Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant says she was trafficked from South Africa and soon realized it was "not a modeling opportunity, I've been kidnapped"

By
Leigh Kiniry

February 17, 2026 / 11:12 AM EST / CBS News

Juliette Bryant says she first met Jeffrey Epstein when she was a 20-year-old psychology and philosophy student in Cape Town, South Africa, who modeled part time.

Her first interaction with the late American sex offender came by chance, when she was approached on a night out by a girl who offered to introduce her to a man who she said was described to her as American royalty.

"She said she knew a man who was here who was the 'King Of America,' and he was here with Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker. She told me that his best friend Leslie Wexner owns Victoria's Secret and it would be a very good idea for me to meet them because it could possibly help with my modeling career," Bryant told CBS News on Sunday. "So we went along to the restaurant where they were having dinner down the road. And sure enough, there they were. Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Jeffrey Epstein, and a few government officials from South Africa."

Bryant does not accuse Clinton, Spacey or Tucker of any wrongdoing, and she said her interaction with the men at the table was brief, lasting only about five minutes.

But the next day she received a call from the girl who made the introduction, telling her that Epstein would like to see her modeling portfolio.

"Epstein said he thought I'd be great for Victoria's Secret, and they left that day, but his office started phoning and arranging me a visa and tickets and everything," Bryant told CBS News. "You know, I didn't have money or anything, but they said don't worry, they will deduct all my expenses from the income I made when I was there."

View this post on Instagram

Bryant, a South African national, said she was surprised by how quickly Epstein was able to arrange for her travel to the United States.

"They arranged for me to get a visa to come to America. It was like a visitor's visa … and they arranged these visas very quickly, which is unusual in South Africa. It's usually very difficult to get a visa here. And then basically within three weeks, I was in America," she said.

Multiple emails in the tranche of Epstein-related documents released by the Department of Justice and reviewed by CBS News appear to show a pattern of Epstein assisting or receiving legal counsel on how to secure visas for young women to come to the U.S., including from Eastern Europe.

The Free Press: WATCH: The Epstein Tapes

Earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the Polish government would create an analytical team to examine whether Polish children were abused via criminal networks connected to Epstein. Tusk also said "links between Epstein and the entire pedophile circle and the Russian special services," would be investigated.
juliette-bryant-epstein-survivor.png
An undated photo provided to CBS News by Jeffrey Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant shows her on a beach. Courtesy of Juliette Bryant

Bryant said very soon after she arrived in New York, she was told she would be heading to the Caribbean, to Epstein's private island.

"I obviously assumed it was for a modeling shoot," she said. "We went to Teterboro airport and they were waiting on the airplane there, and you know, nothing was ever checked at any of these airports. They didn't check our passports, our luggage, nothing."

Bryant said her passport was taken from her on board, and she was then sexually assaulted.

"As the airplane took off, he [Epstein] started touching me forcibly in between my legs, and I freaked out. I realized, this is not a modeling opportunity, I've been kidnapped," Bryant told CBS News. "They whisked me away to the island and then I was stuck there. They never arranged any modeling opportunities, I was basically completely conned."

Bryant said that for the next few years of her life, she was trafficked by Epstein. Her account of where she first met Epstein lines up with a time period during which Epstein lent his plane to former President Bill Clinton as part of a Clinton Foundation trip to Africa.

Bryant was eventually compensated as part of both the Epstein Victims' Compensation Program in 2020 and a separate settlement with JP Morgan Chase in 2023.

Public flight logs reviewed by CBS News show that Clinton left for a nine-day trip to Africa with actors Spacey and Tucker, on Epstein's private plane, in September 2002, visiting Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa.

KFF Health News reported at the time that Clinton, Tucker and Spacey were on a Clinton Foundation trip to "promote efforts to fight HIV/AIDS and economic development."

In a sworn declaration to the House Oversight Committee in January, Clinton said Epstein offered use of his private plane for himself, his staff and his Secret Service detail in support of the Clinton Foundation's philanthropic work between 2002 and 2003.

Clinton denied ever visiting Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where a number of the late financier's crimes occurred, and maintained that he had not been in contact with the convicted pedophile for more than a decade before his 2019 arrest.

cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-juliette-bryant-trafficked-from-south-africa-assaulted-on-jet/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us