WASHINGTON — Marina Lacerda, the woman identified as “Minor-Victim 1” in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 federal indictment, spoke publicly for the first time this week, urging lawmakers to release long-suppressed files tied to the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking operation.

Lacerda, now 37, said she was just 14 when she first encountered Epstein in New York in 2002. What began as an introduction framed as a massage job quickly spiraled into years of sexual abuse.

“His house was a revolving door. There was always girls,” Lacerda told ABC News in her first interview. “If he was in New York, he had his week prepped to see as many girls as possible. I would say he was seeing about five to maybe eight women, maybe even more, maybe up to ten women a day.”

Raised in Queens after emigrating from Brazil, Lacerda said poverty and cramped living conditions made Epstein’s offers of cash and opportunity hard to refuse. She believed her association with the wealthy financier would open doors — a belief reinforced by the photos of celebrities and powerful politicians displayed in his Manhattan home.

But as she grew older, Epstein’s interest faded. By 16, she said he told her she was “too old.” Instead, he pressured her into recruiting younger girls for him — a cycle of exploitation at the heart of Epstein’s network.

Lacerda’s testimony was almost heard in 2008, when federal prosecutors first investigated Epstein. But a secret non-prosecution agreement cut the case short, shielding Epstein and silencing victims like her. “If they gave me the chance to speak in 2008, these women would not be through this,” she said.

Eleven years later, investigators returned. Lacerda’s cooperation became central to the 2019 indictment that finally put Epstein in federal custody. A month later, he died in a Manhattan jail cell — officially ruled a suicide — leaving countless questions unanswered.

Now, as Congress debates whether to force the Justice Department to release Epstein-related files, Lacerda says victims deserve full transparency. “I would like for them to give all the victims transparency… not only for the victims, but for the American people,” she said.

She spoke alongside other survivors this week at a Capitol Hill press conference, where bipartisan lawmakers including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are pushing a discharge petition to compel release of the documents.

The push comes amid deep divisions in Washington. The Trump administration has resisted calls to release additional materials, dismissing speculation of a so-called “client list” as conspiracy. Yet for survivors like Lacerda, the refusal to disclose only deepens the trauma.

“We need the Epstein files to be out,” she said. “Today I spoke about it — I want to have my files so that I can begin to heal.”

For a woman once hidden behind a courtroom pseudonym, stepping into the spotlight is a bid not only for justice, but for truth.