Epstein accuser sues fellow victim for defamation over claims she helped sex trafficker
The lawsuit seeks for $20m in damages
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Your support makes all the difference.One of the women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexually abusing her has now sued one of the disgraced financier's other victims.
The Associated Press reports that Rina Oh filed her lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday. The lawsuit names Virginia Giuffre — one of Epstein's most public and outspoken victims — as a defendant. Ms Oh claims Ms Giuffre defamed her in a series of tweets in October of last year.
In the tweets, Ms Giuffre claimed that Ms Oh had been Epstein's girlfriend and was an active part of his sex trafficking scheme.
"Rina- if you read this I hope you live in shame for the rest of your life," one of the tweets said. Ms Giuffre also claimed that Ms Oh should be "sitting in jail" with accused Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell.
She also claimed that Ms Oh gave her a six-inch scar on her leg.
Ms Oh said that investigators — including the FBI — have acknowledged that she was a victim of Epstein 20 years ago and cleared her of any involvement in his inner circle.
The lawsuit rejects all of Ms Giuffre's accusations, arguing that she "has maliciously reiterated and republished these defamations and slanders in prior and subsequent tweets and interviews on podcasts, TV and for magazines, as well as in her memoirs entitled 'Billionaire's Playboy Club.'"
Ms Giuffre could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ms Oh is seeking $20m in damages and stopping what she calls "false and defamatory bile."
While that fight rages outside of prison, Ms Maxwell — formerly Epstein's girlfriend and allegedly a recruiter of underage women — continues to await her sex trafficking trial.
Ms Maxwell's trial is scheduled to begin on 29 November. Would-be jurors will be questioned between 16 November and 19 November.
The British socialite was arrested a year after Epstein was found dead in a New York jail where he was awaiting trial. She has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn without bail for the last year awaiting trial.
Ms Maxwell has sought bail numerous times, once offering a $5m bond in exchange for her release from the Brooklyn jail. Each time she attempted to make bail she was ruled a flight risk and denied.
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