How Jeffrey Epstein Grew His Sex-Trafficking Ring

Danielle Bensky had run away from home in suburban New Jersey when she met the trio. She was rebelling against her mother, a stage mom who decided when Danielle was young that her daughter would become a ballerina. She danced competitively by the time she was 10, taking laxatives before “The Nutcracker” at 13, eating five croutons for lunch to stay under 100 pounds. In middle school, Danielle recalls, her mom would finish her homework for her because she was “only meant to dance.”

In 2004, Danielle was a high school student at New York’s Professional Performing Arts School. She had come to love the rigor of ballet — the crunch of rosin under pointe shoes, waking up early to train when the street smelled like last night’s party, practicing in the hot studio with no air-conditioning and getting sweaty enough to slip through her partner’s arms. But she also felt deprived of a normal childhood. She had never eaten hot wings. Never been skiing or gone bowling. Was never allowed dessert. She was angry. So when a friend suggested she ditch her mom and crash with him at his apartment on the Upper East Side, she agreed.

That was around the time that a friend from school, who knew Marina, introduced the two girls. Marina, Lisa and Lindsay were spending more time in Manhattan, doing promo work for clubs, which meant they were going to parties all the time, getting in free. They spotted Paris Hilton, P. Diddy, Jennifer Lopez. “We felt like boss bitches,” Marina told me. “We had limo drivers taking us for free to clubs. We had learned how to finagle things.” Marina was around 15 but remembers thinking of herself as a full-grown adult — she was paying bills, taking care of the house, making money. “I thought I could make good decisions,” Marina said, “but obviously I couldn’t.”

Danielle couldn’t believe Marina was more than two years younger than she was; she seemed more mature, more “street smart.” Marina and her Astoria friends used to get ready to go clubbing with Danielle at her friend’s place, putting on fake tans, looking orange because that was the thing. They choreographed dances in the living room. If one of them had $20, it was enough for a night out, because all they needed was a cab home. They were going out together all the time, having fun, rebelling, drinking and dancing.

One night at a club in Chelsea, Danielle was talking to a friend about how to get some money. She was thinking of being a bottle waitress. Danielle remembers either Lisa or Lindsay overhearing her and mentioning “a rich guy who would give her $300 for a massage.” She thought it didn’t sound too different from being a bottle waitress. She checked with Marina, because Marina was someone she trusted. Danielle says Marina told her she should definitely go. She said she’d been seeing Epstein for a while, and it was a lot of money. Marina offered to arrange a session through Epstein’s assistant. Danielle could even bring a friend.