A South African businesswoman who was repeatedly raped by Jeffrey Epstein says former President Bill Clinton gave the late paedophile “credibility”.
Juliette Bryant told The Daily Beast she met Epstein in Capetown in 2002 aged 20 after being lured into his orbit by a woman who promised to help with her modelling career.
She was invited to dinner with Epstein, Mr Clinton and actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, the news site reported.
“That’s what gave Epstein credibility,” Ms Bryant said.
“The fact that he was with Clinton.”
She recalled that as she arrived at the restaurant, the former president stood and shook her hand, holding on to her as he began speaking to another dinner guest.
“He just kept holding onto my hand,” Ms Bryant said.
“It was like a dream. It was so bizarre.”
The Independent has approached the Clinton Foundation for comment.
In a statement released in 2019, his spokesman Angel Ureña said the former president knew nothing about Epstein’s “terrible crimes”.
Ms Bryant, who has also shared her experiences for a new BBC documentary House of Maxwell, said she saw Mr Clinton again the next day after being invited to show her modeling portfolio to Epstein.
She was invited to join Epstein on his private jet, the Lolita Express, as he and Clinton flew across Africa on a humanitarian tour.
Ms Bryant said she flew on to the United States with Epstein, and was taken to his private island in the US Virgin Islands where she says she was repeatedly raped.
The abuse continued at Epstein’s homes in Palm Beach and elsewhere until 2004, she said.
Ms Bryant said she had decided to speak up to help victims of sex trafficking and in the hope others would be held accountable.
“I was completely conned,” Ms Bryant said.
“I wouldn’t go with some random man to the Caribbean. He seemed legitimate. Clinton gave him credibility.”
Mr Clinton’s only public statement about Epstein came after the late paedophile was arrested on sex trafficking charges in 2019.
“President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York,” his spokesman Mr Ureña said.
The statement went on to detail several trips Mr Clinton went on with Epstein in the early 2000s.
“In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation.”
Staff, supporters of the foundation and Mr Clinton’s Secret Service detail travelled with them, the statement said.
Epstein died at a New York prison in 2019 aged 66 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled suicide by the medical examiner.
