Lisa Bloom launches legal action alleging FBI failed Jeffrey Epstein’s victims

Lisa Bloom, the California-based lawyer who represents 11 of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, launched new proceedings against the FBI in December on behalf of eight clients, arguing the agency failed to investigate credible reports of Epstein’s sexual misconduct going back as far as 1996.

On Friday, 3m new pages of Epstein-related files were released. The complaint argues that had the FBI acted with due diligence hundreds more women could have been protected, and notes that “an FBI official hung up the telephone on one of the first women to try to report Epstein.” The legal filing says: “Despite being the most elite and prestigious law enforcement agency in the United States and perhaps the world … the FBI never called back or followed up … in any manner.” Bloom says she secured compensation from the Epstein estate for all 11 of her clients in 2021, with settlements ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions, and that her firm obtained similar payouts from JP Morgan in 2024.

She told the Guardian her firm would typically take between 33% and 45% of any settlement payment and that it would “never take more than 50% of a payout, unless there have been exceptionally high costs.” The article also recounts controversies in Bloom’s career, including her 2016 decision to advise Harvey Weinstein on ways to discredit accusers, which she has apologised for and says she ended when the first woman went on the record.

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