Epstein victim who spoke out against trafficking is honored in Washington service
Virginia Giuffre, whose courage to speak out about her sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and other powerful men put her in the forefront of one the biggest crimes in history, was remembered Saturday in Washington, on the one-year anniversary of her death.
Giuffre, who was just 16 when she met Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, was eulogized by Congressman Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, and others for refusing to stay silent about her abuse, even after years of scrutiny and threats to her own well-being.
“The only thing that tips the scales of justice toward freedom is the courage of brave leaders and the activism of thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people engaged in solidarity and demanding change,” Raskin said.
“Virginia Roberts Giuffre was a leader. Generations to come will marvel at her toughness and celebrate her personal conviction and moral determination to change American society.”
The service was held at the National Mall, with about 150 people, including other Epstein victims, attending. Among those who spoke was Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts:
“Today is Virginia’s Day, a day I know you would want us to be about celebrating survivors around the world, for both those that have come forward and those that have not, to be about inspiring us to continue speaking out, acting and reclaiming what many of us feel like we’ve lost.”
Giuffre was among the most outspoken victims to break the silence over how she and other girls and young women were abused by Epstein, Maxwell and other prominent men who enabled or participated in Epstein’s sex trafficking network.
She later formed a non-profit to educate and advocate for sex trafficking survivors and built a legacy that has galvanized other women over the past year as a force for change.
Her persistence in calling attention to Epstein’s crimes and demanding accountability played a key role in forcing Congress and President Donald Trump to release the Justice Department’s Epstein case files.
She did not live to see the success of what she had ignited. She died by suicide at her home in Western Australia on April 25, 2025, at the age of 41. Seven months later, in November, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which called for the Justice Department to make public all its files pertaining to Epstein.
Giuffre’s death came after more than a decade of legal battles, public scrutiny and personal struggles in her own marriage.
She nevertheless continued to fight for justice, and survivors on Saturday emotionally described how she had helped them cope with their own feelings of shame, isolation and mental anguish after they were sexually abused by Epstein.
“When I think of Virginia, I think of a woman who carried a story far too heavy for one person,” one survivor said. “Yet she still chose to share it with courage when silence would have been safer. She chose truth; she chose light. She chose to protect others by refusing to stay quiet. Because she spoke, people like me learned we were never alone.”
The remembrance comes at a time when the Justice Department has halted the release of the remaining FBI and other government files on Epstein — and as Maxwell — convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 — is lobbying the Trump administration and Congress for a pardon.
Her lawyer, Miami-based defense attorney David Oscar Markus, has asked the president to grant Maxwell clemency, saying she is prepared to testify “fully and honestly” about Epstein if pardoned.
Trump has not said whether he will or will not pardon Maxwell.
Met Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago
It was Maxwell who lured and groomed Giuffre to be trafficked by Epstein, court records show. In interviews and sworn depositions, Giuffre described how she met Maxwell while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, when she was 16.
According to Guiffre and other victims who testified at Maxwell’s trial, Maxwell not only facilitated the abuse but also participated in the sexual abuse herself.
Maxwell denied the allegations but was ultimately convicted on multiple charges related to sex trafficking and conspiracy.
Among the people Giuffre said she was forced to have sex with was the former Prince Andrew, whom she later sued. The suit was settled in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, although the prince denied that he was ever involved with Giuffre.
Last fall, King Charles III stripped Prince Andrew of his military titles and royal patronages and was arrested by British police in February 2026 on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He is accused of sharing confidential government information with Epstein.
Secret plea deal for Epstein
Epstein first came to public attention in 2008 when his high-powered lawyers were able to negotiate a secret plea deal that was approved by then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta. Acosta allowed Epstein to plead guilty to less serious state charges, and Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in the Palm Beach County jail. During that time, however, he was allowed to come and go almost freely, spending most days at his office or his home in Palm Beach.
Giuffre was initially reluctant to cooperate with the FBI probe. But in 2010, after the birth of her daughter, she reached out to the Justice Department again in the hopes that he would be re-arrested, but she was unsuccessful.
In 2011, Giuffre told the British tabloid Mail on Sunday that she was a victim of a vast sex trafficking operation run by Epstein and Maxwell in which she traveled to and from Epstein’s various homes in Manhattan, New Mexico, Palm Beach, France and to his island off of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands where she had sex with multiple men, including the prince.
Maxwell denied the allegations and sued Giuffre for defamation. Giuffre countersued in federal court in New York; the case was settled in 2016.
‘Perversion of Justice’ series
In 2018, Giuffre was one of four Epstein victims interviewed as part of the Miami Herald series, “Perversion of Justice,” which detailed how federal prosecutors covered up the scope of Epstein’s crimes and sealed his plea deal so that no one, including his victims, would know that there were almost 40 underage victims at the time he was given the plea bargain.
The Herald also revealed that the lead prosecutor had drawn up a 60-count indictment against Epstein but her efforts to prosecute him were thwarted by her bosses in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.
The Herald’s investigation caught the attention of the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, which opened a new probe into Epstein’s sex trafficking days after the series was published.
Epstein was subsequently arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges brought in New York. But he was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019, just one day after some of the evidence about his sex trafficking case was unsealed. His death was ruled a suicide.