New York — A woman who says she suffered lasting damage from sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein when she was 17 years old sued his estate on Thursday, joining other women who are speaking publicly about pain they have long confronted largely alone.
Teala Davies, 34, joined the growing list of women who have sued the wealthy financier who died in August after he was found unresponsive in his jail cell in what a medical examiner labeled a suicide. A message seeking comment was left with a lawyer for Epstein’s estate.
She filed her lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, where a magistrate judge on Thursday urged lawyers for the estate and victims to negotiate how victims can be compensated for injuries.
Davies appeared at a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred, who read a statement from her client that described herself as the “perfect victim” for a predator who took advantage of vulnerable underage teenagers and young women.
Allred said her client had a difficult childhood that included being homeless for a year at age 11.
According to the lawsuit, Davies was raped and sexually abused by Epstein at his residences in New York, Paris, Florida, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
