One of the most unsettling chapters to emerge around the Jeffrey Epstein case involves two unexpected names: Hugh Hefner and a former Playboy model.
According to a lawsuit filed by 32 alleged victims of Epstein, Audra Lynn Christiansen turned to Hefner in 2005 after claiming that she had been abused and sexually trafficked by Epstein.
Christiansen, who had been the 2003 Playmate of the Year, was 23 at the time. According to the court document, she asked Hefner for help because she believed that his contacts and influence could get the authorities to take her complaint seriously.
And Hefner reportedly did.
The lawsuit maintains that the Playboy founder called the FBI several times to report the allegations against Epstein. Christiansen also allegedly said that Epstein had taken her to Macau casino billionaire Stanley Ho, an allegation that is part of the lawsuit and has not been judicially established.
But this is where the most disturbing detail emerges.
According to the lawsuit, although Hefner reportedly tried to alert the FBI in 2005, Christiansen did not have contact with the agency until 2020, approximately 15 years later and one year after Epstein’s death.
Christiansen herself has even questioned that account of the contact. She claims that she was the one who filed another report with the FBI in 2020 and that she never received an interview from investigators.
The U.S. government has sought to have the lawsuit dismissed and argues, among other things, that the FBI is not legally required to investigate every complaint it receives.
For now, there is no evidence that a conspiracy to protect Epstein existed.
But the documents leave a question that is difficult to ignore:
if the allegations had already reached the FBI in 2005 and Hugh Hefner had reportedly called several times to alert them, why does the woman who filed the complaint say she had to wait 15 years to try to be heard?