Lisa Phillips

And I'm like, I'm starting to get a, I don't understand what's going on here either.

So we started talking about it and she said she was made to have sex with someone and she could, she just spiraled out of control.

And, um, and the young girls at the time, we just all started talking and,

started to figure out something's going on.

And that's when the Vanity Fair article was released with him flying with Bill Clinton to South Africa, Kevin Spacey.

And, and then shortly after he was arrested.

So he started unraveling through those years and getting more exposed in the, in that world and people starting to figure things out.

And then of course the major coverups that were happening.

Yes.

You just, you just summed it up right there.

And that's why I spoke out originally.

And you're, you're, I understand this is 15 to 20 years later for a lot of us survivors.

So back then we were kind of figuring things out, but we had no idea the magnitude of what really was going on.

And we wanted to get on with our lives.

And most of us, we got on with our lives, became mothers.

And a lot of us work in this advocacy world or became therapists and

And, but it wasn't until he died in 2019.

I mean, until he died, it was when I realized, okay, wait a second, now I feel safe enough to start like understanding what happened to me back then.

It was always so confusing and there was never anyone to really talk to about it.

So it was Virginia Giuffre who spoke out and said, I was trafficked to, she has a long list of men.

And when she was saying these men, I remember seeing some of those men

So I believed her and I had a friend also who was trafficked to the same one.

And so I said, you know, I want to support this woman and not knowing what I was getting into at the time.

And I started speaking out of documentaries and then slowly I had to start telling my story and I wasn't ready for it because I had so much to support the other women.

I wasn't really ready to start saying I was abused too because

I didn't understand my role in it.

I always felt like it was my fault and I didn't know how to get out of it.

I just was so confused about it until we start learning about the grooming and how all these young women were just groomed by him masterfully, masterfully manipulated and groomed by the best of all time who had enablers and all these other people helping him.

And Jeffrey was a fiend.

He was a sex fiend.

All he talked about was sex.

He had to get off six to eight times a day.

Young woman going into his Upper East Side,

mansion six to eight times a day and a lot of the girls knew about his creepy massages but we didn't speak further on how and this is common amongst serial predators most of the larry nassar you know the the doctor for the gymnast like none of them they was oh you're getting this weird doctor thing no but no one spoke about it until many years later when someone had the courage to speak up then it's like

Oh, that's what's happening to me too.

And when I spoke to these survivors that were underage at the time, I was like, okay, I was in my early 20s like hundreds of others, but it was the exact same type of abuse that he was doing.

It was the exact same MO with the massage turning into an assault.

So I just started speaking out and gained confidence and through therapy and, you know, I just...

was building into this powerful woman who wanted to make a difference.

So that's kind of what led up to today.

Well, really, for me, it's just because people are so confused about what's going on, not only as survivors are still confused, but like the transparency, what is really going on?

Everyone makes it about Trump and Epstein.

OK, maybe there's something there, but it's about Epstein, but it's about this whole ring of men.

The only person in jail is a woman.

So where are all the other men that were benefiting and profiting from all of this?

That's what makes me upset because us survivors, we know that they were there.

We saw them.

We know that we're royalty, princes, very powerful people in academia and tech.

And we saw them at parties.

They knew what was going on.

Why aren't they exposed?

And people say, well, why are you speaking up now?

Well, we're pissed off now because nothing has happened.

And

Yeah, it's just a frustrating thing for me.

So I'm at the point where it's like I'm at my wits end standing on Capitol Hill.

It was more just like, look, I'm not going to sit up here and just tell my sob story like everybody else is.

We need to do something about it.

You think you have the power?

You don't think that we have the power, too?

You don't think that we understand what's going on here?

So it was really just to say, you need to do something because we also have the power to do something.

And as you saw, look how many people stood up for us, too.

A platform supporting survivors.

Well, I think there's something to be said that's very truthful when Johnson says that.

It's because what they do know involves a lot of survivors that were underage and some children.

So maybe in some ways they do want to protect that.

I've always said it goes very dark.

And so a lot of times...

what they're going to release, the real evidence and the real stuff that's out there, a lot of people probably aren't really ready to see.

I want to thank all of my survivor sisters who came before me today.

And there are young survivors that were abused.

And so in a way, there might be some protection of the survivors.

We do collectively understand that.

And many of us or many young women or children at the time were probably on those, in those records or in those videotapes.

from my understanding.

So maybe there is some type of protection and maybe there's taken time to really figure out how to, to handle this.

I'll be very short.

Um, and then we have, you know, the very powerful people who don't want anything released as well.

So there's probably some protection there, major protection there.

In the year 2000, I was taken to Jeffrey Epstein's Island while on a photo shoot on a nearby island.

Who I saw and what I experienced there was a glimpse into a very dark and disturbing world.

that addiction and that perversion doesn't go away.

It only gets stronger.

We have requested and they have reached out.

I don't think they're doing 100% full effort, but they have reached out to a few survivors and

I mean, we're in the process.

I mean, there is a confidential process in development that allows for survivors the opportunity to share what they know with people in DC.

So that is an ongoing thing right now.

For years after, I tried to avoid Jeffrey, but he had introduced me to Katie Ford, the owner of the Ford Modeling Agency.

Yeah, it was insensitive for him to say it like that.

I mean, I do see that he is getting extremely attacked.

And so now he's getting so he's relating everything to him.

And I do wish the press, the media would stop attacking him so much so we can actually look at the others that are involved.

Because when they do focus on him so much, we're not getting answers of what's going on with everyone else.

So I can agree with him in that way of stop attacking him so we can shift the focus somewhere else.

And I don't know if that would help or not, but I just feel like every single interview is about the relationship with Trump.

And I'm trying to say there's so many more out there that we can focus on to get answers.

Epstein's reach went to the very top of fashion, arts, and entertainment.

It was infuriating.

Ghislaine was the mastermind of

This did not just happen to underage girls in Florida.

I know in the 90s, everyone from what I've researched and have been told that she was the mastermind in the 90s.

I think other people took over this whole operation in the 2000s, but she knows everything.

I mean, everyone who was involved knows that she knows everything.

I think she's just trying to save Grace at this point so she can get out and be free.

But there's a lot of survivors that were affected by her and abused by her.

So they're not standing down and they will not let her be released.

There will be a very big fight.

In New York City, hundreds of young ambitious women were abused by him.

Well, my message is always for survivors just to own your story and be able to speak out and try to get the justice that you really do deserve, whether it's through litigation or just through healing.

And on Monday, Governor Newsom signed the Assembly Bill 250, which reopens the California adult window for another two years, starting on January 1st of twenty twenty six.

So that's a big deal.

That's a that's a

Epstein was not just a serial predator, he was an international human trafficker.

a great start in the right direction for survivors to go back, whether it's 10, 20, 30 years and be able to go after and get justice for what happened to them.

So I always stand for survivors.

My podcast is about survivor voices and that's my mission.

And many around him knew, many participated, and many profited.

Thank you so much.

And yet he was protected.

So I stand here today for every woman who has been silenced, exploited and dismissed.

We are not asking for pity.

We are here demanding accountability and I'm demanding justice.

Congress must choose.

Will you continue to protect predators or will you finally protect survivors?

And also, I would like to announce here today, us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list

We know the names.

Many of us were abused by them.

Now together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know, who were regularly in the Epstein world.

And it will be done by survivors and for survivors.

Unfortunately, everyone focuses in the media and in the press on the relationship with Trump.

and the cover-up of just a little bit here a little bit there just to keep the public you know interested but they're not really exposing what they really have and they have everything there were cameras everywhere there were there were um documents they've seen the emails they basically have have gone through everything and they're not letting the public know what's going on

Yeah.

So my whole point of speaking out was just to get people an understanding of what really was going on in that world, that it wasn't just, OK, I'm taking a young girl to a massage and that was it.

It was he brought you into his world.

And so I was trying to get an understanding of that.

And that's what most survivors standing on Capitol Hill were trying to get the public an understanding of what really was going on.

And so for myself, I was a young model living the dream in New York City, had worked really hard to get there.

I had a graduate high school in Belgium.

And so I just had worked my way, Miami, LA, Cape Town, South Africa, Europe.

And then I arrived in New York City.

And shortly after I arrived, I booked a really big job with another girl from my agency.

She was a Polish model, beautiful

And we flew to Tortola in the British West Indies next to St.

Thomas and just spent a few days shooting there.

And then we had an extra like a free day.

And the other young model was like, well, I know this guy who owns an island nearby.

And I spoke to him and he said that we can go and hang out there for the day.

And I was like, oh, they're never going to let us go.

So we spoke to the clients and they were actually like, well, go ahead.

And so we got on a boat and we went over to Little St.

John's.

And so, you know, I just spent the day at the pool.

And at the pool, I observed an older man there with a couple of young girls.

They were blonde.

And the girl who took me was blonde.

And I started noticing I was a little kind of out of place.

But...

Everything was fine.

I got to know the girls, we played in the pool, we played in the ocean and we actually had a really fun day.

And then we got ready later on for dinner and went to this beautiful long dinner table, lots of delicious food and seafood and had a really great time talking with the other young girls and

And that's when, you know, this charming man walks up and says, hi, I'm Jeffrey.

And, you know, kiss him on the cheek, sits down right next to me and begins to, you know, focus in on me.

He had already known the other girls there.

So he was just asking questions and wanted to know a little bit more about my life and where I grew up.

And I told him, you know, I'd lived in England as a child, because my father was in the air force and we traveled around a lot in Europe.

And, um,

He said, oh, do you want to meet a prince?

And I was just like, sure.

And so at that moment, there was a man that was walking up.

I recognized him from the man from the pool and just met him briefly.

And then he walked away.

And then Jeffrey would ask me questions about my family and my relationship with my father and how close I was to him.

These kind of questions that

I triggered me a little bit at the time because I didn't have a very close relationship with my father.

And I think he could sense that.

And, and, um, so we spoke kind of a deeper conversation that you don't normally have with a man.

So he made me feel really comfortable and, and almost like he cared about me in a weird way.

And, um, I don't know, he just had this mentorship quality about him asking about my dreams and aspirations and,

I felt like I had a really great conversation with him and I felt good about the situation at that point.

So finished up with dinner and then went back to our quarters and got ready for bed because it was the evening.

We were going to spend the night there and then head back to our Island, um, and photo shoot early that next morning.

So I remember being on the, the sitting on the bed with the other young model and, uh, talking to her.

And then there was a knock at the door.

And one of the other young girls walked in and said, you know, Jeffrey's ready for his massage.

And at that point, I just looked at the other girl and was like, what's going on?

I don't know how to do a massage.

And she's like, oh, well, Jeffrey just likes massages.

It's kind of what we have to do.

I wasn't really expecting for you to do that.

But, you know, I guess he likes you and we're just going to have to go do it.

And so I kind of argue with a little bit with her because I just thought it was kind of weird.

But I ended up going with her.

and walked across, you know, the island to where Jeffrey's quarters were in his bedroom.

And we walked into that room and, you know, he was lying down on a massage table naked and, you know, had this little silly grin come in and was very playful.

The energy shifted a little bit.

It was now more personal questions like, do you have a boyfriend?

And,

and asking a little like sexual things and you know, did a real massage and taught me some massage techniques and it was kind of, you know, it was uncomfortable, but at that point it was, it was just like a weird, creepy massage.

And then he turned over and that's when things got a little bit darker.

The demeanor changed and I didn't feel really safe anymore and I didn't really know what was going on and I kept looking at her.

And she was just like, looking at me like, you need to do this.

And so, you know, at that point, that's when he assaulted both of us together in that room.

So that's basically what happened on the island.

And we kind of just finished up and ran out of there.

Well, we had to stay the night there.

So we went back to the room and I remember staring at the ceiling the entire night in sleep, like what the heck just happened?

And I didn't really understand what was going on.

And I was scared to death that he was gonna come back or there was gonna be another knock on the door and it was going to get worse, but it didn't that night.

I just, like you said, got on the boat, went back to the photo shoot, did my job, flew back to New York City.

Yeah, and this is the part of the story I really like people to understand about Epstein and his world.

You're not getting away from his world.

So once you've been abused by him, and I actually saw someone on the island that day, so I was kind of in and wasn't getting away.

I didn't know that at the time, but the secretaries that worked for him

would call me profusely.

They would call me every single day saying, Jeffrey really liked you.

He thought you were powerful.

He thought you were incredible.

All these compliments to get me to go back and meet with him at his Upper East Side home.

And I just refused every single day.

It went on for months and they were basically harassing me.

And one day Jeffrey called me and he just said to me, Lisa, I remember what you said on the island that your dream was to be a foreign model.

And I know Katie Ford and she's a good friend of mine.

And I would love to send you over there.

He told her about you and you know, you just need to go meet with her.

And I was like thinking, okay, he's not a bad guy.

He wants to help me out.

He listened to me.

Maybe that was just like my fault.

Maybe I was flirty.

I don't know.

I had just, you know, victims and they just blame themselves in these kinds of situations.

I think it's a coping mechanism just to say, Oh, maybe he's not bad.

And,

And so I just did what he said because it was the biggest goal for me.

I told him that on the island and I went and met with Katie Ford a couple of days later and she signed me up and got into Katie's world at that point, thinking at the time that I've made it and this is the next step for me and this is what I deserve.

And I just started seeing Jeffrey Morna

a light of a mentor and helper, like he presented himself in the beginning.

And Katie Ford said, I love Jeffrey.

And everyone that I would meet in New York at that time also did love and adore and spoke very highly about Jeffrey Epstein at that time.

So I was starting to get a

Oh, no, it didn't stop after that because now I was in the modeling industry world.

there's a very well known sex trafficking ring that was going in the malling industry world, John Luke Burnell, you know, John Casablanca, you know, Katie and many others that were sending young girls to Jeffrey.

And Jeffrey was also, you know, would use, you know, I know, you know, Victoria's Secret, I have a part ownership.

And so there was a, there was a lot going on in that world.

And that's actually when I spoke out at Capitol Hill, I brought that into it.

So people can be aware what was going on during that time.

Jeffrey would call me up and say, I have an audition for you.

Put me on a plane, go travel for an audition.

He was with a very powerful producer or a director at the time.

And I'm thinking it's an audition.

Found out many years later, many girls were sent to the same producers, directors, or people in Hollywood for an audition.

But it ended up being a lot more than that.

I also have an NDA with a very big celebrity.

that Jeffrey had sent me to for like a party.

And later on, something terrible happened.

So there were things that were going on that I was just like, what is going on?

Then to answer your question, I had a young friend who was blonde, who was beautiful, ambitious woman who knew Jeffrey.

at that time.

And she came to me crying one day and said, you know, you don't really understand who Jeffrey is.