Julia Molchanova on Escaping Jeffrey Epstein’s Cult-Like World (Part 2) (9/8/26)

0:00This is Ashley Akinetti 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 resort pass.com, choose your resort, choose your day, luxury, resort, day passes, start at just $1,500. Once you post your daycation, people are gonna ask where you are. Go to resort pass.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 resort pass.com slash almost famous.

1:00Pro-football is back in sore predictions. Trade yours on CalShi. America's number one prediction market platform. New England is currently trading at 39% to beat Seattle, meaning a $100 trade pays out $246 if they win. Download CalShi, use code, heart, to get $20 when you trade 20. K-A-L-S-H-I, CalShi, trade on anything. 18 plus only. Restrictions and eligibility applying, trading involves risk, not available in all jurisdictions, prices, values, and markets native from those mentioned, for more C-CalShi.com slash regulatory. What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode we're picking up where we left off with the Wall Street Journal article that was authored by Kedija Safdar. And the headline of this article, how one woman was caught in Epstein's cult and escaped. It was like a cult. Malkanova eventually moved to New York and started following Epstein's advice, hoping she'd break into design, but no fit education materialized.

2:01A spokesperson for fit said the university is continuing to investigate references to the school. And it's not the only person we've heard about fit from multiple people. I believe Yohanna Schuberg told us about this as well. And I think we've heard about it from a couple of other women who said that this was the carrot that was dangled. And obviously, the vast majority of these women were strung along by Jeffrey Epstein over the years. Over time, Epstein expected her to become an assistant though there was never any real work and his advice turned into a set of rules. She was supposed to thank him constantly, act happy, and be friendly to everyone. Well those were the rules, right? Epstein had a very strict set of rules for his assistance and I honestly don't think it's a stretch to call it a cult. And Jeffrey Epstein really knew how to manipulate the situation and he knew how to tell these women exactly what they wanted to hear.

3:01And before they realized it, they were in too deep. It was like a cult she said. Aside from coercing the women into sex acts on a regular basis, Epstein also expected the women to bring them other women. She and other victims have said. And that's where things get a bit forny, right? Who was a trafficker, who was trafficked, who was coerced and who was brought in on it? But you have to understand that was all part of it, the confusion. So that later on down the road, when this conversation started happening, like it's happening now, he can say that they were all involved. Everybody was in on this, not just me, everybody enriched themselves, even the women. They weren't being abused. And the sad truth is, there's a whole lot of people who bought that nonsense. You know, the people who called this a hoax, the people who attacked the survivors, they bought it hook-line and sinker. And Epstein knew they would. This man was a master of misdirection and narrative building.

4:03That's what he excelled in. Because she didn't bring anyone, Malkanova said his anger intensified towards her and he would constantly ask what she was doing to make herself useful. She said on a few occasions, he sent her to a room in his home to stay in isolation for multiple days. Oh, you're grounded, a grown-ass woman. Go to your room, don't come out. Say, what now? Why not? Well, you wouldn't bring the other girls to molest. You wouldn't feed the beast. So you have to be punished, go to your room. What a sick, disgusting, vile human being. And I use that word loosely. And if anybody ever deserved a trip to a volcano and get shoved out of the helicopter above that active volcano, it's Jeffrey Epstein. Malkanova said Epstein kept tabs on her spending. She remembers receiving less than 3000 a month from him, but said the amount fluctuated. She said he dictated what she wore, how long her hair would be, what doctor she visited,

5:03and whom she spent time with. Document show that Epstein arranged from Malkanova and another woman to marry one another around 2013. Attack the journal has reported to use with other women too, immigration fraud. That's what they were doing. I mean, you have to really have your head in the sand, not to understand what was going on here, when it comes to immigration. It was one of Jeffrey Epstein's most potent weapons. And he also dangled it as a benefit for these women. Oh, you wanna come to America? I got you. I got the hook up. I got a scam. I got a hustle. We'll say that you're married to so and so, you'll come to America, that'll be that. And if it wasn't for Virginia, and her going absolutely scorched earth on Jeffrey Epstein and his bitch ass associates, hardly any of this would be in the public eye. And I think people should keep that in mind, and remember that, look, Virginia wasn't perfect, none of us are, but I don't think anybody

6:04who's serious about anything is ever gonna question her courage. In 2014, Epstein's lawyer, Darren Indike, helped form a company registered under her name, called JSC Interiors. She said Epstein passed it off as a way to help her launch a design business. She ran a couple of design related errands like arranging flowers, and then Epstein used an account and associated with the company to move money and make transactions without her knowledge, she said. Oh yeah, little money laundering here, little money laundering there, little malfeasance, all good, just a regular morning for Jeffrey Epstein, but no crimes were committed folks. Nothing to see here, unless you have videos, we don't wanna hear it, I guess that's where we are. No crime can be committed, unless there's a video, and nobody can be held responsible for their crimes either, obviously. Just say you're a little crazy and fuck it, you're all good. I still have so many questions about what the company was, because no one ever explained it to me,

7:05and I wasn't allowed to ask questions, she said. It made me super scared, because I couldn't understand what I was responsible for. Yeah, that wasn't the point though. The idea is she was a beard, she was a front man, or a front woman, for whatever bullshit Epstein was up to, just another way for him to funnel funds. So my question is, did any of Leon Black's money find its way into any of these accounts for these girls? And if it did, congratulations Leon Black, you're part of the conspiracy. Oh, that's right, they didn't charge him with Rico. Silly me. That's only for Italian people, I guess. Malkanova said she only found out years later, and that Epstein's activities in her name went beyond Bank of America, including the spending she discovered from the credit monitoring app and a furniture order for nearly $40,000 that she recently found in the Justice Department files. In a statement, attorneys for Indyke and Epstein account Richard Conn said Malkanova never informed them

8:05she was a victim of abuse or trafficking. Julia appeared to be one of Epstein's assistants working through an LLC that Epstein set up for interior design purposes. The statement said, like they don't even believe that, okay? That's the cover. The fact that we're letting them get away with that is bananas. Indyke and Conn should have been charged with Rico a decade ago. But somehow they're still protected, somehow they're still running the estate, and somehow they're still gonna benefit from whatever's left over in the estate. Does anybody else see a problem here? Because as far as I'm concerned, these two dudes should not get one single penny, and instead, they should be facing indictment. Both Conn and Indyke recently told Congress they didn't facilitate or know about Epstein's criminal history. Malkanova said Epstein's control extended to other parts of her life,

9:06and once she tried to date other men, he dictated what she wrote to them and demanded a full account of everything that passed between them. Of course, gotta get that intel, right? Gotta get that compromise. That was part of it, too. The design work never materialized. Instead, Epstein centered a Faith Cates modeling agency next management for a job interview. In May of 2015, Cates told Epstein that Malkanova said she didn't want to sit at a desk all day, and had never worked in an office. Epstein berated Malkanova for not asking for a front desk job. You told them you were going to school and didn't want to work at a desk, he wrote to her in an email, I am angry. God forbid, God forbid, I don't want to go work for Faith fucking Cates, sit at a desk all day and do God knows what. This is Ashley Akinetti 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.

10:08There 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 $1,500. 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. In a statement, next management said it had never had a relationship with Epstein. Faith Cates, multi-decade, long personal relationship with Epstein was completely and absolutely unknown to next management and its top executives.

11:09It said, I have my doubts about that. So nobody had any idea? Nobody ever said, hey, faith. What's the deal with that Jeffrey Epstein guy? Why you spend so much time with him? Nobody ever said that? Nobody ever, huh? These people, they truly believe you're stupid. Cates didn't respond to requests for comment. After the Justice Department released some of her correspondence with Epstein, Cates said in late 2025 that she was retiring from next management. Oh, I'm sure she is. God forbid she has to answer questions, right? Now she can say, look, I have no comment. I don't work for next management. Blah, blah, blah. But what those emails reveal is a very, very tight relationship. And my question is, what did Faith Cates know? And when did she know it? Epstein also placed Maulkinova in internships arranged by his friends, including a stretch she describes in turning for the publicist Peggy Seagull

12:10in 2016. Maulkinova said she felt out of place, held back by her limited English. If he really wanted to help, he would have sent me to learn English, she said. Instead, it was all a bunch of nonsense. Seagull didn't respond to requests for comment. She previously told the journal that she was unaware of Epstein's nefarious behavior and it was a mistake to associate with him. I had no idea what do you mean, Jeffrey Epstein was a sick degenerate. Nobody ever told me that he was a derelict. Those years took a toll on Maulkinova's body and her mind. As her weight fluctuated, Epstein criticized her and called her fat. At her lowest, Maulkinova said she was thinking about suicide and Epstein didn't let her see a therapist. Her mental health declined further. She said after a tabloid in 2016, ran photos of her with Epstein. I remember thinking that I'm trapped forever, and my life is over. Yikes. Imagine feeling like that, like you have nowhere to go,

13:11no one to help you and nobody's listening. I can't even imagine. And thankfully, that's something that I'll never have to experience. But does that mean I shouldn't have empathy for people that did or do? And that goes for anyone who's involved in human bondage, whether that's Maul, female, child, whatever, and whether that's sexual or physical labor or whatever it might be. I can't believe I need to say this, but in the year 2026, slavery shouldn't be a thing. In 2017, Epstein's lawyer handled the paperwork for her to get divorced, and she describes the years after that as an effort to just get out. She had a serious boyfriend that she hoped she could marry to escape Epstein, but Epstein kept summoning her back and the abuse continued. She didn't tell her boyfriend what was happening, and they eventually broke up. And who wants to tell their boyfriend? Hey, look, this guy makes me come over and do all kinds of unseemly things.

14:12Who's telling their boyfriend that? Now, maybe if it's somebody you've been with for quite some time, but some guy that you're trying to build a life with, nobody wants to say that. They don't want to be judged and looked at like they're less than. In early 2019, Maul Kanovo finally confided in a friend about how ensnared she was in Epstein's web, and that person gave her a roadmap for getting out. It lettered to send emails that March to Epstein's bookkeeper, asking why the credit card she didn't recognize were showing up on her credit report. The bookkeeper responded that the report was showing the balance of Epstein's entire American Express account, and that she would have Maul Kanovo removed from the account. Maul Kanovo told Khan the accountant that she wanted to see her tax returns and that she wanted to be removed from JSC interiors. Khan wrote back that since she was uncomfortable, she could hire another accountant to handle her returns and that he would send paperwork she could sign

15:12to exit JSC interiors. Yeah, God forbid Khan does the right thing. Well, well, we'll find somebody else for you since you don't trust me. Yeah, bitch, I don't trust you because your boss has been molesting me and abusing me, you dumb fuck. What do you mean I don't trust you? God damn right, I don't trust you. Around that same time, she sent an email confronting Epstein. He invited her to Palm Beach, but she didn't go. I thought for sure at that moment, someone would find me on the bottom of his pool if I did go, she said. Leslie Graf Epstein's longtime assistant texted her trying to get her to call Epstein. She also began getting calls from another young woman in Epstein's orbit. Despite the outreach, she never went back. In a statement, lawyers for Graf said she performed administrative tasks for Epstein and had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes while she was working for him. I don't believe that and I've told you that from the jump. I think Leslie Graf is lying. Now look, I can't prove that. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you she was abusing people,

16:15but I don't believe her story, not for a minute. Long before her escape, Malkinov had gave Epstein the co-named Mishka, a Russian term that translate loosely as Little Bear, from a popular song that describes a bear who was a criminal. In June 2019, she made a painting depicting the bear being arrested and decapitated. She never imagined that on July 6th, Epstein would be arrested and that a few weeks later, he would be found dead. And Julia's story is just one of many. And I think that as we move forward and we see more people like Julia telling their story, it's going to open up the floodgates and there's gonna be other people that step up and tell us just how deep their abuse went at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein. And like usual, we'll be here for every single step and every single story, as we continue to swim through the muck, looking for that clarity. All the information that goes with this episode

17:15can be found in the description box. This is Ashley Akinetti from the Almost Amidst 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 $1,000. Once you post your daycation, you're 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.