A Kazakh-Russian model who jumped to her death from her apartment building 15 years ago was flown to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, according to newly released court documents.
Featured in ad campaigns for Marc Jacobs, DKNY, Vera Wang, and Nina Ricci perfume, Ruslana Korshunova was 18 years old on June 7, 2006, when she was listed as a passenger on Epstein’s plane, which was headed to Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The IMG-signed model leaped to her death from her ninth-floor balcony about two years after the trip.
At the time, her ex-boyfriend told the New York Post that Korshunova had problems she kept “bottled up” inside.
Her trip to Epstein’s island happened just weeks before the disgraced financier was arrested; he was later convicted of sexually abusing underage girls.
It is not known what happened to Korshunova when she arrived at the infamous Caribbean island, where Epstein and his high-profile associates were known to sexually abuse teenage girls.
Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s attorney emailed Giuffre several years after Korshunova’s death, asking if she knew the model, documents unsealed on Thursday show.
“I think it’s a long shot you would recognize her, but read the article I attached and then look at the pictures and see if you recognize her,” attorney Brad Edwards wrote in the 2011 email, which included a link to a Newsweek article on Korshunova’s death.
“I am sorry to hear the news of Ruslana, and my condolences are with her family and friends,” Giuffre replied. “I can say that I have never had any meetings with her, sorry not to be of any help there.”
At the peak of her career when she boarded the so-called Lolita Express, Korshunova died after cutting a hole in construction mesh covering her Wall Street apartment balcony, squeezing through, and jumping. She was just 20.
“I heard what sounded like a gunshot or a bomb or an explosion,” a Con Ed worker talking to a police officer nearby told the Post.
“I looked down the street, and I say to the cop, ‘Did that person just get hit by a car?’” the worker, who identified himself as Patrick, of Brooklyn, said.
Patrick said he and the police officer rushed over to find Korshunova’s arms “crushed.”
“Her head was on the left side and blood was coming out in a pool,” he told the Post.
At the time of her death, Korshunova had lost a lot of weight and seemed to be having trouble balancing her personal life and her grueling work schedule, her ex-boyfriend said then.
The model also left long messages behind in which she said she missed her home and family and talked about her troubled love life.
“I think she just gave up,” Artem Perchenok, who was with Korshunova on the last night of her life, told the Post.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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