A former Playboy model has alleged that in 2005, Hugh Hefner contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse operations. The woman, Audra Lynn Christiansen, claims she informed Hefner that she had been raped and trafficked by Epstein and others. According to her court filings, she urged him to alert federal authorities because she believed his influence would secure their attention.

Christiansen states that Hefner made multiple contacts with the FBI in 2005. She further alleges that the bureau did not contact her until October 2020—approximately 15 years after both Hefner and Epstein died.

This allegation is part of litigation brought by Epstein survivors against the U.S. government over what they describe as the FBI’s failure to protect women and girls from Epstein’s sex trafficking network. The case began in Washington in September 2024 and was later transferred to federal court in South Florida. By September 2025, the operative complaint included 32 Jane Doe plaintiffs who accuse the government of negligence.

A recent April 16 federal court order noted that Christiansen’s declaration lacks specific details about when, where, or how she contacted FBI agents, as well as what the bureau allegedly responded to her tip. The judge also highlighted that no contemporaneous FBI records—such as intake forms or call logs—from 2005 have been publicly identified.

The alleged timeline places Hefner’s outreach in the same year Palm Beach police began investigations that eventually exposed Epstein’s abuse of underage girls, meaning another warning was allegedly in federal hands long before Epstein faced his 2019 indictment. While federal prosecutors charged Epstein in July 2019 with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy, his death prevented a trial on those charges. Survivors continue to seek clarity on why the FBI did not act on the alleged tip from 2005 until 2020.