Victim or Accomplice? The Story of Jeffrey Epstein’s Pilot Girlfriend

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0:06He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballon d 'Or award five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good, bad billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon, Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

0:44Nadia Marcinko:Name redacted to jeevacation at gmail.com, August 9th, 2010. I participated in your life, your idea of fun. I stood by you for years of legal battles and jail time. There was nobody you could trust more or who loved you more. I've been perfect. All I wanted was more time with you, closer relationship, and a family with you. Memorandum to Jeffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney, December 19, 2019. Re-investigation into potential co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein controlled every aspect of name-redacted's life, including her physical appearance, her weight and her clothing, for years, forcing, name redacted, to have multiple plastic surgeries, referring to her as his sex slave, insulting her and physically abusing her, including by choking her and throwing her down a set of stairs.

1:44Hello, I'm Tim Hewell, BBC reporter. And I am Jakub Pole, an independent investigative journalist from Slovakia. And here on Crossing Continents, this is the story of a key associate of the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Nadia Martzinko. That's the name redacted in the document extracts you've just heard. Martzinko is one of four women who've been described by US prosecutors as potential co-conspirators of Epstein. None of them has ever been accused of or charged with any crime. But now one US lawmaker has called for them all to be denied victim status. Two of the women, Sarah Kellan and Leslie Groff, are about to be questioned by a congressional committee and Marcinko may be invited to testify too.

2:33Marcinko's from my country, Slovakia. Her name was originally Marcinkova. And unlike the other women labelled as co-conspirators who were alleged to have scheduled Epstein's appointments with girls, Nadia Mardzinko wasn't primarily his assistant. She was more than that. For at least seven years, she was his main girlfriend. A deep relationship, beginning when she was 18, that Epstein maintained longer than with any other woman except Ghislaine Maxwell. We've discovered that Nadia Mardzinko and Epstein planned to have a child together. She was, undoubtedly, one of his victims. But it would seem she also became an accomplice.

3:15willing or unwilling in his operation. We found evidence that for many years she recruited other women to satisfy his desires even after he was jailed for sex crimes. Survivors say she was perhaps number three or four in his hierarchy. Then, with Epstein's help, she reinvented herself as an aircraft pilot. Quite an impressive one, it seems. And now she's vanished. There have been a lot of falsehoods told about her a lot of gaps in her story. But we've been digging into the millions of documents in the Epstein files released by the US government to try to find the truth about their relationship.

3:57I've tried to locate every email they send one another. We're telling this story without Nadia's participation. We've contacted her and her lawyers, but they've not replied. They've said in the past that Nadia is a victim and needs time to heal. But if we're to understand fully the scale and the nature of Epstein's operations, the role of women associates such as Nadia can't just be ignored. There has to be a serious discussion about where the status of victim ends and where the status of co-conspirator starts. Because there's no clear line.

4:38We've just arrived in the town of Presso in eastern Slovakia the hometown of Nadia Madzinko this is the main square the huge old medieval church with a soaring spire low pastel coloured houses ochre yellow and pistachio green and quite a lot of journalists have been here before but totally without success somebody even said to me like Omerta where no one wants to talk about Nadia Martinkov. It was true but we managed to find one of her classmates from primary school really good friends with Nadia. It is like the first time somebody from her past is willing to talk. He thinks speaking publicly about Nadia might be bad because her family is well respected in the town.

5:32So we'll call him Jozef, and his words, as with all the interviews we did in Slovakia, are spoken by an actor. So this is a group school photo from 1993 to 1994, it says on it. 25 children there, yes? And here they're kind of aged about eight and nine. And which one is Nadia? This one, very neatly cut blonde fringe there, and a neat little pink collar. She was really a very quiet, gentle girl. That's why I think later she became a victim. Definitely a victim, because a person can't change that radically. What she liked best was taking part in poetry recital competitions. And why did you like her?

6:16She was the most beautiful girl in the whole class. Skinny, tall, lovely eyes. But she was an introvert, what we call Sheda Miška, a little grey mouse. Once, only once, Josef kissed her on the cheek. She blushed. But he also sluiced her with cold water and hit her with birch twigs. That's permitted every Easter in Slovakia. It's a custom called obljevačka. That means literally pouring. A group of guys go house to house visiting their female friends. The idea is to hit the girls lightly. It's supposed to make them prettier and healthier and the boys get a reward, like some sweets or a bit of money.

7:05But the customs gradually dying out. I don't know whether that's good or bad. Anyway, all those years ago, Josef certainly did well out of Nadia's parents. We loved going to her place for Oblivachka. We got ten crowns each from her parents. And that was a lot. And a real kinder egg. They were really nice and hospitable, lovely people. Years later, one American victim of Epstein told police he'd boasted to her about Nadia, claiming he'd bought Nadia from her parents as a sex slave. But the timeline we've established confirms conclusively that, if Epstein said that, it was a lie. Nadia actually fell into his clutches years later.

7:50We'll get to that. Nadia's family didn't want to talk to us, but to emphasize they're successful middle-class people. I don't think she was desperate to escape Slovakia. We live pretty well here. It's not like we are lying in haystacks. That's a Slovak expression. Jozef and Nadia changed schools at 15 and lost contact. But then, at secondary school in 2001, she took part in a competition called Top Model of New Millennium. It was organized by an agency in a Czech capital, Prague. The winner became a very successful model. And the runner-up was Nadia Marcinková.

8:31Nadia Marcinko:I was kind of a little scared of her, to be honest. This is Jana. She was a co-contestant. She also doesn't want to give her real name. Like for breakfast, I was eating everything. And they're looking at you like, they'll measure you afterwards. I wanted to go to university, so for me it was like a second-line thing. But for many girls like Nadia, it was number one. I think she really wanted to go like higher and be famous. And her face was like, like you have special looking girls and they're maybe not like pure beautiful, but they're really like interesting. And that made her so popular in Asia.

9:12Nadia travelled on modelling assignments to Japan and Taiwan while she was still at school. But what changed her life forever was when she moved to another agency based in Paris. It was called Karins. It had a branch in New York run by a man called Jean-Luc Brunel, a very good friend of Jeffrey Epstein. These are the missing years of Nadia's life, when we've not managed to gain much independent information. But we have what we know is Nadia's own account. It's from a document that was released, heavily redacted, by the US Department of Justice in January. It's a formal memorandum written by federal prosecutors at the end of 2019, after Epstein's suicide in prison.

9:59It describes the prosecutor's investigation in what they call his potential co-conspirators. And it analyses the extent to which they may be criminally liable. though the prosecutors' conclusions on that are completely redacted. We can't see Nadia's name anywhere there, but five pages of testimony the prosecutors were given match in every detail what we know about her from other sources. She says it was Jean-Luc Brunel, her modelling agent, who got her an American visa in 2003, and it was a few weeks later at his birthday party that she first met Epstein. But Jakob, how do we know that's true?

10:43Because I worked it out independently from an email chain. And I got to the same date, September 17, 2003.

10:58OK, that's very important because it confirms that Nadia wasn't underage when she met Epstein. It's often been wrongly reported that she was. In fact, she was 18, legally an adult. Of course, it's still very young. But Jakub, tell us how you confirmed that date, because basically you were trawling through the files for something completely different. Yeah, and by the way, I spent more than 500 hours going through Epstein's emails. I think that the main thing is that I'm quite autistic and I'm no stranger to hyperfocus, so, you know, I can work, like, for hours and hours. And because you're Slovak, you started out, even before you got interested in Nadia, in Epstein's extensive interests with the former Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajčak.

11:47Yeah, that's been and still is a major scandal in our country. And you found the date Nadia met Epstein by working backwards from the date when the minister Lajčak met him. Exactly.

12:02So, this is complicated, but it's important because it's an example of the painstaking work that Jakub's been doing, how basically you found out who all the emails with names redacted are to and from. Yes, so I found an email. It was clearly from Epstein inviting someone else, name redacted, to a meeting with Leitchag on September 17, 2017. More than a decade after he met Nadia. Yes, bear with me. I didn't know who was being invited, but then, after a few hours searching through keywords, I discovered another email 6pm tomorrow is perfect and it also says by the way 14 years tomorrow with a smiley face so sounds like it was an anniversary for whoever wrote that exactly so then I looked for all the emails of this exact date in every year and eventually I found another one reminding Epstein of their anniversary and in that one for some reason the sender's name wasn't redacted.

13:08And the name was Nadia. OK, so Nadia regarded September the 17th, 2003 as her and Jeffrey's anniversary. And that coincides with Nadia's own account about meeting Jean-Luc Brunel's party because his birthday was the next day. And Jakob, you've used the same method, haven't you, of detective work for most of your discoveries? Yes, so mostly all the time when someone is redacted, there is a way how to identify this person. There may be another email from the same date or another email with the same topic from a different date. You have to use your deduction skills and search not only in the Epstein files, but in various other open sources and find something that will give you context to find this person.

13:58For example, what they were doing when they were writing the email. then you can match it up.

14:08So, back to Nadia's story. She told the federal investigators that Epstein invited her just a few days after they met at that party to his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. And the flight logs confirm that just days after that he took her off to his private Caribbean island little St. James. I want to pause here for a moment to ask how Nadia could fall into his clutches so easily, as so many of his victims and those of other sexual predators did. Was it, is it, something about the modeling business, however legitimate the agencies themselves may be? Okay, let's go back to Jana. Remember, she was Nadia's co-contestant in that breakthrough modeling competition in 2001.

14:54She was often alone on assignments in strange cities. She told us her agency wouldn't pay for family members to accompany their models, and chaperones were rarely on hand. Once, when Jana was just 15, she arrived in a big European city in the middle of the night. Her taxi driver started acting strangely. He went the wrong way. Jana jumped out of the car. She was terrified. She told her agency and...

15:24Nadia Marcinko:They were angry because I said this story. They were like even shouting at me that I'm a spoiled person and like not nice talking, talking to my parents like, what are you doing? We pay a lot of money, the plane ticket, hotel and everything. It's hardly likely then she thinks that the agency would have been concerned if she'd gone to parties with clients. No, because it would be always connection to someone in the company, like trusted contacts inviting you. So I don't think the company would be against it. Like, why would they? Jana soon left modeling, partly because she was disgusted by some of the things we've just heard her describing.

16:04But we've also talked to another Slovak model of that generation. Let's call her Kristina. She continued building her career into her early 20s, moving to an agency in New York. One day, she got a call from someone in that agency, a trusted friend.

16:20Nadia Marcinko:that like I have this guy his name's Jeffrey he's a really good friend so he's looking for someone to massage him um and she knew that I didn't massage him so that's how I know you know that's how I got invited to this house on the Upper East Side because like stupid me I said okay why not it's a job you know so it looked like if you walked into a Dracula house like in Transylvania So it was expensive, antique, like beautiful staircase. Some housekeeper escorts me to one of the rooms. There's a massage table in the middle, no furniture, nothing. I purposely dressed like very like a nun. I was wearing like this huge long sweater, black, zipped all the way.

17:09Nadia Marcinko:And like he comes in high, very, you know, professional in his white robe. Bathrobe. Yeah, like bathrobe. And without further ado, he just lays on the table, but like very discreetly takes off his rope. He was lying on his front. I was massaging his back and just talking frantically because I was nervous, you know. I was going on and on about my boyfriend and how I love him. Like really stupid, really dorky. and he said you have a very cute body and he asked me whether I wanted to take my sweater off and I said no you know I'm sort of chilly and and it really didn't take long because then he was like okay well thank you very much and he gave me 500 in cash I was there probably maybe like 10 minutes?

18:10Nadia Marcinko:I don't know. I'm not very proud of it, but you know, I was 23 years old or like 22. So that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a massage. With Epstein, it always started with a massage.

18:29To her relief, Christina never saw him again. But what about Nadia? She later told the federal investigators that Jean-Luc Brunel, her boss, encouraged her to massage Epstein's feet when she met him. And she depended on Brunel for her right to stay in America. So how could she say no? She couldn't. And it would have been hard for her to say no to anything from Brunel or Epstein for years to come. Because Brunel sponsored her visa and because Epstein bankrolled Brunel's agency to the tune of a million dollars she felt as she later told the investigators that epstein could have had her deported with a single phone call to brunel so the relationship within her and epstein was coercive and complicated remember how for years afterwards she wanted to celebrate the day she met epstein as their anniversary he described it like that too and of course That's how lots of couples describe the date they met.

19:36If you just read her emails to him, and I've read hundreds, you get the impression that this was a romance. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's companion, was still his close friend. She was still finding other girls for him. But their sexual relationship was coming to an end. Nadia would be his chief girlfriend now.

20:01Nadia Marcinko:17th, 2004. Hey! I hope you've had a nice relaxing day like me. Wink! This is the first email I've found between them. I went for a walk. I read the massage book. I missed you. I played with my new phone. I played with my camera. I wanted to play with you so much. But I ate a Reese's peanut butter cup and I feel better now. Smiley! I only wish I was lying in bed with you right now. And for the years to come, they talk to one another like a couple. They have rows. They make up. They fuss over their small fluffy dog. She gets jealous of other women. And eventually, we'll come back to this, they plan a family together.

20:59But Jakob isn't he just manipulating her? There's a massive imbalance of power, of wealth and age. She's just over 18 when they meet. He's 50, 32 years her senior. Yes, of course. And to call him controlling would be putting it mildly. Here's a typical message from 2009. I want you to learn how to cook eggs, scrambled, poached, over easy. I want you to learn how to run a house. I want no arguments during the Monday to Friday week. I want you to read one of the hundred great books every month. I want beautiful things only in the house. You cannot put anything in without letting me see it first.

21:41Jay. And what would happen if she displeased him? After his death, she told the investigators the whole relationship was abusive. He choked her, threw her downstairs, forced her to have multiple plastic surgeries. For whatever reason, there's no reference to those incidents in emails I've found. Though she does reproach him over many other things, I found one message where she accuses him, indirectly, of abusive partner behavior. Although, she finishes with the words, I love you. In any case, we know Nadia was totally dependent on him, and she didn't like it.

22:32Her modelling career effectively ended as soon as she met him. She later told the investigators her agency wouldn't send her on more castings until she lost weight. Instead, Epstein put her in charge of designing his homes. They discuss wall colours, shower doors, kitchen counters. But that's not her only job.

22:53Nadia Marcinko:March 15, 2006, Nadia Martinkova wrote, I had to be there when the painter had to see the apartments. Some furniture got delivered. Carpets were measured. Then you asked me to go to the home show. And it is incredibly frustrating when knowing that you gave me enough to do to keep me busy full-time, you then call and nag about girls again. Again and again. It comes back to girls. Nadia had to keep the supply flowing. Nadia Martsinkova to Jay Epstein, March 16, 2006. What do you imagine is a fun sex thing? I will do what I can, even though if this is simply about you having sex with someone else, I don't know how it makes our relationship better.

23:40Nadia Marcinko:I will try to find girls whenever we are in New York. Sometimes, though, as you can hear, she was reluctant. Jay Epstein to Nadia, June 11, 2006. As opposed to learning to have fun fishing for girls, your focus was how disgusting the bait is. He went on. If you are unhappy and unfulfilled, let's decide how to make it better. It is unfair to lay the blame at my doorstep. You returned from Europe, where you had totally free time, empty-handed. It seems from some messages that Nadia knows Geoffrey prefers his women young. But we found no evidence in the files that she ever introduced him to underage girls.

24:20But recruiting adults through deception for exploitative purposes can also be trafficking.

24:27Nadia Marcinko:March 20th, 2006. Nadia Martzinkova wrote. I just had dinner with Laura and her friend. She's pretty cute. 19, French. I'm sending you a picture, and also a picture of the Swedish girl I met at Natalie's dinner. She says she can do Thai massage. She is not cute enough for anything else. 19.

24:51He's widely recognized as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballon d 'Or award five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

25:33One survivor of abuse by Epstein said the pecking order of his sex organisation, as she observed it, was first Ghislaine Maxwell, then Brunel, the modelling agent, then Epstein's assistant Sarah Kellan, and then Nadia. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking. Brunel later killed himself in prison while awaiting trial on rape charges. Kellen, who is giving testimony to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee this week, has denied any wrongdoing. She's previously said she was manipulated sexually and psychologically by Epstein. As for Nadia, she's never been accused of or charged with any offence.