Lawsuit: Millionaire Promised Teen Career Help in Exchange for Sex

Oct. 18, 2007— -- A former aspiring model claims that Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her when she was 16 years old, in what may be the first of several expected lawsuits against the multimillionaire financier.

Maximilia Cordero, now 23, claims, in a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court, that Epstein promised to advance her modeling career in exchange for sexual favors.

"She went as a young model with hopes of a future," Cordero's lawyer, William Unroch, told ABC News.

Epstein's lawyer, Gerald Lefcourt, dismissed the suit. "It took seven years to bring the suit, the woman acknowledged that she is insane, but she knew how to read a newspaper, and she knew the word 'rich,'" he said, through a spokesman.

Epstein faces unrelated criminal charges in Florida for allegedly paying underage girls to give him erotic massages at his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion. He is reportedly negotiating a plea deal that is expected to land him in prison for about 18 months, people familiar with the case told ABC News.

Several other young women have contacted Epstein's lawyers, and may file similar lawsuits, sources told ABC News.

According to Cordero's lawsuit, first reported on the Web site The Smoking Gun, Epstein "repeatedly lured" the 16-year-old to his Upper East Side Manhattan home by promising to help her with her modeling career. Cordero "engaged in bizarre and unnatural sex acts" with Epstein, the lawsuit claims.

"I love how young you are. You have a tight butt like a baby," Epstein said, according to the lawsuit. He also told Cordero to bring her teenage friends, saying, "I love girls your age," the suit claims.

Cordero insists she was unable to legally consent to the sex acts because she was underage.

The lawsuit also says Cordero suffered from mental illness and was insane at the time, though Unroch would not elaborate on the nature of her illness.

Unroch, who also runs a model and talent management agency, according to his Web site, said he would like to get the case resolved "as quickly as possible."

The lawsuit alleges that Cordero "experienced great pain and suffering, physical and emotional injuries." It does not say how much money she is demanding.