The New York Academy of Art is so unapologetic about its relationship with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein that it still showcases video of the dead sex trafficker.
A blonde female can be seen viewing the art with the now-dead pedophile at the academy’s 2014 star-studded Tribeca Ball. According to the academy, he also donated $30,000 to the school that same year.
We believe this person is Julia Stepanova, an Epstein Associate. Here is she pictured at the ball with a model also associated with the dead pedophile.
Epstein, who died last year in jail, was a long-term supporter of the academy and sat on its board from 1987 to 1994.
Survivor Maria Farmer has made serious claims about the academy’s chair , Eileen Guggenheim, who took art students to Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.
Listen to our podcast about the Epstein footage
Ms Farmer and another former art student visited Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch with Guggenheim said they were pressured to play games that involved “sexual objects” with Epstein and his accused co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
But the academy is standing by its chair, who has faced accusations of enabling a sex trafficking operation. She is also a generous donor to the school having donated as much as $100,000-a-year.
In a report issued in June, written by its lawyers, the academy attacked Ms Farmer’s claims. The Daily Beast said the report stated, “Farmer as an unreliable narrator and uses discrepancies in her court testimonies to prove her “dubious credibility. It says that Mrs Guggenheim “played no role” in Farmer’s relationship to Epstein.“
The document also backed Mrs Guggenheim’s denials & blamed Ms Farmer for her sister’s sexual assault. It was condemned for victim shaming.
After the report was widely criticised, the lawyers came out again in defence of Mrs Guggenheim.
Jim Walden, a representative for the law firm that produced the report, issued a statement to The Daily Beast: “In a world where people’s lives and reputations can be forever ruined by untested allegations, it is not ‘victim blaming’ to hold people—even the victims of crime—accountable for their words,” Walden said. “Here, without taking away from Ms. Farmer’s terrible experiences with Epstein, her allegations against the Academy and Ms. Guggenheim are false, and the record in this regard is quite clear.”
Advice from us: When you have skeletons in the closet, you need to make sure you delete all evidence of Epstein’s patronage because journalists will go looking for it after you release dirt files on survivors.
According to the academy back in January:
“Epstein served as a board member from 1987-1994. Both men left the board in 1994. When Epstein returned to New York after serving his prison sentence in Florida, he purchased tickets to one fundraising event in 2012 and two events in 2014.
He also made a donation of $30,000 in 2014.
There was no inappropriate contact or behavior during this time period that we know of. However with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight we wish we had barred him from the premises.”
Listen to our podcast about the New York Academy of Art v Maria Farmer
