When Playboy founder alerted FBI after 'playmate' accused Epstein of rape

New court documents have revealed that Playboy founder Hugh Hefner alerted the FBI several times about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein way back in 2005 after a model told him that she was raped and trafficked by the disgraced financier. However, the FBI turned a blind eye to the claims for years before contacting the survivor only in 2020, according to a report in The New York Post.

The ordeal of the model, a Playboy playmate, was mentioned in the lawsuit filed by 32 Epstein victims against the US. Audra Lynn Christiansen was then only 23 when she reached out to Hefner for help in 2005 because of his popularity and influence. Significantly, Hefner, who died in 2017 at 91, was himself accused of rape and of coercing and drugging women into sex at the Playboy mansion and at nightclubs.

PLAYBOY MODEL'S ORDEAL AND A 20-YEAR WAIT

Christiansen also confided in Hefner that she was trafficked by Epstein to billionaire Stanley Ho, known as China's 'Godfather of gambling'. Ho died in 2020. "Hefner called the FBI multiple times on behalf of Christiansen to report Jeffrey Epstein," the complaint stated, as per the lawsuit.

The amended lawsuit, filed in May this year before the US's Florida district court, charges the FBI with failing to act on multiple tip-offs about Epstein. In fact, some sexual abuse complaints date back to 1996.

However, an investigation into Epstein only began in 2006 after the family of a 14-year-old girl reported that she was molested at his mansion. He was arrested in July 2006, but escaped with a light jail term. Several reports suggested that he worked out a secret deal with the authorities.

A renewed investigation against Epstein started in 2018, following the #MeToo movement. He was again arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. However, months later, he was mysteriously found dead in his prison cell in Manhattan.

The lawsuit mentioned that Christiansen, now 46, was contacted by the FBI in October 2020, around 15 years after she first complained about Epstein.

"The fact that the FBI tried to utilise procedural technicalities to try to avert accountability for its failures to properly probe Epstein for over 20 years is deeply concerning," Jordan Merson, the survivor's lawyer, told The Post.

Christiansen told the FBI that she came in contact with Epstein through her agents.

The FBI attempted to get the lawsuit quashed in June, arguing that it was not required to investigate "each and every complaint" it received. The agency, however, did not comment on Hefner's tip about Epstein.

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