HUNTER EXCLUSIVE: Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre 'feared she would be murdered'

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The fetid stench of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s vile sex trafficking apparatus couldn’t kill Virginia Giuffre.

But the aftermath did.

Giuffre was the public face of pedophile billionaire Epstein’s countless victims. She took her own life at her home in Australia on Friday.

The 41-year-old was the third Epstein victim to die by suicide or drug overdose.

“That threw me for a loop,” author Barry Levine told the Toronto Sun. “Virginia’s death was a real gut punch. This stung and left me depressed. Virginia was the heart and soul of my book.”

Levine (an old friend of mine) wrote the seminal book on the sex trafficking that pierced the highest echelons of business, politics and royalty.

The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pulls back the covers on the sinister perversions and schemes of the twisted twosome. Levine knows his subject well.

“Virginia gave the other women strength, but she paid a heavy price,” Levine said. “Many of the women were from troubled homes, and Maxwell had a good eye for them.”

Giuffre (nee Roberts) may have been a particularly appealing target for Ghislaine Maxwell.

“She had a terrible background. She was sexually assaulted by a family friend when she was 7, then ran away and ended up in foster care,” Levine said. “When she was 12, she fell into the hands of notorious Miami sex trafficker Ron Eppinger.”

Giuffre became addicted to drugs before getting clean and landing a job as a towel girl at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. Her dream was to become a masseuse. Disgraced socialite Maxwell spotted her reading a book on massage.

Epstein and Maxwell’s Palm Beach abode was about one mile from the resort. And Giuffre’s unsuspecting father dropped the 16-year-old into their clutches.

“She gave Epstein his massage and was forced to perform oral sex on him while Maxwell watched,” Levine said, adding that Giuffre may have thought a connection to the billionaire could lead to a better life.

What followed was forced sex with Epstein, Maxwell, and his coterie of high-flying, like-minded pervert pals. Sometimes there were orgies, threesomes (with Epstein and Maxwell), and kinky BDSM encounters.

“In that situation, there was no thinking with a clear mind. It was stomach-churning. She was forced to have sex with Epstein, sometimes up to eight times a day,” Levine said.

One of Epstein and Maxwell’s best friends was Prince Andrew, whom Giuffre claimed had sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was underage. Andrew denied the allegations but coughed up an estimated $20-million settlement to Giuffre.

Epstein and Maxwell were Giuffre’s life for two years, when she frequently travelled to global hot spots with the demented duo. And in capitals like London and Paris, the pair offered the teen up to wealthy men.

“To survive that took remarkable fortitude,” Levine said.

Giuffre met an Aussie martial arts instructor in Thailand, and she pounced at the opportunity to escape Epstein and Maxwell’s clutches.

“She finally found some level of peace, but eventually, Epstein and Maxwell caught up with her. There was one lawsuit after another. She won against Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew. Virginia was victorious, but there was a price,” Levine said.

“She was the inspiration for dozens of girls,” he added. “It’s an absolute tragedy. Forty-one is a very young age to die. In the end, I think she would rather have had no part of any of it, just for her peace and sanity.”

Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison three years later.

But Giuffre could never shake her past.

“She was fearful she would be murdered, with Maxwell leaving threatening messages. She never escaped the feeling that there were forces that were going to have her killed. That’s extremely difficult to live with,” Levine added.

“She must have been in so much pain, but I never thought she would take over life.”

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun