Epstein used school fees to pressure young women

Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition and living costs for young women at elite schools in Switzerland and around the world, and victims say the money could also be used as a means of pressure, an SRF investigation found.

SRF Data searched more than two million documents released by the US Department of Justice and found hundreds of leads pointing to Epstein payments to universities and elite schools in a dozen countries. The payments often covered some or all of tuition, as well as expenses such as room and board. Many were made for young women, employees or employees’ children.

In Switzerland, the documents point to at least nine women who attended dance schools, music conservatories or hotel management schools in Geneva, Montreux and Lugano, with their education funded through Epstein’s accounts. Some payments went through a shell company, concealing his name. Emails indicate that Epstein personally approved the payments.

One case involved a musician from the Baltics who studied at a prestigious music school in New York and later attended a course at the music conservatory in Lugano. Epstein paid CHF 4,200 for her year-long course in Lugano in 2015.

Documents also show that Epstein paid for parts of her education, an apartment, dental bills, flights to Europe, gifts and instrument repairs. The files contain dozens of emails between them. They do not make clear what their relationship involved. Through her lawyer, the musician denied finding women for Epstein and told media outlets that she was one of his many victims and had suffered serious abuse. The released documents do not establish whether Epstein sexually assaulted any of the women who attended Swiss institutions.

An SRF analysis found that Epstein paid for education for at least 30 young women around the world during the 2010s. The investigation is described by SRF as the first systematic analysis of his payments to elite schools worldwide.