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Julia Molchanova on Escaping Jeffrey Epstein’s Cult-Like World (Part 1) (9/8/26)

About this episode

Julia Molchanova, a Russian woman who met Jeffrey Epstein in New York in 2011 when she was 22, described how he drew her into what she later called a “cult”-like system of control by exploiting her ambitions and vulnerabilities. Epstein initially promised to help her pursue fashion design and attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, paid for classes and helped her move to New York, but the promised career never materialized. Instead, Molchanova said he sexually abused her, pressured her to become one of his so-called assistants, dictated how she dressed, wore her hair, spent money and conducted relationships, and repeatedly demanded that she bring other women to him. She said he also isolated her when she displeased him and used money, housing and employment opportunities to deepen her dependence. Epstein later had a company called JSC Interiors created in her name, which she believed was supposed to support a design career, but she said the company and related accounts were used for transactions she did not understand or control.

Molchanova said she finally began breaking away in early 2019 after discovering unfamiliar credit cards and spending on her credit report and realizing that Epstein appeared to be using financial accounts and entities connected to her name without her knowledge. She confronted his bookkeeper, accountant Richard Kahn and eventually Epstein himself, telling him she wanted a normal life and wanted out of JSC Interiors. She refused an invitation to meet Epstein in Palm Beach and never returned to him, escaping only months before his July 2019 arrest. Molchanova later revealed that she was the lead Jane Doe plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit accusing Bank of America of ignoring suspicious transactions connected to Epstein’s trafficking operation; that case resulted in a $72.5 million settlement for survivors. Her account presents Epstein’s operation not simply as a series of individual assaults, but as a highly organized system of psychological, sexual and financial control in which career promises, money, housing, relationships and even corporate entities were used to keep women dependent and confused about the extent to which their lives had been taken over.


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How One Woman Was Caught in Epstein’s ‘Cult’—and Escaped - WSJ

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Julia Molchanova on Escaping Jeffrey Epstein’s Cult-Like World (Part 1) (9/8/26)

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

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Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup ChroniclesJulia Molchanova on Escaping Jeffrey Epstein’s Cult-Like World (Part 1) (9/8/26). Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

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and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles when it comes to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. There have been many that have come forward. But the vast majority of women who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein still have not told their story. And a lot of these women come from places like Eastern Europe. And it's very difficult for them to come forward and talk about what happened to them. And of course, that's due to societal pressure and also going against very powerful people in a place like, oh, I don't know Latvia or Estonia or Russia is probably not the best idea. So when we talk about the girls with no names, we're talking about these girls from Eastern Europe and everywhere else in between. And in this episode, we're going to be hearing from this woman named Julia Malkynova who was 22 years old when she first met Epstein and who

is now telling her story for the first time. So today we have an article from the Wall Street Journal and the headline. How one woman was caught in Epstein's cult and escaped. This article was authored by Kadeja Safdar. Early in 2019, Julia Malkynova opened a credit monitoring app on her phone. It showed credit cards and spending that she didn't recognize. She had spent years as one of the young women, Jeffrey Epstein, called his assistance, a cover of Malkynova said he used to hide his sexual abuse. She started to suspect that Epstein was also using accounts set up in her name for his own purposes and decided to challenge him for the first time. And that all tracks to because once Jeffrey Epstein was in control of their immigration status, then he was in control of everything they had going on. And don't think for a second that's not a factor. I don't think people understand how lucky we are to live in the United States.

Even with all the problems, with all the bullshit, with all the nonsense, and with the terrible leadership, we're still lucky as hell. And I don't say that as somebody who's never left the United States. I've been through Mexico, I've been through Central America, I've been to South America, I've been to Brazil, I've been to Favellas. And let me tell you, the vast majority of Americans have no idea how good they have it. Now that doesn't mean everything's perfect far from. But all you have to do is take a quick trip down South and you'll see real poverty. And I'm not even talking about like Tijuana. I'm talking about real poverty. Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, and then you have somebody like Jeffrey Epstein or Glenn Maxwell or Jean-Luc Brunel show up in a place like that. And they offer you a brand new life. These girls are gonna try and do whatever they can to get out of the circumstances they're in. Jeffrey Epstein knew that and he

used it as a tool. I feel uncomfortable to discuss the future. Malkanova wrote to Epstein on April 4th, 2019, sweat soaking into her shirt, as she nervously typed the message. She told Epstein she didn't know anything about an entity that he'd set up in her name and that she wanted to have my normal life. In interviews with the Wall Street Journal, Malkanova publicly discussed her or deal for the first time, revealing that she was the lead Jane Doe plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Bank of America. And good for her. I'm glad she's getting a bag. Anybody who was abused by Jeffrey Epstein or his associates should get paid. That's not even a discussion. I mean, that's the only ramifications that we've seen so far. And if anyone's gonna benefit from it, it should be the women who were abused. And I've said from the beginning that the vast majority of this money should go to the survivors and the United States government for all

the bullshit they were involved in. They should wave the taxes on any of the estate money that's being pieced off to the survivors. Because at the end of the day, they're the ones who suffered. And they're the ones who should get these funds. Do you know expensive therapy is putting your life back together? Not exactly something you can do with a minimum wage job. I'm going forward to prove that women have a voice and the ability to rebuild themselves. Move forward and do good things in life. Said that 37-year-old who recently started a fashion brand and plans to advocate for crime victims. The lawsuit filed last year said Jane Doe was abused by Epstein for several years and held accounts at Bank of America that Epstein used to facilitate his sex trafficking. The suit accused the bank of ignoring suspicious transactions. Oh, there's no doubt that they did. Every single bank he banked with, they were all up to the same bullshit. And that's why every single bank that's been involved here has ended up paying out a

gigantic amount of money because they're all culpable. Just like I've told you from the very beginning, if you're looking for a boogie man here, it's the financial sector. And let me be crystal clear. I don't mean your local bank teller or the local branch manager or even like a VP or whatever. I'm talking about the movers and shakers. People like Jess daily, Mary Erdo's. People like Jamie Dimon. Those are the people that are really in control of everything. Hugh controls the purse controls the day, right? And where do you think all these people are getting money? Politicians, etc. You think it just grows on trees? Or are they going to banks to get it? Malkanovus said the legal process was grueling, including sharing private medical history, but she said she feels good knowing it may have spared other victims. The man was supposed to be in jail. It was the system that felled us, she said. And if I was somebody that was abused by Epstein after the first time

around, I'd be pissed. And I'd be suing the federal government 100% because she's not wrong. They failed. Their job was to stop Jeffrey Epstein. And instead, they helped them out. A federal judge recently approved $72.5 million settlement with Bank of America. That'll be distributed to dozens of Epstein victims. The judge said the case brought actual justice, although partial for the women. Yeah, financial justice. But what about the people that made the decision on board Epstein? What about the people that ignored all of the transactions? Never any penalties for them, right? Oh, we'll pay a fine, but we'll keep it moving. Do you really think $72 million means anything to Bank of America? Brad Edwards, an attorney who represented Malkanovus and other Epstein victims in the lawsuit, said she has every reason to protect her privacy and move forward quietly with her life. Instead, she chose to stand up, not only

for herself, but for hundreds of women whose names the world may never know. And look, there are going to be so many women that never come forward. That's something I've told you from the very beginning. When you're talking about over a thousand women, I mean how many of them, unfortunately, have passed on. How many of them don't want anything to do with this story ever again. And how many of them are still terrified? Epstein's sexual exploitation didn't end with this 2008 conviction in Florida as many of his famous associates later said they believed, but continued until his second arrest in 2019. They all knew, stop. The difference is Epstein stopped going after young girls under age. And instead started bringing girls in under age rather wise from other countries. He just flipped the script. And that's because he had way too much exposure doing it locally. So he had to bring in girls from Eastern Europe and

Central America and other far-flung places because he knew nobody cared. This is Ashley Akinati from the almost famous podcast. You ever notice you and your spouse keep saying, we need to get away, but you never actually plan anything. That was us until we did something fun and spontaneous. We went to resort pass.com. There are hundreds of hotel resorts, pools and spots and private beaches that you can enjoy. You can spend the day at a luxury resort, pool, spa, massage without booking an overnight stay. And listen, I may have only been like 15 minutes from home, but it felt like it was a whole different world. And I'm thinking this is exactly what I needed. So just go to resortpass.com, choose your resort, choose your day, luxury resort day passes start at just $25. Once you post your day occasion, people are going to ask where you are. Go to resortpass.com slash almost famous and use the promo code almost famous to get $20 off when you spend $100. That's code almost famous at resortpass.com slash almost famous.

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After he was caught in Florida getting sexual massages from teenage girls, Epstein registered an LLC in Malkanova's name presenting the business to her as her own design company, but she said he used it for his own activities. He was a very manipulative man. She said, it was an illusion that you have something. In reality, I had nothing, and it was only beneficial for him. Yo, anybody under the illusion that Jeffrey Epstein cared about anybody else besides himself is crazy. This is the most one way dude in the history of one way people. You know, there's a lot of people out there that only care about themselves, but Epstein took it to the next level. There was nothing this man wouldn't do if he wanted something. And there was no life he would not ruin to get there. Malkanova said she was 22 when she first met Epstein in December of 2011 on a trip to New York. She was living in Russia at the time and spoke little English. He spotted her on the street near Barney's on Madison Avenue.

Said something about her blue eyes and directed her to his nearby townhouse as if he was pointing out a tourist attraction. While imagine she comes from Russia has no money really, doesn't really speak English, then this dude shows up with this townhouse. She must think she hit gold, right? Oh man, Victoria Secret, big time townhouse. This guy knows the guy from MC squared. We're in business until they're not. Inside there were several people and through a young Russian woman who translated for him, Epstein invited her to breakfast the next morning. Once he returned, he asked a steady stream of questions. All of them translated by the woman. What did she want? What did she dream of doing? Malkanova, a design student in Russia, told Epstein she was interested in fashion design. Epstein said she offered to help her enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. That was the hook, she said. Back in Russia, she signed up for extra classes to learn sewing and preparation for a fit program. The money for the sewing classes

came from Epstein. And this is one of his favorite moves. What do you want to do with your life? Oh, I can help you with that and the trap is set. And unfortunately, a lot of these women got caught up. Epstein learned her to New York in January of 2012 to show her a fit and put her in an apartment he controlled where he kept many of his victims. On this trip, he sexually abused her for the first time. When she expressed her discomfort, she said he told her that the sexual openness was part of American culture and that she'd have to change to assimilate. Oh yeah, part of American culture for us to molest you when you come over here. What a fucking embarrassment. What a fucking black eye and the fact that our feckless ass do nothing government knew about this for years and did nothing about it is just disgusting. So people can look for foreign boogie men all they want. But until we have our yard cleaned up right here in America, how can we look over the wall

and cry about the neighbor's yard? And that's why I say until we fix this problem until we address it, then nothing else even really matters, right? How can anyone take the institution seriously? How can anyone take the government seriously if they refuse to address this? What really closed the trap she said was to trip to Paris the next month. She went there with her boyfriend in the middle of an argument with her boyfriend that turned abusive, she got scared and texted Epstein who happened to be in Paris too. Epstein helped her escape her boyfriend and put her on a flight home to Russia. All right folks, we're gonna wrap up episode one right here and in the next episode we're gonna pick up with it was like a cult. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box. This is Ashley Akinati from the almost famous podcast. You ever notice you and your spouse keep saying we need to get away but you never actually plan anything. That was us until we did something fun and spontaneous. We went to resortpass.com. There are hundreds of hotel resorts, pools and spots and private beaches that

you can enjoy. You can spend the day at a luxury resort, pool, spa, massage without booking an overnight stay. And listen, I may have only been like 15 minutes from home but it felt like it was a whole different world and I'm thinking this is exactly what I needed. So just go to resortpass.com, choose your resort, choose your day, luxury resort day passes start at just $25. Once you post your daycation, people are gonna ask where you are. Go to resortpass.com slash almost famous and use the promo code almost famous to get $20 off when you spend $100. That's code almost famous at resortpass.com slash almost famous.

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