Hugh Hefner Called FBI Multiple Times in 2005 to Report Jeffrey Epstein, Lawsuit Reveals
Playboy Playmate Audra Lynn Christiansen told Hugh Hefner she had been raped and trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, prompting Hefner to phone the FBI repeatedly in 2005, according to a newly filed lawsuit.
In a lawsuit filed by 32 victims, former Playboy Playmate Audra Lynn Christiansen claimed she confided in Hugh Hefner that Jeffrey Epstein had raped and trafficked her when she was 23 and residing at the Playboy Mansion. She further alleged that she was sent to Macau billionaire Stanley Ho, described in the filing as a rich friend of Hefner. Seeking the publisher’s influence, Christiansen asked Hefner to intervene, and he reportedly called the FBI multiple times in 2005 to alert authorities about Epstein.
The amended complaint, lodged in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, also notes that the FBI only reached out to Christiansen in October 2020, after Epstein’s death, to follow up on the 2005 tip. Lawyers for the victims criticize the FBI for using procedural arguments to avoid accountability for its decades-long failure to investigate Epstein. The Department of Justice has not publicly responded to Hefner’s reported tip.
Why it matters
It reveals that a prominent media figure warned law enforcement about Epstein years earlier, highlighting possible FBI negligence.
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