|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by ANDY FANCHER
***
Just months after registering as a sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein asked a former Miss South Carolina USA titleholder whether she had a “friend” for him, according to records released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The request appears in a heavily redacted email exchange dispersed throughout the “Epstein Files,” an ever-evolving DOJ archive spanning roughly 3.5 million documents released between December 2025 and January 2026.
Following the delayed and fragmented release of these files, thousands were later removed and reissued under new identifiers with additional redactions. Among them were key portions of Epstein’s email exchange with the former South Carolina pageant queen.
Available records show the conversation began on May 14, 2009, when the former pageant titleholder initiated contact with Epstein in a late-night email. She wrote that she had been “wanting” to contact him for “a while,” adding that she was in New York and had been “thinking about” him.
“I would love to hear back from you,” she sent at 10:14 p.m. EDT to the billionaire, signing off with “Big hug” and her name, “Anna.”
***
***
While Anna’s full name has remained redacted throughout the fragmented release of this email chain, earlier versions included a raspberry-colored, cursive footer identifying her as “Miss South Carolina USA 2003.”
FITSNews later attempted to contact an individual fitting Anna’s description.
Within hours, a New York–based attorney responded on her behalf, requesting no further outreach and describing her client as one of Epstein’s victims. The attorney declined to provide a statement at this time.
Records that once displayed Anna’s pageant footer now appear in the DOJ archive with additional redactions.
The fragmented nature of that archive further obscures the precise sequencing of Epstein’s response to Anna. Records reviewed by FITSNews indicate the deceased pedophile replied around 3:00 a.m. EDT from his iPhone: “I’m ok tell me about you.”
Later that morning, Anna responded with a lengthy email in which she wrote that “life has changed a bit.” She told Epstein she was married to “the same guy” she was dating the last time she saw him and that she was “still” living in Greenville, South Carolina.

***
She also shared personal details about her family, including the name and age of her two-year-old daughter, and wrote that she was pregnant and due in seven months.
“I think about you a lot and hope you’re doing well!” she wrote, adding, “Here are some pictures.”
Attached to the email were what appear to be three unsolicited photographs, including one labeled “Beach_August_2008_(210).jpg.”
Epstein responded within minutes, sending a terse request from his iPhone: “Send photos.”
Anna then sent at least six additional images that morning, writing, “A few more pictures… ;-).”
The ensuing files included images labeled “Anna3.jpg, Cover_shot.jpg,” “Boating_magazine_1.jpg,” and “Motor_Boating_11.jpg.”
The same DOJ records appear to contain at least two of the aforementioned images.
***


(House Oversight Committee)
***
Anna followed up by asking how Epstein was doing and where he was staying. He replied in four words, telling the former pageant queen he was in Palm Beach and that he was “terrific.”
When Epstein sent that message, he was approximately 11 months into an 18-month sentence imposed after pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. Court records show he was permitted to leave the Palm Beach County Stockade for up to twelve hours a day.
Neither his incarceration nor his status as a registered sex offender in Florida or the Virgin Islands appeared to have factored into the exchange.
The conversation continued with Anna asking Epstein if he could share her email with an individual believed to be Lapo Elkann. Elkann, a scion of the Fiat and Ferrari family empire, was someone the South Carolinian said she had wanted to “reach out to for a while.”
Elkann, who has not been widely linked to Epstein’s orbit, does appear elsewhere in the Epstein Files. DOJ records show Epstein being referred to as a “dear friend” in a 2014 invitation sent on Elkann’s behalf, while Epstein later described Elkann as a “friend” in messages to a redacted recipient.
DOJ records suggest the relationship dates back to at least 2009.
***
RELATED | EPSTEIN FILES: THE DEATH OF TRUTH
***
Epstein replied that he would reach out to Elkann on her behalf. He then volunteered additional context, telling her Elkann had “got in trouble” after overdosing on cocaine in the company of a transgender prostitute.
“I read about it,” Anna replied. “But I still like him. He was so, so genuine with me. I’d love it if you’d call him on my behalf. I appreciate it.”
The disgraced financier echoed her sentiments, calling Elkann “great and super smart.” He then appears to have cut short the pleasantries and posed a direct question to Anna:
“well now that you are taken, what friend. do you have for me„ you and i share the same taste”
From: Jeffrey Epstein <jeevacation@gmail.com>
To: [REDACTED] <[REDACTED]>
Sent: Fri. 5/15/2009 at 3:06:22 PM
Subject: RE: hello!
She replied minutes later with laughter.
“ha! you’re still fun! Well, I don’t know that I have any friends available. Seems like everyone in SC is married…”
From: [REDACTED] <[REDACTED]>
To: Jeffrey Epstein <jeevacation@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri. 5/15/2009 at 3:13:30 PM
Subject: RE: hello!
Later that afternoon, Anna emailed Epstein again, this time referencing a chance encounter with his Upper East Side townhouse. She wrote that she had “just walked” past the seven-story Manhattan property and asked whether it was “still” his home.
Epstein responded with a single word: “Yes.”
“Just curious,” she followed up. “I saw the JE.”
***





(House Oversight Committee)
***
Nearly a decade after these emails, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, assisted by officers from the New York City Police Department, descended upon the palatial townhouse as part of a federal sex-trafficking investigation into Epstein.
At the time of the raid, photographs show the residence contained the now-infamous painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress, enlarged images of children lining the corridors, drawers stocked with sex toys and costumes, and rooms filled with computer monitors, DVDs and thick binders.
It remains unclear whether Anna had any familiarity with the townhouse’s interior.
But even these revelations scarcely register against the broader scope of what remains buried within the Epstein Files.
Despite extensive redactions, the records still contain graphic allegations involving some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful men, including claims of baby farming, child sexual abuse, child sex trafficking, ritualistic sacrifice, cannibalism and murder-for-hire.
While the vast majority of those allegations remain unproven and unadjudicated, journalists and independent researchers from across the globe continue to sift through more than 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related records released by the DOJ.
As that work continues, South Carolina repeatedly emerges from those records.
Write to Andrew Fancher at andy@fitsnews.com.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy Award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. He joined FITSNews in 2023 after leaving an NBC affiliate, where he served as on-air talent. His reporting centers on public corruption in South Carolina, with a particular focus on law enforcement at the city, county and state levels.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.



2 comments
Yeah, yeah, everybody’s a victim these days….
Sounds pretty chummy and consensual as an Epstein acquaintance, to me.
I feel for whoever she is having these kids by.
Anna Hanks According to an Internet Search!