The Files Don't Save Survivors. We Do. | Epstein, Carroll, & Centuries of Protected Predators

Everyone is talking about the Epstein files. But the survivors — the actual women and girls whose lives were stolen — issued a statement saying the releases retraumatized THEM while Epstein's enablers stayed hidden. So who are these files actually for?

In this episode, host Marissa Cohen goes deep on the full Epstein story — the 3.5 million pages released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the devastating 2008 non-prosecution deal that let a convicted predator walk free after only 13 months while 30 identified child victims were never even told, and the system of wealth and power that made all of it possible.

She centers the survivors who paid the highest price for coming forward: Virginia Giuffre, who fought for 16 years, helped convict Ghislaine Maxwell, and died by suicide in April 2025 at 41 years old.

Courtney Wild, recruited at 14. Jennifer Araoz, raped at 15. And E. Jean Carroll — the only person in U.S. history to win a civil sexual abuse verdict against a sitting president — who waited nearly 30 years to have her story heard in a room where someone had to listen.

This episode asks the harder question: when powerful men have been protected from accountability for centuries, what does releasing files actually change? And what do WE need to change instead? The answer isn't in the documents. It's in how we treat survivors when they speak.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, rape, institutional betrayal, and suicide.

If you need support: Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or RAINN at 1-800-656-HOPE.