Alicia Arden: 1997 Encounter, Police Report, and Epstein Files

Alicia Arden is an actress and model who says Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted her at a Santa Monica hotel in 1997, and who, according to her attorney Gloria Allred, filed the earliest known police report against him. In the years since Epstein’s 2019 death in federal custody, Arden has become one of the most visible survivor-advocates in the case, pressing publicly for the release of Justice Department records and for accountability for anyone who helped him.¹

What She Says Happened in 1997

In May 1997, Arden was 27, with television credits including Baywatch and General Hospital.² A man who introduced himself as a talent scout for Victoria’s Secret invited her to meet at the Shutters on the Beach hotel in Santa Monica about a spot in the company’s catalog. That man was Jeffrey Epstein.³

Arden has said she was uneasy about the hotel-room setting, later writing in her police report that “generally, interviews are not conducted in hotel rooms.”³ She described Epstein as barefoot, in sweatpants and a USA T-shirt. According to Arden, he criticized her figure, asked her to sit closer, and then began touching her while saying, “Let me manhandle you for a second.” She alleges he pulled up her blouse and skirt, groped her buttocks, and asked her twice to undress. Arden says she pushed him away and left the room in tears. He followed her to her car and offered her $100, which she initially refused but eventually accepted because she needed gas.⁴

The Police Report That Went Nowhere

Arden went to the Santa Monica Police Department to report sexual battery. By her account, a male detective asked why she had gone to a hotel room alone with a man and suggested she reconsider filing. She said the exchange felt “like I was being blamed.” She came back to the station anyway, and on May 19, 1997, she filed an official report.⁴

A crime report exists, and detective notes show Epstein was questioned. His account conflicted with hers. No charges were filed. SMPD spokeswoman Lt. Candice Cobarrubias later said the case was closed because the victim was “not desirous of prosecution,” and the detective’s notes recorded that Arden only wanted Epstein “warned about his behavior.”⁵

Arden denies that. She has said she “wanted to be taken seriously” and never told police she did not want to prosecute.⁵ She also recalls her report as a two-page document, though a police spokesperson told the Associated Press no record of that specific document could be found.⁶ The responding officer’s report has a checked box indicating the case was unlikely to be solved.⁷

For Arden, this is the through-line of the whole case. “If they would have taken me more seriously than they did, it could have helped all these girls,” she has said. “It could have been stopped.”⁴

Fighting for the Epstein Files

Represented by Gloria Allred, who has said she represents 27 alleged Epstein victims, Arden has spent the years since Epstein’s death pushing for the government to release its records.⁸ In August 2025 she held a press conference at Allred’s office calling for the files to be released and opposing any presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking of children. “Should Ms. Maxwell be pardoned? No,” Arden said. “She was convicted of sex trafficking of children.”¹

On November 17, 2025, she appeared with Allred in Los Angeles to urge House Republicans to pass legislation forcing disclosure. “Speaking as a victim, I beg you to release these files, once and for all,” she said. “Vote to release these files so we can finally see who else helped Jeffrey Epstein.”⁹

The bill she was backing, the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405), had been introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna in July 2025. It passed the House on November 18, 2025, by a vote of 427 to 1, cleared the Senate by unanimous consent the next day, and was signed into law by President Trump on November 19, 2025.¹⁰¹¹ The law directs the Attorney General to release all DOJ documents and records relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Arden told CNN the day of the House vote that she felt “a little vindicated” and that the vote was “100 percent like a weight lifted for me.”¹²

The relief did not last. By the December 19 deadline set by the law, the DOJ had released only a partial set of documents, many heavily redacted. Arden went back on CNN on December 20, 2025, and called the result “another slap in the face,” noting that even her own 1997 police report had been heavily redacted. “Is that allowed? Is that legal for them to do that?” she asked. “Why can’t I see what was redacted as to what I said in my police report in 1997?” She dismissed public focus on photographs of former President Bill Clinton found in the released material as a “red herring.”¹³

Late in December 2025, the DOJ said it had found more than a million additional documents and needed more time. “It still continues to be extremely upsetting,” Arden said on CNN. “Good Lord, why can they not get it all going?” She framed her persistence in terms of prevention: “I’m here to protect the future victims there may be. It has to all come out, like, immediately.”¹⁴ By February 2026, roughly three million documents had been released, but Arden was still not satisfied. On CNN News Central on February 2, 2026, she pushed back on the DOJ’s argument that delays were meant to protect victims. “I don’t feel protected,” she said. “I feel still victimized. And I’m not happy with what they’re doing.”¹⁵

On Testifying Before Congress

On April 9, 2026, First Lady Melania Trump made a rare public statement from the White House denying any personal relationship with Epstein or Maxwell and calling on Congress to hold a hearing centered on Epstein survivors. “Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress,” she said.¹⁶

Arden welcomed the idea. Speaking on CNN the next day, she said she was “really happy and really quite proud of Melania to call for a hearing” and that she would be “very, very happy to testify before Congress.”¹⁷ She said testifying was not a “burden” and that full disclosure had “always needed to come out.”¹⁸ Not every survivor agreed: a group including Danielle Bensky, Annie Farmer, and relatives of the late Virginia Giuffre called the proposal a “deflection of responsibility,” arguing survivors had already given extensive testimony and that the administration had not fully complied with the Transparency Act.¹⁹

Across her appearances, Arden’s message stays narrow. As Allred put it at one press conference, the survivors she represents are “fighting for accountability and justice,” not partisan wins.²⁰ Arden’s own version is shorter. “I just want transparency,” she told CNN in December 2025. “If they did something wrong and their names are in the actual files, then that needs to come out.”¹³

1
ABC7. Jeffrey Epstein Files Victim Alicia Arden Speaks, Wants to See Ghislaine Maxwell Stay Behind Bars
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People. Alicia Arden Jeffrey Epstein Sex Assault Accusations
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Business Insider. Earliest Jeffrey Epstein Accusation Reported in Santa Monica in 1997
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NBC New York. Early Epstein Accuser: Police Could Have Stopped Him in 1997
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CBS News. Model Says Police Told About Jeffrey Epstein’s Behavior in 1997 Criminal Complaint
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Los Angeles Magazine. Alicia Arden Jeffrey Epstein
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New York Times. Alicia Arden Police Report
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Spectrum Local News. Actress Model Alicia Arden Says Epstein Manhandled Her in Santa Monica in 1997
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NBC Los Angeles. Jeffrey Epstein Alicia Arden Justice Department Files
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GovTrack. H.R. 4405 – Epstein Files Transparency Act
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White House. Congressional Bill H.R. 4405 Signed Into Law
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CNN. CNN News Central Transcript – November 19, 2025
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CNN. CNN The Story Is Transcript – December 20, 2025
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The Hill. Epstein Victim Demands Document Release
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CNN. CNN News Central Transcript – February 2, 2026
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CNN. Melania Trump Epstein Statement
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Mediaite. Epstein Victim Tells CNN She’s Quite Proud of Melania Trump After Public Address
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Houston Public Media. Epstein Survivors Have Mixed Feelings on Melania Trump’s Call for Hearing in Congress
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NBC News. Early Epstein Accuser: Police Could Have Stopped Him in 1997
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Rev. Allred and Arden Press Conference