According to the BBC, the woman, identified only as Roza, spoke publicly for the first time during a field hearing organized by Democratic members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee in West Palm Beach, Florida, a location lawmakers said was chosen because it was where Epstein’s crimes first became known.

According to Roza’s testimony, she met French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel in 2008 at the age of 18. Brunel, who was later accused by multiple women of trafficking and exploitation and died in prison in 2022, allegedly promised her a modeling career.

“Coming from a financially unstable background, I was a perfect target for coercion,” Roza told lawmakers during emotional testimony.

She said Brunel helped bring her to New York in 2009 on a visa and later introduced her to Epstein in July of that year at his residence in West Palm Beach.

At the time, Epstein was serving a controversial sentence related to his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Under an arrangement criticized for being unusually lenient, he was allowed to leave custody for work for up to 16 hours a day, six days a week.

Roza testified that Epstein offered her work through his Florida Science Foundation but later abused her repeatedly over a period of several years.

“One day his masseuse called me into his room where I was molested for the first time by Jeffrey,” she said. “For the following three years, I was subject to ongoing rape.”

Her testimony formed part of a hearing focused on how Epstein and his associates allegedly avoided accountability for years and how victims were failed by institutions meant to protect them.

Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia, who participated in the hearing, said the session aimed to maintain public attention on the Epstein case while congressional scrutiny continues over government handling of related records.

Roza also said she was retraumatized after her name was accidentally disclosed in documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Now reporters from across the globe contact me. I cannot live without looking over my shoulder,” she said. “I can only imagine the long-term impact this ‘mistake’ will have on my life.”

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

The testimony adds another connection between Uzbekistan and the Epstein network. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that Epstein sought architectural materials from Uzbekistan, including traditional tiles, for a controversial building on his private Caribbean island that he reportedly described as resembling a mosque. It has also been reported that U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said women and girls targeted by Epstein came from Turkmenistan and other countries, and that flight logs showed Kazakh model Ruslana Korshunova traveled to Epstein’s Little Saint James island in 2006, two years before her death in New York.