Wednesday night saw the publication of the first set of documents unsealed in a settled case involving the late businessman and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The docs mostly contained names, but not much new information.
The identities of former US presidents, a member of British royalty, and other well-known individuals are among the 40 exhibits, or hundreds of pages, that a federal court in New York City disclosed on Wednesday night. The majority of the exhibits had already been publicized. However, this is probably only the beginning of the public disclosure of records that will eventually disclose the identities of over 150 individuals. According to a court official, the remaining ones are anticipated on a rolling basis.
They are a component of the civil defamation complaint Virginia Roberts Giuffre initially filed in 2015 against Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and close friend of Epstein, alleging she was abused and trafficked in prostitution. Maxwell is jailed for 20 years for enlisting and preparing adolescent females for Epstein’s sexual assault.
A transcript of Giuffre’s deposition shows that she stated several times that she was told to have sex with three distinct princes: Glenn Dubin, the wealthy hedge fund manager, the unidentified owner of a huge chain of hotels, and royal Andrew, another royal.
Prince Andrew did not respond to a request for one right away on Wednesday night. He has already vehemently refuted the allegation. In 2019 and once more on Wednesday, a representative for Dubin asserted that he “strongly den[ies] these allegations” and characterized them as unsupported claims.
In depositions, Maxwell and one of the women she used for Epstein cited former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, none of whom included accusations of misconduct.
Johanna Sjoberg said in a 2016 deposition that Epstein had mentioned Clinton, who is not charged with any crimes, as the lady who said she was employed by Maxwell and that she had a photo with Prince Andrew in which she claimed he put his hand on her chest.
According to the deposition, “He once said that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.” The paper makes no allegation of misconduct, so the interrogation continues. Sjoberg stated that she had never seen or seen Clinton while he was on Epstein’s island.
Clinton’s spokesperson cited a 2019 statement on Wednesday, stating that he had not spoken to Epstein in more than ten years and was not aware of any illegal behavior at the time.
Sjoberg’s deposition also mentions Trump, although it contains no accusations of misconduct.
In her deposition, she related that when Epstein’s jet had to land in Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Jeffrey said, Great, we’ll call up Trump” and they went to a casino. According to Sjoberg, she never gave Trump a massage.
A request for a response from Trump on Wednesday was not immediately answered. In the past, he said that he had not spoken to Epstein for fifteen years before his passing.
According to the depositions, Epstein was connected to influential figures in politics and even monarchy, including two princes, and possessed a private jet and an island in the Caribbean, among other assets.
Flight logs released in 2019 demonstrate how frequently Clinton flew on Epstein’s aircraft.
In a deposition, Maxwell stated that Clinton had eaten aboard Epstein’s aircraft, but she refuted the claim that he had ever been to Little St. James, Epstein’s Caribbean island. Claims that Clinton had eaten on Epstein’s island were, according to her, “100% false.”
Additionally, it was discovered that Trump had at least one flight on one of Epstein’s aircraft. In July 2019, footage showing Epstein and Trump having fun together at Trump’s Florida property in the early 1990s surfaced.
In 2019, Trump declared that he was “not a fan of his” and that he had not spoken to Epstein in fifteen years.
Giuffre’s lawyers have made public the previously redacted documents, which show that at one point in Epstein’s deposition, he claimed his Fifth Amendment rights instead of responding to a query regarding his former lawyer Alan Dershowitz. What query motivated Epstein to respond in such a way is unknown.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by Dershowitz. He has adamantly denied having any contact with minors. He has stated that he was anticipating the document release to get his reputation cleared.
Sjoberg stated in her deposition that she did not give singer Michael Jackson a massage when they met at Epstein’s Palm Beach, Florida, residence. She added that during an Epstein’s dinner, she had met magician David Copperfield. According to the records, she said that she saw another woman at dinner who appeared quite young and questioned whether it was feasible that she was a high school student.
According to Sjoberg’s statement, Copperfield performed magic acts throughout the meal, and “he questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls.” When asked if Copperfield gave any specifics, Sjoberg said that he did not.
A request for comment from Copperfield on Wednesday night was not immediately answered.
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In 2019, Epstein committed suicide while incarcerated in a New York City prison cell due to significant federal allegations. Conspiracy theories regarding the case and those he associated with have been in the public eye ever since.
Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, stated Wednesday night that “the public interest still needs to be served in learning more about the scale and scope of Epstein’s racket to further the important goal of shutting down sex trafficking wherever it exists and holding more to account.” “We are getting closer to that goal with the unsealing of these documents.”
A request for comment from Copperfield on Wednesday night was not immediately answered.
In 2019, Epstein committed suicide while incarcerated in a New York City prison cell due to significant federal allegations. Conspiracy theories regarding the case and those he associated with have been in the public eye ever since
Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, stated Wednesday night that “the public interest still needs to be served in learning more about the scale and scope of Epstein’s racket to further the important goal of shutting down sex trafficking wherever it exists and holding more to account.” “We are getting closer to that goal with the unsealing of these documents.”
The papers were ordered to be released after January 1 by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska last month. The spokesperson claimed that she had decided to postpone releasing any papers related to anyone who has objected to having their names revealed.
In one instance, on December 20, the lawyer representing J. Doe 107 enquired as to whether the client’s identity would be made public by Preska. According to the lawyer, his client is “afraid of her name being released” and resides outside of the United States in a “culturally conservative country.” Preska requested evidence to back up her assertion.
When Epstein committed himself in August 2019 in a federal jail in Manhattan, he was being prosecuted for many counts of sex trafficking, and a plethora of evidence had recently been revealed in court.
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The conditions that allowed Epstein, 66, to end his own life were set up by a series of misbehaviors, mistakes, and incompetence on the part of a staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre, according to a Justice Department study released in June of last year. The assessment also found no evidence to refute the official judgment that Epstein committed suicide.
Numerous conspiracy theories sprang online in response to Epstein’s death, some of which were boosted by prominent Republicans like Trump and conservative pundits.
Giuffre said that between 2000 and 2002, beginning when she was 17, Epstein sexually assaulted her and gave orders for her to have intercourse with other men. Giuffre filed the lawsuit in 2017 after Maxwell had accused her of lying when she claimed that Maxwell and Epstein had mistreated and exploited her. In the end, the dispute was settled out of court.
According to an email included in the records made public on Wednesday, Epstein instructed Maxwell in January 2015 to provide “a reward” to any of Giuffre’s friends or associates who might assist in refuting Giuffre’s claims.
Giuffre also reached an out-of-court settlement with Britain’s Prince Andrew in 2022, a well-publicised litigation. In response to the accusations, Andrew has stated that he does not remember ever meeting Giuffre.
A year following Epstein’s passing, Maxwell, the late British publishing mogul Robert Maxwell’s daughter, was detained on suspicion of helping Epstein recruit adolescent girls for sexual assault. During the trial, Maxwell’s accusers presented vivid details of how they claim she coerced them into having intercourse with Epstein or coerced them into receiving massages, during which she occasionally touched them. She was given a 20-year prison term in June 2022 after being found guilty on five federal sex trafficking counts.
Maxwell, 62, filed an appeal of the decision while incarcerated in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, arguing that the prosecution had exploited her as a scapegoat.