Newly unsealed Justice Department files reveal that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was warned about Jeffrey Epstein’s abusive behavior as early as 1996 — decades before the disgraced financier was finally arrested. Despite the credible complaint, no action was taken. According to the documents, Maria Farmer, an artist and one of Epstein’s earliest known accusers, filed a formal report with the FBI on September 3, 1996. Farmer alleged that Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, had taken nude photos of underage girls, including her younger sisters, and were involved in explicit exploitation.

Farmer’s account detailed that Epstein pressured her into photographing teenage girls and threatened her with violence if she spoke out. She also warned investigators that her teenage sister had been sexually assaulted at Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico. Despite these disturbing details, FBI records show no evidence of a follow-up investigation, interview, or inquiry at the time.

The revelation has reignited outrage among survivors and advocacy groups who argue that timely intervention could have prevented years of abuse. “If the FBI had acted on Maria’s warning, hundreds of young women could have been spared unimaginable trauma,” said Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer representing several survivors.

Maria Farmer, who has long fought to have her claims recognized, described the file release as both “vindicating and deeply painful.” Her younger sister, Annie Farmer, is among the few Epstein survivors who testified publicly, helping secure Maxwell’s 2021 conviction. The newly released “Epstein Files” also include disturbing photos from Epstein’s Manhattan mansion depicting child-like imagery and bizarre art pieces, offering an unsettling glimpse into the financier’s private world.

Critics say this decades-old failure is part of a pattern of institutional negligence toward powerful offenders. The Justice Department has not publicly explained why Farmer’s original complaint was ignored. The FBI’s inaction in 1996 now stands as one of the most damaging missed opportunities in modern law enforcement history — a silence that allowed Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal network to operate unchecked for more than two decades.