Epstein survivors say financier lured them with promise of college education [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Sun 18 Jan 2026 07.00 EST
Last modified on Sun 18 Jan 2026 07.02 EST
A New York City artist who said Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell shopped her around to men is among the survivors claiming that Epstein used the lure of a university education to ensnare her in their sexual abuse network.
Rina Oh was a 21-year-old art student when she was introduced to Epstein in 2000 by Lisa Phillips, a model and Epstein survivor who has since emerged as a powerful voice in the survivors’ network pressuring for full accountability in the long-running money, sex and power scandal. “He told me: ‘You’re really talented. I think you should be in school,’” Oh recalled.
Epstein invited her to come sit down next to him. “He explained that he was a philanthropist, known by so many people, a very generous man, and had sent so many young people to university, often the kids of women he’d been at school with. I completely believed him.” Oh says Epstein told her she need a bachelor of fine arts degree to make it in the art world and was offering her a scholarship to New York’s School of Visual Arts “with no strings attached”.
But, Oh said: “He attached a lot of strings to that scholarship. When I wouldn’t do all that he wanted he took it away.” Oh, who spent roughly two years in Epstein’s network, is one of a number of survivors coming forward to detail how Epstein used offers to help enrol and sometimes pay for tuition at prestigious universities to maintain his sway over them.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/18/jeffrey-epstein-lure-victims-college-education
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