Siegal had previously been described as a friend of Epstein in a 2007 profile in New York Magazine. Emails released in 2025 and 2026 indicate that Siegal and Epstein were in correspondence as early as 2009, predating the 2011 event at Epstein’s residence. Epstein asked Siegal to enlist the help of Arianna Huffington, co-founder and then editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, to refute accusations of him facilitating sexual assault and to send reporters to investigate Virginia Giuffre. In 2026, released emails within the Epstein files showed that Siegal had corresponded with Epstein in 2009 during a trip to Kenya. In the correspondence, she had offered to "bring a little baby back for you….or two. Boys or girls?"

In her own defence, Siegal stated to The New York Times: "The culture before #MeToo was — 'You've done your time, now you're forgiven." She has also said “I’m going, this can’t be happening,” she recalled. “This is what it’d be like to go to your own funeral. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I’m on the train station, I’m getting on that train, and I’m going to the camps. And this is exactly what came to mind. This is the kind of political, social, horrific nightmare that came to fruition. … Life has come full circle. I’ve finally been attacked for nothing more than being Jewish or being a woman or being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She owns the Peggy Siegal Company, based in Manhattan, which was described as one of the top 12 media marketing firms in 2018.