Messages show payments from Epstein to Brazilian women, help with travel logistics and exchange of favors
The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) initiated a confidential procedure on Tuesday (10/2) to investigate possible attempts to groom women in Brazil related to the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
Public Prosecutor Cinthia Gabriela Borges said, in an exclusive interview with BBC News Brasil, that the intention is to analyze all situations in which Brazilian women may have been groomed and try to identify whether there were grooming networks in the country.
As BBC News Brasil showed, the MPF received a complaint last week about an email exchange between a Brazilian woman and Epstein, which took place in 2010, in which they discussed a trip by a woman from Natal, described as someone from a “simple family”, to the United States.
In the exchange of messages, Epstein asked for photos of the Brazilian woman in a bikini or bra. It is not possible to know, from the messages, the purpose of the trip or whether it actually took place.
This complaint resulted in a formal procedure, now initiated at the National Unit to Combat International Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling. The body is a specialized structure within the MPF that centralizes all investigations and legal actions in the country in this area.
The case in Natal, the focus of the complaint made to the MPF, will not be the only one analyzed.
On Monday (9/2), BBC News Brasil revealed that Epstein maintained personal relationships with Brazilian models, helped them financially and may have even employed them at some point as assistants.
The agency said, in response to the report on these new conversations, that it will monitor the release of the case files published by the American government and look for other mentions of Brazilians.
“The MPF is aware of this situation of women who were in Brazil and who were taken to the USA with some intention of sexual exploitation, because this could constitute the crime of international human trafficking,” said Borges.
Several messages demonstrate their financial dependence on the billionaire, such as paying for cosmetic procedures, haircuts, trips and even purchasing cell phones. In exchange, he would receive photos and contacts of other women, whose age was not disclosed in the documents.
There is no information in the messages about the age of the people involved.
The report identified email conversations dating back to at least 2006, before Epstein was first arrested.
In these conversations, he is invited to parties, talks about visits to São Paulo, says he will send money, asks other women to introduce him, receives photos of these women (their ages are not mentioned) and even tells one of them that he would be arrested for the first time a few days before this happened, in 2008.
BBC News Brasil showed, last week, that one of Epstein’s partners spoke to him about his intention to buy a fashion magazine in Brazil and that they would have direct contact in the country to get girls, including underage girls.
He also revealed, through an interview with a victim, that several Brazilian women were at his mansion in the USA.
‘Victims’ participation is essential’
Last week, news sites in Rio Grande do Norte reported that there were references to a woman from Natal in Epstein’s files released by the American government.
Dated 2011, the messages, obtained by BBC News Brasil, do not confirm whether grooming took place nor do they reveal the age of the person mentioned. But they show Epstein’s interest in a Brazilian woman after she was introduced by an acquaintance.
They also show that this person in Brazil also tried to introduce him to other friends and made several requests for financial help, although it is not possible to identify what their relationship was from the messages.
The dialogues detail the organization for issuing a passport, the plan to take her to the United States and Epstein’s explicit requests for photos in swimsuits and lingerie.
Chief prosecutor Gilberto Barroso de Carvalho Júnior, from Natal (RN), announced that he had received information “reporting the grooming and sending of a woman residing on the outskirts of Natal/RN, possibly to perform sexual acts with the person of Jeffrey Epstein, in the USA”.
Prosecutor Cinthia Gabriela Borges, from the National Unit to Combat International Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling, tells BBC News Brasil that the date of the messages can be a challenge in the investigation, as many of them are from more than 10 years ago and may have occurred outside Brazil.
“Although they are facts of great magnitude and of great global interest, these facts date back to more or less 2011, 2012.”
She assesses that the case “involves a very pronounced evidentiary complexity not only due to the passage of time but also extraterritoriality, since a large part of the events involving Brazilian women took place in American territory.”
Borges emphasizes that the cases will be analyzed individually, seeking to understand people’s relationships with Epstein and whether there was a network specialized in grooming women and whether they were older or younger.
The prosecutor also highlights the importance of victims helping in the investigation.
“It is a very embryonic situation, an investigation that is just beginning. It is essential in these cases that the victims participate in the investigation, so that they can bring to light the elements of how the recruitment was carried out.”
Another challenge she cites is a legislative change that took place in Brazil in 2016, in relation to international human trafficking. Previously, the crime was only characterized by the fact that the victim was lured and taken abroad.
With the new rule, this is no longer enough: it has become essential to prove that there was some defect in consent, that is, that the victim suffered fraud, coercion, violence or abuse of their vulnerability.
The public prosecutor reinforces that the women who had contact with Epstein are not being investigated in the process.
“Victims, as a rule, are not considered responsible for any acts they may commit as victims of human trafficking.”
She says the investigation will focus on understanding whether there were people who specialized in grooming and recruiting women for sexual purposes. “The victims cannot be held guilty in this case.”
How was the exchange of messages in Natal
Conversations between a Brazilian woman and Epstein between 2009 and 2013 gave rise to the complaint.
The messages show that she not only requested funds for personal expenses and cosmetic procedures, but also introduced other women to the billionaire. The ages of these women are not mentioned in the conversations.
In 2009, message exchanges detail requests for money for silicone implant surgery; the woman postponed the procedure while awaiting payment, stating that she intended to “show off in Palm Beach [cidade da Flórida, nos Estados Unidos]” after the result.
To make the request viable, Epstein instructed employees to make bank transfers, including in Brazilian currency.
The financial support extended to other requests: an Epstein employee reported that the Brazilian woman was in his office requesting US$450 to buy a cell phone, and, at another time, records show assistants coordinating payments for luxury beauty services for both the young woman and her mother.
The Brazilian woman’s role in intermediating contacts appears in records from January 2011, when she handled the departure of a young woman from Natal to the United States — this is the case that the MPF is dealing with in the open procedure.
In one message, she described that the girl did not speak English, had never traveled and came from a simple family, suggesting that she travel on the same flight to make the journey easier. The young woman’s age is not mentioned in the records.
Accompanying the report, the Brazilian sent photos of the young woman and stated that Epstein would “adore” her. Epstein’s response was a request for more images, specifying that they should be of “lingerie or bikini”.
Although the billionaire later wrote that the help could be “misinterpreted”, the Brazilian continued to suggest the meeting, proposing that it take place in Paris, France, and reinforcing that the young woman was his “type”.
Natal is also mentioned in another context, when modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel tells Epstein that he was in the city in 2010. Brunel was a known partner of Epstein.
Brunel was found dead in prison in Paris in 2022. He had been detained since the start of a formal investigation, after being accused of sexual harassment and rape against young people aged between 15 and 18 in France. He denied the accusations.
Brunel’s visits to Brazil in search of models are known, and there is even a photo of him in Brasília and videos at a recruitment agency.
In a message in 2013, from the same Brazilian, she asks Epstein for help. He says he has an eviction order, doesn’t have the resources to pay a lawyer and asks for a place to stay.
In the same text, she mentioned a new friend who had recently arrived from Brazil who would be interested in meeting him.
Originally published by BBC News on 02/12/2026
By Luiz Fernando Toledo – BBC News Brasil – London
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2026/02/12/atuacao-de-epstein-no-brasil-e-alvo-de-investigacao-aberta-pelo-mpf/
