During Jeffrey Epstein's first spell in jail, a 13-month sentence for soliciting sex from an under-age girl, prison records show one woman visited him at least 67 times.
That woman was Nadia Marcinko. Marcinko was Epstein's main girlfriend for seven years - his most significant partner after Ghislaine Maxwell - and in later years, an assistant pilot of his private plane.
She is comparatively unknown to the public, but she may soon find herself in the spotlight.
Marcinko is one of four women who were named as Epstein's 'potential co-conspirators' in a 2008 plea deal that granted them immunity from prosecution. Now, two of those women - Epstein assistants Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff - are about to be questioned by US legislators. One congresswoman wants all four, including Adriana Ross, another Epstein assistant, and Marcinko, to be investigated, despite the plea deal.
Marcinko has never been accused of or charged with any crime. Her lawyers say she is one of Epstein's victims. But girls in Palm Beach, Florida, whose testimony about their abuse when they were under age led to Epstein's conviction in 2008, told police that Marcinko participated in that abuse.
The BBC has spent months interviewing those who have met Marcinko and scrutinising every email we could find between her and Epstein in the files, to try to build a detailed picture of her role in the disgraced financier's life.
The emails reveal Epstein and Marcinko wanted to start a family together. The BBC has also found evidence suggesting that over many years, he asked her to recruit other women to help satisfy his sexual desires, and she complied.
But the emails also expose deeply coercive tendencies on the part of Epstein. Marcinko later told investigators that he was physically violent, choking her and throwing her down a flight of stairs. We have had access to her account to investigators via a document that was released - heavily redacted - by the US Department of Justice in January. Marcinko's name is not visible, but the five pages of testimony match in every detail what we know about her from other sources.
The BBC contacted Marcinko for comment, but she did not reply. Since Epstein's death in prison in 2019, awaiting further sex charges, she has disappeared from public view.
The calls for an investigation into Marcinko have raised important questions about whether a victim of sexual coercion can also be deemed an accomplice.
Marcinko was born Nadia Marcinkova into a comfortably-off, respected family in Slovakia. She met Epstein in 2003 at a New York birthday party. The following year, she moved in with him; their relationship quickly became sexual in nature. A significant power imbalance characterized their relationship, as Epstein was 32 years her senior.
Though she appeared loyal to Epstein for years, in 2018 she began cooperating with the FBI. The agency later supported her application to stay in the U.S., indicating that she had been coerced into relations with Epstein and that her status should be reconsidered in light of new evidence.
As lawmakers continue to assess the immunity originally granted to her and several other women, the discussion emerges about the nature of victimhood, consent, and complicity in these intricate dynamics.
