Author: Justine Andronici

Justine Andronici is a feminist lawyer, advocate, activist and analyst who has been working in the women's rights arena for more than 20 years. She specializes in domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment and women's rights law and politics.

What Accountability for Epstein’s Network Would Require

[The final installment of The Pipeline to Predators, a four-part Ms. investigation into the modeling industry’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein and survivors’ fight for accountability.]

From July to August 2025, senior White House and Justice Department officials, including Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer and then deputy attorney general, met repeatedly in the White House Situation Room to strategize about the political fallout—treating the Epstein files not as a legal, accountability or transparency crisis, but rather as a messaging crisis to be managed.

Every survivor we spoke with agrees on the first and most important step toward real accountability: the full release of the Epstein files.

New Mexico is one prototype for meaningful investigation. There, the state legislature unanimously created a bipartisan “Truth Commission” to examine alleged criminal activity connected to Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The commission has issued roughly 24 subpoenas thus far to law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, state agencies and multiple U.S. attorneys’ offices.

Virginia Giuffre remains a touchstone for many, who say they are finding healing by coming together and honoring her fight.

Epstein Didn’t Act Alone. Survivors Want the Modeling Industry Investigated.

Ms. interviewed five Jeffrey Epstein survivors who worked in the modeling industry from the 1990s through the early 2000s, and reviewed public testimony and media accounts from many others. While every survivor’s experience is unique, our investigation showed a clear pattern: young women with big dreams, steered toward powerful men who often abused them.

Survivors of abuse by Epstein and his associates and by other powerful men in the modeling industry are now doing work that many institutions and governments have failed to so far: They’re tracing the relationships, patterns and prosecutorial lapses that allowed the abuse to continue, and mapping a path forward toward accountability.

[Part 2 of The Pipeline to Predators, a four-part Ms. investigation into the modeling industry’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein and survivors’ fight for accountability.]

Survivors Describe How Epstein Used Their Modeling Dreams to Abuse Them

Jeffrey Epstein “used the modeling industry as a lever to try to get girls into his orbit,” says survivor Lisa Phillips.

Phillips describes how Epstein operated: He asked about her career, about how often she talked to her father (she told him not often), and he specifically wanted to know about her goals as a model. She told him her “big dream” was to work for Ford Models. He told her that she and the other model had to stay over on the island, then assaulted her later that night.

Months later, she says, he called to say he had arranged a meeting with his “great friend” Katie Ford, the CEO of Ford Models. Phillips met with Ford and became a model for the agency.

“Models were being sent to every charity event, every modeling party,” she says, “everything organized through Katie Ford and agents. … It was always us younger girls and older men. We [felt] our bodies weren’t ours and we would just have to put up with it to keep [our] career.”

Part 1 of The Pipeline to Predators, a four-part Ms. investigation into the modeling industry’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein and survivors’ fight for accountability.

Todd Blanche Confirmed as Attorney General—Even as Epstein Files Scrutiny Deepens

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche now appears to have the votes to win Senate confirmation after Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana announced Friday morning that he will support President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney to permanently lead the Justice Department.

Cassidy’s announcement came just hours after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she would oppose Blanche, joining Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and briefly putting his confirmation in serious jeopardy. With Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) absent, Blanche could afford to lose only two Republican votes if Democrats remain united against him. Cassidy’s support appears to give Blanche exactly the margin he needs, barring another Republican defection.

Murkowski said Friday that she did not have confidence Blanche would serve as a check on the Trump administration, pointing to the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, its increasing politicization and the controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” proposed to compensate Trump allies and Jan. 6 defendants.

Cassidy’s decision comes after Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also agreed to support Blanche following written assurances from the Justice Department that the anti-weaponization fund had been eliminated and that sweeping tax protections included in a settlement involving Trump and his family were limited.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on Blanche’s nomination Wednesday, setting up a path toward a final confirmation vote as senators prepare to leave Washington for the August recess. As of Friday morning, the Senate’s published schedule did not specify a time for the Blanche vote.

Carré Otis Has Opened a Door for Survivors of Abuse in the Modeling Industry. Will Others Walk Through It?

A new legal door opened earlier this month in the fight for survivor justice. But it’s not in the United States, where survivors and advocates continue to press for transparency and investigations into Jeffrey Epstein’s larger network and the modeling industry’s potential role in it. It’s in France.

Carré Otis, a U.S.-based former supermodel and board member of the Model Alliance, filed a criminal complaint in French court alleging rape of a minor and human trafficking by Gérald Marie, a former giant of the modeling industry who led Elite Model Management’s European operations from 1985 to 2010.

The complaint alleges that Otis was 17 when Elite sent her to Paris in 1986 and housed her in Gérald Marie’s apartment, where she “mistakenly believ[ed] that he wanted to support her modeling career.” While living there, Otis alleges that Marie raped her on multiple occasions and later arranged for her to be “provided to other wealthy men across Europe.” The complaint also says Otis was never paid for her modeling work.

Marie has denied Otis’ allegations, and because of France’s statute of limitations, cannot be criminally prosecuted for these particular allegations.

Still, Otis’ recent filing could prove consequential well beyond her own case.

In a Small Room on Capitol Hill, Survivors of Epstein Refuse to Be Ignored

Last week, while much of Washington’s attention was fixed on the highly choreographed visit of the king of England to the U.S. Capitol, a very different gathering was taking place just a few hallways away. Survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking, family members of Virginia Giuffre, advocates and several members of Congress packed into a small conference room in the Cannon House Office Building for a roundtable convened by Rep. Ro Khanna. The event came just days after public vigils marking the one-year anniversary of Giuffre’s death and was intentionally timed to coincide with the royal visit, drawing attention to the fact that survivors continue to feel ignored by many of the institutions and powerful figures connected to the Epstein network.

The purpose of the roundtable was not symbolic alone. Survivors and advocates gathered to push for concrete political and legal action in response to what they described as decades of systemic failure surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. They called for enforcement of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the release of millions of unreleased documents connected to the case, and passage of “Virginia’s Law,” which would expand statutes of limitations for survivors pursuing civil claims related to sexual abuse and trafficking.

For many in the room, this was also about correcting what they see as a dangerous imbalance in how the Epstein case has unfolded publicly: Survivors’ names and private details have repeatedly been exposed, while many powerful people connected to Epstein’s network have largely escaped scrutiny or accountability.

What unfolded inside that room felt urgent precisely because survivors understood how quickly public attention moves on. Many of the women speaking had spent years navigating systems—law enforcement, courts, media and political institutions—that they believe failed to protect them or meaningfully respond after the fact. With only a few minutes each, survivors attempted to compress years of trauma, coercion and institutional indifference into testimony aimed directly at lawmakers capable of advancing reforms.

The Epstein Files Reveal a System Built to Shield the Powerful

Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes were not carried out in isolation—they were enabled by a system that repeatedly narrowed investigations, shielded powerful figures and sidelined survivors.

Investigative journalist Julie K. Brown with the Miami Herald has extensively documented the mishandling of the Epstein case. Early reports and accusations were treated with skepticism; initial investigations were shut down; charges were narrowed; powerful actors were shielded; and even meaningful survivor notification of prosecutorial decisions was bypassed. Drawing on more than two decades working within the legal system on domestic violence and sexual assault cases, I see the Epstein files as a stark illustration of how institutions often fail those they are meant to protect.

The partial and selective release of the Epstein files only deepens these concerns. Survivors’ identifying information has been exposed while the names of powerful associates remain redacted. When victims are left vulnerable and power remains protected, accountability has not merely failed—it has been inverted.

This moment demands more than incremental disclosure: It requires full transparency, rigorous investigation and prosecution wherever the evidence leads, so that survivors’ courage is met with the justice they were promised.

Elena Kagan and Critical Mass

Should Obama be selecting Supreme Court justices based on gender?  Absolutely. The gender composition of our current Supreme Court is a shameful reflection of the failure of our society to take gender equity seriously, so President Barack Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to replace Justice Stevens is a victory for women. But let’s not celebrate […]