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T<\/span>he Department of Justice\u2019s release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein files has not only prompted questions about his crimes \u2013 but renewed attention on authorities\u2019 failure<\/a> to stop him after an accuser reported him in 1996.<\/p>\n This new cache of Epstein files has provided more insight into authorities\u2019 familiarity with allegations against him in the years that followed, including time between his sweetheart plea deal in 2008 and federal arrest nearly six years ago.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s known that accuser Virginia Giuffre\u2019s attorneys met with federal prosecutors in 2016 about Epstein to no avail, recently disclosed files indicate that detailed information was provided to federal authorities years before that sit-down. This included allegations against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; documents indicate that he appeared on the FBI\u2019s radar<\/a> about 15 years ago.<\/p>\n A woman, whose name is redacted from these documents, gave an interview to FBI agents about Epstein and Maxwell in 2011, with a federal prosecutor in attendance by phone; her account echoes Giuffre\u2019s public and legal allegations against the sex traffickers.<\/p>\n The US embassy in Australia told the country\u2019s national police: \u201cThe Federal Bureau of Investigation Miami Field Office (FBI Miami) is assisting the Palm Beach Police Department in Florida with an ongoing investigation into JEFFREY EPSTEIN, a US citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n The accuser, who was told<\/a> in late 2008 about Epstein\u2019s plea deal as she was found to be one of his victims, contacted federal authorities in south Florida three years later. Federal agents questioned her at the US consulate in Sydney on 17 March 2011.<\/p>\n This woman provided an extensive account of Epstein\u2019s abuse and alleged participation of co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other men as a teenage girl during the late 1990s. The woman, who described suffering at the hands of several predatory men after leaving a rehab facility, told agents that her father, a maintenance man at Donald Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club, secured a job for her as a locker room attendant there.<\/p>\n The woman, then an aspiring massage therapist, was reading a book on this subject. Maxwell came up to her and claimed she was looking for a traveling masseuse.<\/p>\n Not long after, the woman traveled to Epstein\u2019s Palm Beach home, where he abused her. She told agents she ultimately traveled and that the sexual abuse continued and that he trafficked her to other men.<\/p>\n Giuffre, who died by suicide last spring, had long alleged that Epstein and Maxwell made her engage in sexual activity with the former Duke of York, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The former prince, who was removed from royal life over his relationship with Epstein, was arrested on Thursday in England; he has staunchly denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Maxwell, who was found guilty of luring teenage girls into Epstein\u2019s predatory orbit, has insisted on her innocence. Epstein died in jail while awaiting his sex-trafficking trial in 2019.<\/p>\n FBI documents chronicling this interview also detail menacing actions against this woman. She told federal agents about receiving phone calls from men purporting to be FBI agents seeking information about her knowledge of Epstein.<\/p>\n She said that an attorney and Epstein called her by phone a few weeks after these men contacted her, and that he said \u201cif she did not say anything to investigators he would take care of her\u201d.<\/p>\n The release of information regarding this 2011 interview comes as victims and advocates\u2019 continue to show that law enforcement officials repeatedly had opportunities to meaningfully hold Epstein and Maxwell accountable before his 2019 arrest. The chronology makes clear that had Epstein been interdicted, others would not have suffered abuse.<\/p>\n Maria Farmer<\/a>, a painter who worked for Epstein in 1996, filed a report<\/a> with the FBI stating that he \u201cstole\u201d nude images of her siblings. This FBI report states that Farmer took artistic photos of her younger sisters for her personal work.<\/p>\n \u201cEpstein Stole the photos and Negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n The document also said that Epstein asked for \u201cpictures of young girls at swimming pools\u201d and threatened Farmer, stating \u201cthat if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down\u201d.<\/p>\n Epstein did serve a brief period of time in a Palm Beach jail on Florida state-level prostitution charges, including procuring someone under 18, under his sweetheart plea deal. He was granted work release.<\/p>\n Officials said that Epstein abused others between this plea deal, which allowed him to avoid federal prosecution, and his arrest years later. One adult victim alleged she was abused at Epstein\u2019s office during this daytime furlough.<\/p>\n