Jeffrey Epstein accuser sues prominent psychiatrist for making her 'sex slave'

[June 04, 2024]  By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prominent 91-year-old psychiatrist who was once close friends with Jeffrey Epstein was sued on Monday by a onetime model who said he enabled the late financier's sex trafficking, and turned her into his "modern-day sex slave."

In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the plaintiff, using a pseudonym Jane Doe 11, said Henry Jarecki raped her repeatedly starting in 2011, after Epstein referred her for mental health treatment following his own sexual abuses.

Doe also said Jarecki was Epstein's "go-to" doctor for treating young women experiencing depression, shared victims' confidential medical information with Epstein, and shielded Epstein from law enforcement.

"The allegations will be shown to be entirely false and baseless," said Sarita Kedia, a lawyer for Jarecki. "Dr. Jarecki never engaged in any abusive conduct with the complainant or any other person."

Doe's civil lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for sexual battery, emotional distress, and violating the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Jarecki, of Rye, New York, is the latest of many people sued over their ties to the registered sex offender.

He is a longtime Yale University faculty member whose works include the book "Modern Psychiatric Treatment."

Jarecki also became wealthy trading commodities, and from selling MovieFone, which he co-founded with his son, to America Online for about $388 million in stock in 1999.

While Jarecki was in Epstein's public address book, Monday's lawsuit appears to be the first over their relationship.

'BEST DOCTOR IN NEW YORK CITY'

Monday's complaint said Doe came to the United States in 2010, seeking a visa to work a model, when another model told her that Epstein could help her career.

Demonstrators hold signs aloft protesting Jeffrey Epstein, as he awaits arraignment in the Southern District of New York on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, in New York, U.S., July 8, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

She said Epstein sent her to Jarecki after she became depressed, calling him "the best doctor in New York City."

But instead of helping, Jarecki allegedly promised to "save" Doe from Epstein, pushing her to move into an apartment he could monitor from his own bedroom around the corner in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood.

Doe said Jarecki, then in his late 70s, began using the apartment to force her into sex, threatening her work status or to return her to Epstein if she failed to comply.

She also said Jarecki ordered her to go to bed at 10 p.m., calling her to demand she sleep if he saw the light on at 10:15, and expressed displeasure when she didn't smile enough.

The complaint accused Jarecki of "raping Jane Doe 11 by force on dozens of occasions in New York," and trafficking her to his private Caribbean island where he sexually abused her.

Others sued over their ties to Epstein include former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. A U.S. appeals court is considering whether to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for aiding Epstein's sex trafficking.

Brad Edwards, a lawyer for Doe and more than 200 other Epstein accusers, declined to elaborate on Monday's lawsuit but said "we want other survivors to know that it is safe to come forward."

The case is Doe v Jarecki, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-04208.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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