Former French model Juliette G. says it took her years to make sense of how she ended up in a New York bedroom with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The 43-year-old is one of two ex-models who have accused Daniel Siad, a French modelling scout with close ties to the late US financier, of having groomed them with the aim of introducing them to potential abusers. Their stories come as part of a wider reckoning with rape and sexual assault in the wake of the global MeToo movement in recent years that has seen a number of accusations in France and beyond. "I identified quite a few stages that led me there," Juliette told AFP. "These men, through manipulation, conduct tests to see how far a young woman will give in."
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Cover image: THE 51 PERCENT © FRANCE 24
For Juliette, who has asked to withhold her surname to protect her privacy, it all started in 2004, when she was 21. Siad – who denies the accusations against him – approached her in a Paris avenue. She calls this the "targeting" stage. He asked her if she was a model and if she would be interested in "professional opportunities" in the United States. "I think he was trying to gauge whether I would accept without asking too many questions. Which I did – I let things stay vague so I wouldn't come across as difficult," she said. She was soon sent a plane ticket to New York and an address in the city. She had no other information, but she felt reassured when her modelling agency said they knew Siad. In New York, she headed to an address on Madison Avenue, where she briefly met Epstein, whose name Siad had not mentioned until then. The financier would be convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14. 'In his debt' Epstein asked for her passport. This, she explained, was the second stage of her grooming – "hostage taking". Without her passport, she could not leave. Epstein then announced he did not have time to see her that day, but gave her $120 and said she could use his limousine to go shopping.
