Wild at Maxwell Sentencing (2022)

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT OF COURTNEY WILD CRIME VICTIMS' RIGHTS ACT PLAINTIFF UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA Case Reference: Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States, No. 08-80736-CIV (S.D. Fla.) My name is Courtney Wild. I was fourteen years old when Jeffrey Epstein began sexually abusing me at his residence on El Brillo Way in Palm Beach, Florida. I am one of the named plaintiffs who filed suit under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. section 3771, challenging the secret non-prosecution agreement that the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida entered into with Jeffrey Epstein in September 2007. I was recruited by another young girl who told me I could make money giving massages to a wealthy man in Palm Beach. When I arrived at the house on El Brillo Way, I was brought upstairs to a massage room. What began as a massage quickly escalated into sexual abuse. Jeffrey Epstein knew I was only fourteen. He did not care. He used his power, his money, and his network of recruiters to prey on me and dozens of other underage girls in the Palm Beach County area. After the first encounter, I was pressured to return repeatedly. Epstein and his associates offered me two hundred dollars each time. As a young girl from a troubled home, the money was significant. I was manipulated into recruiting other girls, which is something I carry with me to this day. The cycle of abuse and recruitment was deliberate and systematic, designed by Epstein and facilitated by his staff and associates including Ghislaine Maxwell and Sarah Kellen. When the Palm Beach Police Department conducted their investigation in 2005 and 2006, I cooperated fully. Detective Joseph Recarey identified me as one of dozens of victims. The FBI subsequently opened a federal investigation, and I believed that justice would be served. Instead, the U.S. Attorney's Office, under the direction of Alexander Acosta, negotiated a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein's defense attorneys, including Jay Lefkowitz and Kenneth Starr, without notifying me or any of the other victims as required by the Crime Victims' Rights Act. The NPA allowed Jeffrey Epstein to plead guilty to two state prostitution charges, serve thirteen months in the Palm Beach County Stockade with work release privileges, and register as a sex offender. He was never charged federally. The agreement granted immunity not only to Epstein but to his co-conspirators, whose names were never publicly disclosed at the time. I fought for over a decade through the federal courts to have this agreement invalidated. In February 2019, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the government had indeed violated the CVRA by failing to notify victims. The impact of Epstein's crimes on my life has been devastating. I have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse, and difficulty maintaining stable relationships. No sentence or settlement can undo what was done to me and the other survivors. Source: Victim Impact Statement, Courtney Wild Related Case: Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States, No. 08-80736-CIV (S.D. Fla.)