Seven Women Sue Celebrity Hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai Over Epstein Grooming Schemes

Seven women filed suit in New York Supreme Court alleging hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai helped Jeffrey Epstein groom victims. Fekkai denies all wrongdoing.

Seven Women Accuse Frédéric Fekkai of Enabling Epstein's Abuse for Over 15 Years

Seven women have filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against celebrity hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, claiming he allowed disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to use his salons as a tool to manipulate and commit gender-motivated violence against young women and girls, Courthouse News Service reports.

The 17-page complaint, filed Tuesday, names Fekkai and one of his employees, Patrick Coombs, as having played a "pivotal role in Epstein's grooming schemes by routinely providing salon services to women at Epstein's instruction." The women describe Fekkai's flagship Manhattan salon as "the epicenter for victim grooming."

"Fekkai groomed the victims to look as young as possible under Epstein's direction," the plaintiffs allege. "Epstein would direct Fekkai to bleach victims blond and groom them like dolls into Epstein's and others' liking."

The suit characterizes Fekkai as an "enabler" of Epstein's sexual abuse spanning more than 15 years, claiming Epstein would regularly bring groups of young women to the salon and "have them sit on his lap and stroke his hair."

"Fekkai and Coombs collaborated with Epstein so that the plaintiffs looked young and how he wanted them so that they could be sexually abused and have gender-motivated violence committed against them," the complaint states.

Business Ties to Epstein Alleged

Beyond the abuse itself, the women claim Fekkai leveraged his relationship with Epstein to build his commercial empire. According to the lawsuit, Epstein helped place Fekkai's line of hair products into retailers including Victoria's Secret, owned by longtime Epstein associate Les Wexner.

"Without Epstein, Fekkai Brands would not have grown into the billion-dollar beauty product mainstay," the plaintiffs argue. Conversely, they contend, "without Fekkai, Epstein would not have been able to control and commit gender-motivated violence against the victims."

The suit further claims the Justice Department's release of Epstein-related documents — widely referred to as the "Epstein Files" — included more than 3,000 documents and emails specifically related to Fekkai's Manhattan salon.

Named and Anonymous Plaintiffs

Five of the seven plaintiffs are suing anonymously. The two who are named are Kersti Ferguson, a former model who alleges Epstein "committed gender-motivated violence against her" for roughly two decades beginning when she was around 16 years old, and Audra Christiansen, a former Playboy Playmate who has previously claimed she alerted the FBI to Epstein as early as 2005, only to be ignored.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages under New York's Gender-Motivated Violence Act, a law that permits victims of gender-based violence to pursue civil claims beyond the standard statute of limitations.

"If not for defendants acting as a cog in the perks machine, Epstein would not have been able to run a sex trafficking operation and commit gender-motivated violence against hundreds of women and minor girls, including plaintiffs," the complaint states.

Fekkai Denies All Allegations

A spokesperson for Fekkai rejected the claims in full. "Frédéric Fekkai did nothing wrong," said spokesman Mark Herr. "This same law firm brought these same false allegations against Mr. Fekkai three months ago — and withdrew their suit as soon as it got moved to federal court."

Herr added that the complaint "doesn't even allege that Frederic met any of these women — much less that he laid a finger on them, or even that he knew they were among the thousands of women having their hair cut in his salons every day."

Broader Context

The lawsuit was filed one day after U.S. Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, named Fekkai among 14 alleged Epstein co-conspirators he urged the Department of Justice to investigate.

Fekkai's name had also surfaced earlier this year during a closed-door House Republican interview in which Epstein's former aide Sarah Kellen reportedly accused Fekkai of sexually assaulting her in the early 2000s. Fekkai denied those allegations as well. A media representative told CNN at the time that Fekkai was "astonished" by Kellen's testimony and that "he did nothing wrong."

Source: Courthouse News Service