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Epstein survivor calls for 'thorough' Irish investigation

Lisa Phillips looks of camera on the late late show
Lisa Phillips' full interview was broadcast on RTÉ's Late Late Show

Lisa Phillips, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, has called for a "thorough investigation" into the convicted US sex offender's connection with Ireland.

Speaking on RTÉ's The Late Late Show, Ms Phillips said she is in Ireland to meet with "some powerful leaders" and push for an investigation into claims made by victims.

Ms Phillips was speaking a week after the Dáil heard that one witness statement contained within the Epstein files claimed that a young girl was trafficked through Ireland for "politicians and notable men for the purposes of sex".

In the interview, Ms Phillips added: "My motivation for being here is that brave, young girl you know who spoke out - she contacted the FBI.

"So, you know, I'm also here to meet with some power leaders. And do a little push, you know, to do the right thing, to investigate her claims and anyone else who was in the files.

"There needs to be a thorough investigation," Ms Phillips added.

"I've always said, it's not just in the United States, it's a global human trafficking ring. And there are many powerful people - government officials, financial institutions, universities, modelling industry, entertainment industry - there are so many people that are involved, which is why it's a big mess," Ms Phillips said.


Watch: Survivor details Epstein introducing her to Mountbatten-Windsor


Ms Phillips said Epstein's victims "are the most important part of this story".

Following Ms Phillips call for an investigation, the Department of the Taoiseach said: "Our thoughts go out to anyone who suffered at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein or any of his associates.

"We would urge anyone, with any information about allegations contained in the Epstein files to contact the police."

Epstein: 'I would like for you to meet a prince’

Ms Phillips said before she met Epstein, she was a young model in New York City.

"I had to work very hard to get to that point in my career. I had booked a big modelling job, a cover and a few pages in a British magazine.

"So I flew with another model and we flew down to a small island called Tortola in the British West Indies, near St John’s.

"From there, we did a few days of shooting and then we had a free day, and the other model said to me … ’I have a friend who lives close by and owns an island and he helped me to get my visa to work in the United States’," Ms Phillips said.

The other model asked her if she "wanted to hang out" with him for the day and Ms Phillips said she would.

She said they explored the island and described it as "beautiful".

Ms Phillips said Epstein introduced her to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor while she was on his island.

She said that during a dinner, Epstein said to her "I would like for you to meet a prince".

Ms Phillips said she had earlier seen Mr Mountbatten-Windsor "frolicking" with a young girl in the pool before dinner.

She said: "And at that time, I noticed there was like an older gentlemen in the pool, he was like frolicking and canoodling with one of the other young girls, so I just made a note of that," she said.

The dinner was also the first time Ms Phillips met Epstein.


Watch: Epstein never travelled without a harem of girls


She described Epstein as "very charming, very intelligent and very locked in on me, in a way I wasn't used to with men".

Ms Phillips said Epstein was also "very interested in me as a person" and asked her "so many questions" about her life.

"I was pretty well travelled, so, you know, I had a lot to talk about, I guess," she said.

She said Epstein asked her about her "goals and aspirations" and "didn’t pay much attention to the other girls" during the dinner.

"I had told him I grew up in Oxford, England, for the first few years of my life. At that moment, I noticed the gentleman who was at the pool earlier was getting ready to leave and saying goodbye to everyone. And I got to meet him briefly," she said.

Ms Phillips said this man was Mr Mountbatten-Windsor and she did not meet him again.

British police yesterday arrested the former prince following allegations against him after the release of millions of pages of files related to Epstein. Andrew is accused of sharing sensitive information with Epstein while serving as the UK's trade envoy. He was later released under investigation.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has strenuously denied any wrongdoing over his Epstein links. Being named in the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

'No Jeffery said you have to do it'

Ms Phillips also discussed what happened to her after the dinner when she met Epstein for the first time.

"After dinner, we went back to our quarters … it was already really late at night, so we couldn’t take the boat back, I really wish we had.

"We got ready for bed … and there was a knock on the door," she said.

Ms Phillips said it was one of the other young girls and she said "Jeffery is ready for your massage".

"So that is when things kind of shifted firstly. We weren’t quite sure what she meant," she said.

"I hadn’t done a massage on anybody and so the other girl said ‘well if Jeffery said we have to do it, we have to do it’.

"Well, I said, you do it and then I looked at the other girl and she said ‘no Jeffery said you have to do it’," Ms Phillips said.

She said she went with the two other girls to the "massage room", which was Epstein’s bedroom and she saw him lying naked.

"We did an actual massage, but the massage turned pretty dark and we were both assaulted that evening," Ms Phillips said.

"We ran out of there and went back to the room, stayed up all night, just like waiting for that boat to come … and get out of there.

"That’s what happened and I never went back," she added.

‘I just suppressed it’

Ms Phillips said she did not know how to process the assault and attended some rape counselling sessions and groups but added they did not work for her because "there was too much shame to speak it out loud".

"So I just suppressed it. But during that time, for quite a few months, Jeffery’s secretaries kept calling me profusely, over and over again, to go meet with him," she said.

She asked herself "why is this man bothering me so much, what is so important".

Ms Phillips thinks Epstein wanted to meet her because of what she had seen on the island.

She said Epstein eventually called her himself.

"Well we find out now that Jeffery had a lot to do with the modelling industry," Ms Phillips said.

She said every time she would meet Epstein he would "mentor you".

"And then you would try to leave" and he would say "I am ready for my massage".

"You would hope it would just be a massage, because he actually didn’t like massages. But usually it would turn into an assault," Ms Phillips said.

"So you would just try to avoid seeing him, but it wasn’t easy to avoid him," she added.

‘Something deeper and darker going on here’

Ms Phillips said one night, a friend of hers asked if she could speak to her.

Her friend told her that Epstein forced her "to have sex with a man".

Ms Phillips said she discussed the incident with her friend and they realised "there was something deeper and darker going on here".

Afterwards, she said she "had to get away from this person".

Ms Phillips said she confronted Epstein and asked him "what’s going on?", which she added "was the wrong thing to do".

"All of a sudden, I am exposing him in a way, and he didn’t like that," she said.

Ms Phillips said she then packed her bags and moved across the country.

When learning of Epstein’s death, Ms Phillips said she felt emotions that she "had never confronted", a weight came off her shoulders and she "felt free".

"When he died and I saw it, I knew something in me said to me I need to figure out what was going on, because those years were so confusing to me.

"And I knew many, many girls that were involved and I knew they were abused," Ms Phillips said.

"I saw the grasp he had on them, the grooming that he did, and the things they got out of it, but I could see on their face the sadness when you are abused. And you know, I had it too," she said.

Ms Phillips said when she found out about "the underage girls in Florida", she decided she had to say something.

She said her speech on Capitol Hill, calling on the US to release the Epstein files, was a "powerful moment" for her.

"I want to take the power away from people who think they can abuse 1,200 or so girls and get away with it. So I said ‘oh you think you have the list, we can form our own list’," Ms Phillips said.

Ms Phillips said she thinks that some files have not been released because they are "pretty dark and disturbing" and there are "big names involved".

She said a lot of the survivors know a lot of the names that have been redacted in the files.

When asked if abuse could have taken place when Epstein flew to Ireland, Ms Phillips said Epstein did not fly without a "harem of girls".

Ms Phillips said justice for her and other survivors would be "transparency and accountability".

But she added that at this point, justice is "exposing".

"Exposing who is in the files, all the names, and also who enabled. The enablers are really the people who allowed this to continue," Ms Phillips said.


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