Letters – organized by New York-based Model Alliance – urge Attorney General Letitia James and bipartisan members of Congress to investigate if and how modeling agencies served as pipeline for Epstein, other abusers

NEW YORK CITY, March 25, 2026 – The Model Alliance a New York-based nonprofit organization that advocates for the fair treatment of fashion workers, today called for sweeping investigations into the modeling industry’s role in facilitating the sex trafficking operation of financier Jeffrey Epstein. The organizations’ letters – signed by more than three dozen Epstein survivors and fashion models impacted by abuse within the industry – urge New York Attorney General Letitia James and bipartisan members of Congress Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie to examine if and how modeling agencies delivered young children and teens to Epstein and his fellow abusers.

“Modeling is a $2.5 trillion global industry,” the letter to Attorney General James reads. “But for decades, modeling agencies have operated with minimal oversight while exercising sweeping control over a uniquely vulnerable workforce: children and teens as young as 14 years old.”

“Jeffrey Epstein was not a rogue outlier, but a beneficiary of – and a participant in – this system,” the letter continues. “The public record, survivor testimony, investigative reporting, and newly released materials indicate that Epstein’s trafficking operation intersected directly with modeling agencies and executives who introduced him to young women and girls and facilitated his access to potential victims.”

The letters document examples of modeling executives and agents sending models to Epstein and his co-conspirators; recruitment schemes involving fake modeling opportunities designed to lure young women into the arms of predators; and long standing industry relationships between Epstein and figures in the modeling world. Taken together, these facts raise serious questions about if and how the modeling industry functioned as a recruitment and referral pipeline – sending aspiring teenage models to Jeffrey Epstein and other men with power, wealth, and well-documented histories of abuse.

The following statements were made following the letters publication: 

"It’s not a coincidence that so many of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims were aspiring or working models,”said Sara Ziff, Executive Director of Model Alliance. “Despite the glamorous veneer, the modeling industry has long served as a pipeline that sends teens directly into the hands of abusers. As a survivor myself, I am proud and humbled to stand with this brave community of survivors in calling for an immediate and thorough investigation into the modeling industry’s role. Accountability must extend beyond individual abusers to the system that enabled them.”

“I’ve been on the front lines of this fight for decades, and it’s past time the justice system investigated not just individual predators of sexual abuse, but the modeling industry that fueled — and indeed enabled — their behavior,” Carré Otis, Board Member of Model Alliance. “I am grateful for the Model Alliance’s leadership on this issue, and look forward to a full investigation.”

“No one should have to risk their safety to pursue a career,” said Lara Blume McGee. “But for so many of us, the same people that controlled our access to opportunity also put us directly in harm’s way. Any real investigation must examine how that access was used, who benefited from it, and why so many young women were left unprotected.”

“For a long time, many of us thought we were alone in what we experienced,” said Lisa Phillips. “But as this letter makes clear, each of us was part of a broader pattern — one in which the modeling industry enabled abuse and, in some cases, facilitated sex trafficking. It’s past time for a full accounting of how this was allowed to happen, and for real accountability for the systems and people who made it possible.”

“I entered what I believed was a professional industry, but instead found myself in environments where exploitation was allowed to exist,” said Sharlene Rochard. “What happened to me reflects a broader systemic failure. I stand with Model Alliance and fellow survivors to advocate for accountability, stronger protections, and to ensure the next generation of young women is not placed in the same vulnerable positions.”

Model Alliance’s call for accountability comes on the heels of another major recent advocacy win by the organization: the passage of the New York Fashion Workers Act (FWA). Signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2024, and in effect since June 2025, the FWA enacts the first-of-its-kind regulation of model management agencies and closes longstanding loopholes that have allowed abusive and exploitative practices to persist in the fashion industry. 

To read the letter to the New York Attorney General, click HERE. 

To read the letter to Members of Congress, click HERE. 

To schedule an interview with Sara Ziff on Model Alliance’s call for investigations into the modeling industry, please email sara@modelalliance.org.