Photograph by Drew Angerer/Getty Photos
When Miami Herald reporter Julie Ok. Brown revealed her e-book on the Jeffrey Epstein case final 12 months, she devoted it to Courtney Wild and different victims of the rich sex-trafficker.
Now Wild and fellow accuser Haley Robson are suing the star journalist, whose 2018 Herald sequence about Epstein’s shady plea deal for abusing scores of ladies led to his indictment. The duo allege she defamed them in her e-book.
In a shocking lawsuit, Wild and Robson say Brown revealed “false and defamatory statements” in her 2021 e-book Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story, regardless of allegedly figuring out the knowledge wasn’t appropriate, and due to this fact “re-victimized” them.
“Particularly, Brown falsely said that Ms. Wild was raped by Epstein after which had intercourse with Epstein a number of instances after the rape. Neither is true,” the grievance, filed in Miami-Dade County, states. “Extra egregiously, when Robson refused to take a seat for an interview for the e-book, Brown threatened her, saying her refusal could be the ‘largest mistake of your life.’”
The civil swimsuit alleges defamation, defamation per se, and defamation by implication, and seeks “an order requiring Julie Brown to subject a public assertion of apology” to the ladies, and compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit claims “Brown has sought to take credit score away from the victims,” together with Wild, who for years battled the Division of Justice over Epstein’s controversial 2008 nonprosecution settlement, and fought for his arrest and a victims’ compensation program.
“Realizing Ms. Wild had spearheaded every of those main achievements, and never Ms. Brown as she claimed in her e-book, Ms. Brown sought to debase and defame Ms. Wild by writing that Ms. Wild ‘informed the FBI the instances that she had intercourse with him when she was underage,’ that she couldn't ‘keep in mind the precise time he raped me,’ and that, at a sure level thereafter, she ‘didn’t should do the intercourse anymore,’” the grievance states. “In actual fact, Ms. Wild by no means had sexual activity with Epstein and was by no means raped by Epstein.”
In the meantime, the swimsuit accuses Brown of retaliating in opposition to Robson as a result of she refused to be interviewed for the e-book by depicting her as a “mini-Ghislaine Maxwell.” (Maxwell, a former girlfriend and longtime confidant of Epstein, was lately convicted of grooming and abusing minor ladies for him within the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.)
“Fulfilling her menace, Brown then portrayed Robson not because the teenage sufferer she was, no completely different than dozens of different victims, however fairly as a mini-Ghislaine Maxwell and a member of Epstein’s internal circle, regardless of figuring out that to be a false narrative,” the submitting continues. “Brown’s libelous assaults on these two victims could have lasting results as each have youngsters and members of the family who will endure common assaults by these in the neighborhood who learn or hear of those defamatory statements.”
Jeffrey Gutchess, the lawyer representing Robson and Wild, stated the false reporting in Brown’s e-book is “the most recent insult to harm” for victims who’ve been traumatized by Epstein, his enablers and the federal government for failing to correctly cost him again within the 2000s. Brown, Gutchess added, “took the victims’ tales and commercialized them.”
“Once I met Haley and Courtney and heard the story, I used to be shocked by how a lot hurt and injury this e-book precipitated to them emotionally,” Gutchess informed The Every day Beast.
“Neither of them is cash hungry or sees this as some type of alternative to get wealthy or something like that,” Gutchess stated. “They have been simply horrified by the harm they suffered. They should take a strand and push again in opposition to that.”
Referring to the alleged threats in opposition to Robson, the lawyer informed us: “When that occurred, Haley was shocked. It’s odd habits. I can’t clarify it. I don’t know why an writer would threaten a sufferer like that if she didn’t cooperate.”
In line with the lawsuit, Brown wished to “break new floor” in her e-book, partially by reporting on “Ms. Robson’s true position as a sufferer.”
The press has lengthy reported Robson was a recruiter primarily based on paperwork from the Palm Seaside Police Division’s 2005 investigation into Epstein. However Robson, who says she was 16 when she first gave Epstein a therapeutic massage and commenced discovering victims for him, “had been wrongfully vilified by the media for years,” her grievance says.
Certainly, in Filthy Wealthy, the Netflix documentary about Epstein’s intercourse crimes, Robson got here ahead and stated it was unfair for cops to deal with her because the financier’s “righthand man.” On digicam, Robson stated, “I really feel like I’ve been placing the blame on myself for thus lengthy, however I shouldn’t really feel responsible about it as a result of I used to be 16 and he’s the grownup.”
The lawsuit says Brown requested to interview Robson “underneath the guise of serving to [her] restore her repute and inform her true story as one among Epstein’s victims.” However when Robson opted to not take part, Brown allegedly warned Robson she was “making the most important mistake of your life.”
“With the publication of Perversion of Justice, Ms. Brown carried out her menace by characterizing Ms. Robson not as a sufferer however fairly as an keen [participant] and co-conspirator in Epstein’s crimes,” the grievance states.
A evaluate of Brown’s e-book reveals she described how Robson introduced a woman to Epstein’s Palm Seaside lair and obtained a $200 finder’s payment. Brown writes that Robson was “giddy with pleasure” when she informed the lady, “If we do that each Saturday, we will probably be wealthy.”
The grievance says Brown knew the statements about Wild and Robson “have been false and defamatory” due to her prior interviews with them. Brown interviewed Wild on-the-record and Robson off-the-record, the submitting states.