Victim or accomplice? The story of Jeffrey Epstein’s pilot girlfriend

Nadia Marcinko, originally Marcinková, was born in Slovakia and met Jeffrey Epstein as an 18-year-old model. Later, she became a successful aircraft pilot. For seven years, she was Epstein’s main girlfriend. And she is one of four women that US prosecutors named in a 2008 plea deal as his “potential co-conspirators”. But she has never been accused of any crime. And she has described herself as a victim who was abused physically and psychologically by Epstein.

Now, a committee of the US Congress is beginning to address the sensitive question of whether it is possible for someone to be both a victim and an accomplice, as it takes testimony from two of the “potential co-conspirators”, Epstein’s former assistants Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff. Nadia Marcinko, who disappeared from public view several years ago, may also be called to testify.

BBC reporter Tim Whewell and independent Slovak journalist Jakub Pohle have talked to people who have known her, and dug deep into the Epstein files, to put together the most detailed account yet of her life.

Presenter/producer: Tim Whewell and Jakub Pohle
Additional research: Oscar Brophy
Actors: Tara Gadomski, Kerry Shale, Simona Vrabcova, Rebeka Jurcackova, Jozef Radovsky
Sound engineer: Neil Churchill
Editor: Penny Murphy

(Photo: Nadia Marcinko. Credit: Getty Images)