done to me--and so
many other young women and girls--was not the result of
chance or individual failing. It was the result of a network
that operated with impunity, protected by wealth, power, and
the silence of institutions that should have stopped it.
Navigating the federal investigative and justice systems as
a sexual trafficking survivor gave me my first painful lesson
in how institutions can fail and oppress the very people they
claim to protect. I saw firsthand how systems purporting to
help can actually cause harm, how institutional responses
reflect who is deemed worthy of protection, and how
structural barriers compound individual trauma,
When institutions fail to address the concerns of sexual
abuse victims, the betrayal cuts at a much higher cost. It
perpetuates a cycle of abandonment, one that creates long-
term psychological barriers preventing survivors from seeking
the help they need and deserve. It also tells survivors
implicitly and explicitly that their abuse was their fault,
that their trauma didn't deserve recognition, and that their
recovery wasn't worth institutional investment.
I have witnessed this betrayal not only in my own
experience, but in the lives of fellow survivors. My friend
Maria Farmer was the first survivor to report Epstein. She
filed a report with authorities in 1996 and she was
repeatedly ignored. The profound sense of abandonment that
followed has never fully left her. I know that feeling well.
The consequences of that failure have been grave. Despite
the enormous public attention the Epstein case has received,
Epstein's powerful network of enablers and protectors have
yet to face justice. Only Maxwell has been convicted--and
even that single shred of hard-won accountability is now
under threat.
When perpetrators are not held accountable, a message is
sent to survivors and to the public alike that exploitation
is tolerated, and that victims are not believed. Today,
survivors like me have little trust in the very systems
structured to provide us security, accountability, and
restitution. If the institutions of this government will not
believe us, who will?
I urge you to use the full weight of your oversight
authority to ensure that the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell
are heard, believed, and afforded the justice that has been
denied to us for decades. This starts with accountability by
the United States for the FBI's failure to act in response
to, or outright rejection of, Maria Farmer's 1996 report of
Epstein's crimes to the FBI.
I also implore you to take every action within your power
to ensure that Ghislaine Maxwell is not pardoned. Pardoning
her would erase the only measure of justice we have ever
received and be a devastating and unconscionable blow to
every survivor. Our pain is not disposable and we cannot
continue shielding the powerful from accountability.
Respectfully,
Marijke Chartouni
Ms. Rachel Benavidez
Ranking Member Garcia and Democratic Members of the
Committee, I write this letter to you today strengthened by
the unwavering support of my fellow survivor sisters, and I
speak not only for myself, but for thousands of young women
who endured abuse in silence at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein
and those within his trafficking network. For decades, our
voices have been silenced, our stories distorted, we have
faced relentless harassment, and the federal government has
failed to pursue justice. But we will not be intimidated.
I personally experienced severe abuse as a young woman at
the hands of Epstein, and I was groomed and trafficked by
Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as others. My autonomy was taken.
Speaking out is not easy; to relive such moments is gut-
wrenching, but I do so with the strength of my fellow
survivors in my heart and with the hope that by telling the
truth, we can protect young women from falling victim to
those who have yet to be held accountable. This all stems
from past blunders and inactions by the federal government.
The United States government and law enforcement were
notified decades ago of Jeffrey Epstein's disgusting crimes,
including through Maria Farmer's initial 1996 FBI report--yet
they failed to act. That failure to respond meaningfully and
purposefully allowed Epstein's abuse to continue, resulting
in irreparable harm to countless young women. Had the
appropriate authorities taken decisive action when first
alerted, as their job dictates, decades of survivor sexual
abuse and trauma could have been prevented.
This inaction cannot be forgotten, it cannot continue, and
there needs to be accountability.
What we are asking for is the bare minimum of justice. We
have yet to see a single perpetrator or enabler within
Epstein's criminal enterprise fully brought to justice. Nor
has an explanation been provided as to why Maria Farmer's
report to the FBI in 1996 was ignored. Instead, sensitive
information about survivors has been exposed, while potential
enablers have remained shielded from scrutiny.
We deserve full transparency and accountability about the
scale of the abuse orchestrated by Epstein and the
individuals who allowed it to continue unchecked for so long.
All survivors and Jane Does deserve full protection, thorough
investigations need to be opened, and those who perpetrated
and enabled this abuse need to be held accountable to the
fullest extent of the law.
Federal institutions entrusted with justice, including the
U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, cannot continue to let survivors down.
Survivors can no longer be failed by delay, secrecy, or
inaction. The government must also be held responsible for
its past inaction.
That is why I am writing to you today. We must do better,
for our sisters, our mothers, and our daughters.
We demand justice. We demand accountability. And we will
not rest until this is delivered.
Sincerely,
Rachel Benavidez
Ms. Annie Farmer
Dear Ranking Member Garcia and Democratic Members of the
Committee, thank you for holding this hearing and giving us
the opportunity to share statements on the record. My name is
Annie Farmer and I was 16 years old when I met Jeffrey
Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. My sister Maria Farmer has
also provided testimony on the harm that unfolded because the
FBI did not heed her 1996 report about the abuse she endured
on Les Wexner's property in Ohio and the nightmare I
experienced at Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. I have witnessed
first hand the tremendous negative impacts that carrying this
burden had on her life and the fallout of the institutional
failures--of countless law enforcement officials, elected
leaders, and those meant to protect survivors--for hundreds
of girls and women who experienced similar abuse. I second
her requests for the government to finally take
responsibility for their inaction, to explain how this
happened, and promise that it will never happen again. The
DOJ, FBI, and law enforcement across the country must hold
all those engaged in harming so many girls and women
accountable to the fullest extent possible.
I also want to speak directly to the Republican lawmakers
who I recently learned from Chairman Comer were considering a
pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for her testimony.
Not only is a pardon or commutation completely unnecessary--
given the potential for her to be granted limited immunity
for any testimony she gives to the HOC--I have no faith that
she would provide accurate information. Maxwell was
previously charged for lying under oath, charges she faced
specifically related to lies she told about me. Even
entertaining such a pardon is a deeply insulting slap in the
face to my family, the other women who testified against her,
and all the victims who have clung to her sentence as the one
piece of justice that we have seen in this case. The fact
that a potential pardon would be causally discussed as a
possibility, leads me to believe that our leaders still do
not understand the institutional betrayal we've endured for
three decades.
For those in favor of a Maxwell pardon, I want to briefly
share why it would feel so harmful to me personally. Despite
my disappointment in the FBI's inaction to hold Epstein and
Maxwell fully accountable, I took a leap of faith and agreed
to testify about my experiences when the FBI interviewed me
again in 2019. After Maxwell was arrested I spent a year in
lock down attending bail hearings virtually and dreading the
trial. I rearranged my work obligations repeatedly to account
for changes in the schedule. I spent multiple days in a small
room in the federal courthouse anxiously awaiting my
testimony. I was retraumatized when I was aggressively cross-
examined, and then spent that Christmas awaiting a verdict,
six months waiting for sentencing, and years waiting as
Maxwell exhausted her appeals. I did all of this because I
understood the significant harm Maxwell had caused not just
to me, but how she terrorized my sister Maria with her
threats, and the role she played in the abuse of brave
survivors like Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who I have had the
honor of calling a close friend, as well as countless others.
Let me be clear: any commutation of Ghislane Maxwell's
sentence or pardon for her crimes would be a tremendous
insult to survivors and send a dangerous message to other
victims of sexual crimes who already are often hesitant to
report because of the systemic barriers they face. I ask the
DOJ to permanently close the door on this, and instead open
the door on a criminal investigation into the enables of
Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell's abuse.
Respectfully,
Annie Farmer