Playboy founder Hugh Hefner repeatedly contacted the FBI on behalf of a model who accused Jeffrey Epstein of rape and trafficking, but federal investigators did not approach the woman until 15 years later, according to the New York Post.
The claims are contained in a lawsuit brought against the US government by 32 women who allege they were victims of Epstein, the newspaper reported.
Former Playboy model Audra Lynn Christiansen alleges she turned to Hefner for assistance in 2005 after telling him about the abuse she said she had suffered. According to the lawsuit, Hefner subsequently made repeated approaches to the FBI, but Christiansen was not contacted by investigators until 2020 — a year after Epstein died in federal custody.
Christiansen reportedly asked Hefner to intervene because she believed his influence and contacts within law enforcement would increase the likelihood that authorities would take her allegations seriously.
She has also alleged that she was trafficked to Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho, who was widely known as the region’s “Godfather of Gambling” and died in 2020.
Jordan Merson, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, criticised the FBI’s response to the litigation, telling the Post that attempts to rely on procedural arguments to avoid responsibility for the agency’s alleged failure to properly investigate Epstein were “deeply concerning.”
The FBI moved in June to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that federal law did not impose an obligation on the agency to investigate every complaint brought to its attention. The litigation remains before the courts.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges involving minors. He died in custody the following month before the case could proceed to trial. In 2008, he had pleaded guilty in Florida to charges including soliciting prostitution from a minor and served 13 months under a plea arrangement that later attracted intense scrutiny.
Earlier this year, the US Department of Justice released more than three million pages of Epstein-related material. Hundreds of prominent names appeared throughout the documents, including Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger and Kevin Spacey. Inclusion in the files does not establish involvement in criminal conduct, with many individuals appearing only in correspondence, contact records or media material.
Hefner, who died in 2017, has himself been the subject of allegations made after his death. Women appearing in the 2022 documentary series Secrets of Playboy accused him of sexual coercion and other misconduct.
Those allegations were never tested in court, and hundreds of women associated with Hefner and Playboy — including former girlfriends, employees, models and Playboy Club Bunnies — subsequently signed an open letter defending him.
One Jew to another