What year did Epstein begin trafficking minors for sex

1. The year the indictment cites: 2002

When federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought the high‑profile 2019 sex‑trafficking indictment against Jeffrey Epstein they alleged he “sexually exploited dozens of minor girls starting in 2002,” and the public summaries and news coverage repeatedly framed Epstein’s trafficking as occurring between 2002 and 2005, language echoed across Time, Wikipedia and mainstream outlets that covered the unsealed charges .

2. How investigators and prosecutors reached that timeframe

The Southern District of New York’s public charging papers and the U.S. Attorney’s statements described alleged conduct spanning multiple years in New York and Florida and tied the key charged conduct to the early 2000s; the government’s case as presented in 2019 focused on incidents beginning in 2002 and continuing over the next several years, which is why the indictment and press accounts cite that start year .

3. Survivor accounts and civil suits suggest earlier and overlapping patterns

Survivors’ civil lawsuits and long‑running reporting document a pattern of alleged recruitment, abuse and trafficking that predates 2002 in some accounts—investigations that broke in Palm Beach in 2005, a 2006 grand jury probe, and decades‑spanning survivor testimony collected later all indicate that abuse and alleged trafficking were part of Epstein’s behavior over many years, leaving room for disagreement about a single first year .

4. Draft indictments and released files complicate a neat timeline

A 2007 draft indictment compiled by federal prosecutors reportedly listed sex crimes over a six‑year span and other internal investigative materials later released by the Justice Department and media outlets map allegations across the early 2000s and raise questions about how charges were narrowed and years chosen for public charging decisions, underscoring that the 2002 date reflects prosecutorial focus rather than an uncontested historical fact .

5. Why “began trafficking” is a legal and evidentiary formulation

Saying Epstein “began trafficking minors in 2002” mirrors the period prosecutors selected for the 2019 indictment and media summaries, but it is a legal allegation anchored to evidence the government deemed provable for the counts it filed; other credible allegations, survivor statements and court filings map abuse both before and after that window, meaning 2002 functions as the origin point of the charged scheme rather than a conclusive biological start date of abusive behavior .

6. What reporting does and does not establish

Primary public sources—DOJ charging papers, major news organizations and later releases of investigative files—consistently identify 2002 as when the conduct underlying the federal trafficking indictment began, but those same sources, plus civil complaints and grand‑jury materials, document allegations and investigative leads that reach before and after that year; available public reporting therefore supports the answer “2002” as the year prosecutors allege the trafficking began while also recognizing that the broader factual record remains more diffuse .

7. Alternative perspectives and reporting agendas

Advocates for survivors and investigative reporters pushing for wider document releases have argued that focusing on the indicted years risks obscuring other victims and possible accomplices named in files, an argument reflected in coverage of the Justice Department’s staggered releases and survivor attorneys’ statements that the public record is incomplete; conversely, some documents and parties named in released files insist inclusion in material does not equal criminality, highlighting competing agendas between transparency advocates and those seeking to limit reputational harm .