Virginia Giuffre — the woman whose testimony helped expose Jeffrey Epstein’s global sex-trafficking operation — recounts in her posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl that she was violently assaulted in 2002 by a man she identifies only as a “well-known prime minister.”
Giuffre, who died in April 2025, writes that she feared she might “die a sex slave” under Epstein’s control and that the attack marked a turning point in her decision to escape. The memoir, published months after her death, is among the most detailed first-hand accounts yet of Epstein’s network and the powerful figures alleged to have exploited it.
From Victim to Advocate
Recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000 while working at Mar-a-Lago, Giuffre became one of the most visible voices for trafficking survivors. She later filed civil suits against Maxwell and Prince Andrew and established a charity to support other victims. The memoir fulfils her wish to leave a complete record of what she endured and how she rebuilt her life.
The 2002 Assault and Its Aftermath
Giuffre writes that while on Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, she was told to accompany a visiting “Prime Minister” to a cabana. What followed, she says, was the most violent encounter of her captivity. She describes being choked until she lost consciousness and left bleeding, then begging Epstein not to send her back. According to her account, Epstein replied coldly, “You’ll get that sometimes.”
The incident, she writes, convinced her she had to escape. By late 2002 she had travelled to Thailand for massage training, married an Australian man she met there, and refused to return — effectively ending her time with Epstein.
Excerpt from Nobody’s Girl
(Reproduced verbatim from Giuffre’s memoir to preserve context.)
“He repeatedly choked me until I lost consciousness and took pleasure in seeing me in fear for my life. Horrifically, the Prime Minister laughed when he hurt me and got more aroused when I begged him to stop. I emerged from the cabana bleeding from my mouth, vagina, and anus. He raped me more savagely than anyone had before. I got down on my knees and pleaded with Epstein not to send me back, but he wouldn’t make any promises. He said coldly of the politician’s brutality, ‘You’ll get that sometimes.’ Despite my pleas, he later sent me back to that man aboard his private jet. I didn’t know it then, but my second interaction with the Prime Minister was the beginning of the end for me. After the attack, I couldn’t stay a fool any longer. Epstein cared only about Epstein.”
The Question of Identity
Giuffre’s memoir does not identify the “Prime Minister.” In earlier legal filings she had named several powerful men connected to Epstein, including former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, but the book itself does not associate him — or anyone else — directly with the 2002 assault.
Some media outlets have noted Barak’s social and business connections with Epstein and speculated about whether he could be the unnamed politician. Barak has categorically denied any wrongdoing, stating that he never witnessed or participated in illegal acts and that such speculation is false.
It is also relevant that Barak was not Israel’s prime minister in 2002; his term ended in 2001. No evidence has been produced to suggest that Barak or any other named individual was present on Epstein’s island during the period Giuffre describes.
In 2010, the president of Israel from 2000 to 2007, Moshe Katsav, was accused of raping and sexually harassing up to 10 women. He was jailed the following year for two counts of rape, obstruction of justice, and sexually harassing two other staff. Katsav only served five years of his seven-year rape sentence.
Ehud Barak, Epstein and Earlier Allegations
Ehud Barak, Israel’s former prime minister (1999–2001), appears in Epstein’s social and business records years after leaving office. The two men were introduced in the early 2000s through mutual contacts in finance and academia, including associates at Harvard University and philanthropist Leslie Wexner.
Between 2013 and 2017, calendars and flight logs show that Barak met Epstein on multiple occasions in New York and Florida. Barak has acknowledged those meetings, describing them as “strictly professional discussions” and saying he never witnessed or took part in any unlawful activity.
He was photographed entering Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2016 wearing dark sunglasses and a scarf wrapped high around his face, leaving only his eyes visible — a disguise-like appearance that drew widespread media attention. Barak later confirmed that he was the man in the photo, explaining that he had gone there for lunch and was “protecting from the cold.”
Barak has also confirmed visiting Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, saying he was there “once, for a few hours,” and that the visit occurred years after Epstein’s initial conviction. He said the trip was for “business and social” reasons and that no women or minors were present. Barak has consistently denied attending any “sex parties” or engaging in any wrongdoing during that or any other encounter with Epstein.
Epstein invested several million dollars in an Israeli technology start-up, Carbyne, in which Barak held a leading role. Barak has said the investment was legitimate, publicly declared, and unrelated to Epstein’s criminal conduct. After Epstein’s 2019 arrest, Barak said he regretted the acquaintance and cut all contact.
Unsealed U.S. court documents from 2020 show that Giuffre’s legal team listed Barak among men she alleged Epstein had trafficked her to. Barak immediately rejected the claim, calling it “a malicious lie.” No evidence has ever been produced to substantiate it, and Barak has not been accused of any offence by U.S. or Israeli authorities.
Barak has repeatedly stated: “I never met Epstein in the company of women or minors.” He has emphasised that any suggestion linking him to abuse is false, noting that his documented interactions with Epstein occurred more than a decade after the period described in Giuffre’s memoir. As of today, there is no indication that Barak met or had any contact with Giuffre herself.
Epstein’s 2008 Conviction and Trip to Israel
After his 2008 Florida conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, Epstein served a short jail sentence under a controversial plea deal that allowed extensive “work release.” Ordinarily, convicted sex offenders face tight travel restrictions, but Epstein retained unusual freedom to travel internationally.
In 2008 or 2009 he made at least one known trip to Israel — an unusual journey for someone in his legal position. Public flight logs confirm Epstein’s aircraft travelled there during that period. It is unknown whether he met Ehud Barak during this visit. No record or statement indicates that a meeting took place, but the trip itself illustrated Epstein’s continuing high-level connections despite his conviction.
The Unanswered Questions
Since the memoir’s release, commentators have revisited the question of who the “Prime Minister” might be, but no independent corroboration has emerged. Giuffre’s co-author has said she deliberately omitted the man’s name for safety reasons. Barak’s representatives continue to reject all allegations of misconduct, emphasising that his contact with Epstein occurred years later.
Yet Giuffre’s account has again focused attention on Epstein’s circle of powerful allies — a circle whose scope can be partly traced through the very flight logs that once served as his travel ledger.
Inside the Flight Logs: How Epstein Concealed Who Flew With Virginia
The flight logs of Jeffrey Epstein’s private jets — handwritten, inconsistent, and at times cryptic — have long been regarded as one of the most revealing artifacts of his criminal network. Yet a detailed review shows that the records used to trace Epstein’s movements were also marked by omissions, initials, and partial names that obscure who really travelled with him.
Between 2000 and 2002, the name “Virginia Roberts” — now known as Virginia Giuffre — appears on 34 separate flight legs across Epstein’s fleet, including the Boeing 727 known as the Lolita Express and two Gulfstream jets. On many of those flights she was joined by Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and other named companions, but in roughly one in three flights (32 %) at least one unidentified or partially identified passenger is also listed.
Missing Names and Initials
Unredacted logs from the Giuffre v. Maxwell case contain repeated entries where the pilot left blanks or recorded only initials such as “A P,” “A S S,” or “V.” Others carry question marks beside first names — “Roger ?” appears on several pages — or placeholders like “Female (1)” and “Reposition.” About 15 percent of flights show blank or redacted lines, while 21 percent list initial-only male entries whose identities remain unknown.
Epstein himself appears on most of these same flights. Other fully named men include pilots Gary Roxburgh and Pete Rathgeb, designer Alberto Pinto and architect Ricardo Legorreta. Yet on several trips where Roberts is recorded, one or more passengers cannot be identified at all — a gap that complicates efforts to determine who may have been on board.
What “Reposition” Means
In aviation, “Reposition” normally marks an empty leg flown to collect or drop passengers. In Epstein’s handwritten records, however, the term sometimes appears alongside other names, blurring whether the flight was truly empty or used to mask unnamed travellers — another example of the logs’ ambiguity.
An Incomplete Record by Design
Because Epstein’s jets operated privately under FAA Part 91, he was not required to maintain public passenger manifests for domestic flights. Only international legs had to be filed with U.S. Customs under APIS, and those records remain confidential. The system effectively allowed Epstein’s inner circle to travel without oversight. The world has seen the logs only because they were later entered into civil court evidence.
Patterns of Obfuscation
A flight-by-flight review shows:
- 34 legs naming “Virginia Roberts.”
- 11 flights (32 %) with unidentified or initial-only passengers.
- 5 flights (15 %) with blank or redacted lines.
- 7 flights (21 %) listing unknown men travelling on the same aircraft.
- 18 flights (53 %) including Ghislaine Maxwell.
- 4 flights (12 %) naming Roberts alone.
These figures illustrate how difficult it is to reconstruct who Epstein was transporting — and when. They also show that the logs, often treated as definitive evidence, are at best partial.
Secrecy and Power
Former prosecutors and aviation lawyers note that the omissions may have been deliberate. “Private flight records like Epstein’s were never designed for accountability,” said one aviation compliance expert. “They’re maintenance logs, not passenger lists. If a pilot leaves off a name, that’s not illegal — but it can hide a lot.”
The effect is striking: an ostensibly meticulous travel record that, on inspection, grants anonymity to select passengers and makes it nearly impossible to determine which influential figures may have shared Epstein’s jet with Virginia Roberts.
What the Gaps Reveal
The flight logs have become a central artifact in the Epstein scandal — cited by investigators, journalists, and the public alike. Yet their gaps tell an equally important story: one of deliberate discretion, enabled by aviation rules that exempt private operators from transparency.
Of the 34 verified flights that carried Virginia Roberts, at least a third contain unidentified passengers whose names were never written, replaced with initials, or later redacted. Whether those omissions were clerical or intentional, the result is the same — a record that hides as much as it reveals and continues to obscure the full roster of men who shared the skies with Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Roberts.
The Larger Picture
Together, Giuffre’s memoir and the incomplete flight records depict a system built on secrecy and privilege — one in which abuse, access and influence coexisted behind private jets and gated mansions. For Giuffre, that system nearly cost her life. For investigators and journalists still tracing Epstein’s reach, it remains a network whose edges are visible only in fragments: a name here, an initial there, and a trail of unanswered questions.
Editor’s Note
This feature draws on Virginia Giuffre’s memoir Nobody’s Girl and public records from U.S. civil litigation. The allegations in Giuffre’s memoir have not been tested in court. All individuals named or alluded to deny any wrongdoing, and no evidence has been presented to implicate any named person in the events described.
