Juliette Bryant says she first met Jeffrey Epstein when she was a 20-year-old psychology and philosophy student in Cape Town, South Africa, who modeled part-time.
Her first interaction with the late American sex offender came by chance when she was approached on a night out by a girl who offered to introduce her to a man she said had been described to her as American royalty.
“She said she knew a man who was here who was the ‘King of America,’ and he was here with Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker. She told me that her best friend, Leslie Wexner, owns Victoria’s Secret and that it would be a really good idea to meet them because they could help my modeling career,” Bryant told CBS News on Sunday. “So we went to the restaurant where they were having dinner down the road. And sure enough, there they were. Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Jeffrey Epstein and some South African government officials.”
Bryant does not accuse Clinton, Spacey or Tucker of any wrongdoing, and she said her interaction with the men at the table was brief, lasting only about five minutes.
But the next day she got a call from the girl who made the presentation, saying that Epstein would like to see her modeling portfolio.
“Epstein said he thought I’d be great for Victoria’s Secret, and they left that day, but his office started calling and arranging a visa and tickets and everything,” Bryant told CBS News. “You know, I didn’t have any money or anything, but they said don’t worry, they’ll deduct all my expenses from the income I made while I was there.”
Bryant, a South African citizen, said she was surprised by how quickly Epstein was able to arrange his trip to the United States.
“They arranged for me to get a visa to come to America. It was like a visitor’s visa … and they arranged these visas very quickly, which is unusual in South Africa. It’s usually very difficult to get a visa here. And then basically in three weeks, I was in America,” she said.
Multiple emails in installment of Documents related to Epstein released by the Department of Justice and reviewed by CBS News appear to show a pattern of Epstein assisting or receiving legal advice on how to obtain visas for young women to come to the US, including from Eastern Europe.
Free press: SEE: The Epstein Tapes
Earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the Polish government will create a review team to examine whether Polish children were abused through criminal networks connected to Epstein. Tusk also said that “the links between Epstein and the entire circle of pedophiles and the Russian special services” will be investigated.
An undated photo provided to CBS News by Jeffrey Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant shows her on a beach. / Credit: Courtesy of Juliette Bryant
(Courtesy of Juliette Bryant)
Bryant said that very soon after he arrived in New York, he was told that he would be heading to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.
“Obviously I assumed it was for a modeling shoot,” she said. “We went to the Teterboro airport and they were waiting with the plane there and, you know, nothing was ever checked at any of these airports. They didn’t check our passports, our bags, nothing.”
Bryant said her passport was taken on board and she was then sexually assaulted.
“As the plane took off, he [Epstein] he started to forcefully touch me between my legs and I got scared. I realized, this is not a modeling opportunity, I was kidnapped,” Bryant told CBS News. “They took me to the island and then I was stuck there. They never arranged any modeling opportunities, basically I was completely ripped off.”
Bryant said that for the next several years of her life, she was trafficked by Epstein. Her account of where she first met Epstein aligns with a time when Epstein lent his plane to former President Bill Clinton as part of a Clinton Foundation trip to Africa.
Bryant was eventually compensated as part of both Epstein Victim Compensation Program in 2020 and a separate settlement with JP Morgan Chase in 2023.
Public flight logs reviewed by CBS News show that Clinton went on a nine-day trip to Africa with actors Spacey and Tucker on Epstein’s private jet in September 2002, visiting Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa.
KFF Health News reported at the time that Clinton, Tucker and Spacey were on a Clinton Foundation trip to “promote HIV/AIDS and economic development efforts.”
In a sworn statement to the House Oversight Committee in January, Clinton said Epstein offered to use his private jet for him, his staff and his classified details in support of the Clinton Foundation’s philanthropic work between 2002 and 2003.
Clinton has denied ever visiting Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where a string of the late financier’s murders took place, and has claimed she had no contact with the convicted pedophile for more than a decade before his 2019 arrest.
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