Playboy founder Hugh Hefner contacted the FBI in 2005 on behalf of a former Playmate who said Jeffrey Epstein had sexually abused her, but the woman said the bureau never followed up with her, according to allegations cited in a federal lawsuit.
Audra Christiansen sought Hefner’s help while living at the Playboy mansion after telling him she had been abused and trafficked by Epstein, according to a fourth amended complaint filed May 21 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Hefner, who died in 2017 at age 91, contacted the FBI on Christiansen’s behalf, and in January 2005, Christiansen overheard him tell an FBI agent that Epstein had trafficked and abused her, the complaint alleges.
The agent responded that the bureau would investigate the allegations and help Christiansen, according to the complaint.
Christiansen told NewsNation on Friday that she contacted the FBI again in 2020 amid threats against her family and later hired an attorney in an effort to secure a meeting with the bureau.
“I have never been able to speak to the FBI,” Christiansen told NewsNation, adding that the bureau would not meet with her or her attorney.
Christiansen is not identified as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was brought in September 2024 by 32 Jane Does, Laura Newman, and Sandra Ward. But her allegations are cited as evidence supporting the plaintiffs’ claims against the FBI.
The Department of Justice on June 4 moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing, among other things, that the plaintiffs missed the Federal Tort Claims Act’s deadline for filing their claims.
The plaintiffs countered that they did not discover the alleged link between their injuries and the FBI’s conduct until December 2022 and maintain that the government concealed information about Epstein and its investigation.
Epstein died in August 2019 in federal custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
The plaintiffs also argued that the court previously determined their claims could not be dismissed at this stage as untimely.
DOJ countered that the plaintiffs failed to show reasonable diligence and that information about alleged government failures involving Epstein had been publicly available years earlier.
The government also argued that the FBI cannot be held liable for decisions about whether and how to investigate.
The plaintiffs countered that the bureau failed to follow mandatory investigative policies and that the issue cannot be decided until more evidence is gathered.
