Lawsuit released in Epstein files claims connection to Michigan summer camp

Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News on Dec 21, 2025

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The federal government's release of thousands of files related to Jeffrey Epstein included a lawsuit that claimed he met his first known victim at a Michigan fine arts summer camp in the 1990s.

The complaint, filed in May 2020 by Los Angeles-based Panish Shea & Boyle LLP on behalf of a Jane Doe, said Jane Doe met when she was 13 the late-Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Interlochen Center for the Arts, located about 15 miles southwest of Traverse City.

Doe was abused by Epstein and Maxwell for years, said the complaint, released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice. Doe was among the hundreds of young girls who were "systemically" molested, exploited, assaulted and raped, allegedly by Epstein. Doe said in the complaint she was the "guinea pig" the pair used to build their criminal enterprise. The lawsuit was settled in January 2021 and she received an unspecified settlement from the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program.

Doe said in the complaint the two approached her in 1994 at the summer camp when Doe sat on a bench alone between her voice program classes. Epstein allegedly bragged to her about being a patron of the arts and giving scholarships to talented young artists like Doe, and the pair asked questions about Doe's background, family situation and where she lived. Epstein asked for Doe's mother's phone number and Doe provided it because she was afraid she could not refuse the request.

The lawsuit claims that Epstein and Maxwell then intertwined themselves with Doe's life by grooming and mentoring her, and financially supporting her and her mother. Epstein started to pay for voice lessons forDoe and insisted that Doe could not advance her career in any way without him. Although the visits with Epstein and Maxwell made Doe uncomfortable, she felt she couldn't refuse them, the complaint said.

Doe's lawsuit recalls several other incidents that occurred while Epstein and Maxwell were grooming her. She described one alleged event, where Epstein took her to Mar-a-Lago and he introduced her to its owner, now-U.S. President Donald Trump. Doe claimed that Epstein elbowed Trump playfully and asked him, referring to 14-year-old Doe, "This is a good one, right?" Doe's complaint said Trump smiled and nodded in agreement.

Months after they met, the sexual abuse began, her lawsuit alleged. Toward the end of 1994, Epstein invited Doe into his pool house, where he grabbed her, put her on his lap and started masturbating, claiming that's what professional photographers would do when Doe was eventually photographed by them.

Over the next few years, the sexual abuse escalated and on a regular basis, Epstein would digitally penetrate Doe, force Doe to perform sexual acts on him and apply vibrators on different parts of Doe’s body, the lawsuit said. At the same time, her family's financial dependency on him increased. He moved Doe and her mother to an apartment in New York City that he cosigned and paid her tuition at a private high school in Manhattan as well.

The sexual abuse continued through 1997, when Epstein raped Doe at his New York City townhouse, the complaint alleged, after asking her if she'd lost her virginity and saying she should "get it over with already." From that point forward for several years in New York, Epstein raped Doe on multiple occasions, the lawsuit said.

In 1999, Doe moved to Los Angeles to start a career. Once physically separated from Epstein and Maxwell, she felt like she could escape Epstein's abuse, the complaint said.

No complaints or concerns were raised regarding Epstein with Interlochen administrators as of 2008 when the camp did an internal review following his conviction, Oleson said in an email. After his second arrest in 2019 the camp did a second review and found no report or complaint involving Epstein.

Epstein attended Interlochen in the summer of 1967, and he was a donor to Interlochen Center for the Arts from 1990 to 2003, Oleson said.

"Interlochen is committed to ensuring a safe, nurturing environment in which our students can excel," Oleson said in the emailed statement. "We currently have a wide range of measures in place to ensure a safe, supportive environment for all students. To learn more about our comprehensive safety protocols, please visit our dedicated webpage, where you’ll find detailed information about our practices and approach. The well-being of our students will always be our highest priority."

The Daily Beast reported in 2019 that Epstein’s lifetime giving to the institution was less than $500,000. A lodge bearing Epstein's name at the camp was later renamed.

Epstein's last gift was in 2003, said Katharine Laidlaw, Interlochen's former vice president of strategic communications and engagement in 2019.

“After the administration learned of his conviction, Interlochen discontinued contact with Mr. Epstein and removed all donor recognition with his name,” Laidlaw told The Daily Beast at the time.

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