Amid great hype, a new batch of previously secret court documents was unsealed late Wednesday related to Jeffrey Epstein, the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Social media has been rife in recent weeks with posts of rich and powerful men who were EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渃lientsB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址渃o-conspirators.B次元官网网址�
There was no such list. The first 40 documents in the court-ordered release largely consisted of already public material revealed through nearly two decades of newspaper stories, TV documentaries, interviews, legal cases and books about the Epstein scandal.
Still, the records B次元官网网址� including transcripts of interviews with some of EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 victims and old police reports B次元官网网址� contained reminders that the millionaire surrounded himself with famous and powerful figures, including a few who have also been accused of misconduct.
There were mentions of EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 past friendship with Bill Clinton B次元官网网址� who is not accused of any wrongdoing B次元官网网址� and of BritainB次元官网网址檚 Prince Andrew, who previously settled a lawsuit accusing him of having sex with a 17-year-old girl who traveled with Epstein.
Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg testified in a newly released deposition that she once met Michael Jackson at EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 Palm Beach, Florida, home, but that nothing untoward happened with the late pop icon.
The documents being unsealed are related to a lawsuit filed in 2015 by one of EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 victims, . She is one of dozens of women who sued Epstein for abusing them at his homes in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico. This suit was against Ghislaine Maxwell, EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 former girlfriend who is now for helping recruit and abuse his victims.
GiuffreB次元官网网址檚 lawsuit was settled in 2017, but the court had kept some documents blacked-out or sealed because of concerns about the privacy rights of EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 victims and others whose names had come up during the legal battle. More documents were to be released in coming days.
Among newly unsealed records were court memos in which GiuffreB次元官网网址檚 lawyers complained that some women who had worked for Epstein were proving difficult to serve with subpoenas, as was Epstein himself. Two of those women had invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned in other lawsuits about whether they had helped procure young women for Epstein to abuse.
Maxwell, in her deposition, chaffed at being asked about GiuffreB次元官网网址檚 allegations that she had arranged for her to have sexual encounters with Prince Andrew. She also reacted angrily to being asked about whether she had purchased sex toys or revealing outfits, or seen young, topless women at EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 home.
One former member of EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 domestic staff said in a deposition that he felt uncomfortable with the number of young women showing up at the house, and felt threatened by Maxwell to stay quiet.
Other documents included legal arguments over whether Giuffre should be allowed more time to depose potential witnesses, including Clinton. Giuffre never alleged he was involved in illegal behavior, but her attorneys said the former president was a B次元官网网址渒ey person who can provide information about his close relationshipB次元官网网址� with Maxwell and Epstein.
MaxwellB次元官网网址檚 attorneys countered that Clinton testimony was not relevant.
The records included depositions of several Epstein victims, many of whom have told their stories publicly previously.
In her May 2016 deposition, Sjoberg described going to a dinner at one of EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 homes also attended by magician David Copperfield.
She said Copperfield did magic tricks before asking if she was aware B次元官网网址渢hat girls were getting paid to find other girls.B次元官网网址� One of the key allegations against Epstein and Maxwell was that some of the girls he paid for sex acts then acted as recruiters to find him other victims. Sjoberg said Copperfield didnB次元官网网址檛 get more specific about what he meant.
A publicist for Copperfield did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Sjoberg also shed new light on an April 2001 trip to New York in which she said Prince Andrew touched her breast while they posed for a photo at EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 Manhattan town house.
In the testimony, some of which appeared as excerpts in previous court filings, Sjoberg said she and Giuffre had flown with Epstein to New York on his private jet. Maxwell and Prince Andrew met them there.
At one point, she testified, Maxwell called her to an upstairs closet where they pulled out a puppet of Prince Andrew that had been made for a television program.
B次元官网网址淚t looked like him,B次元官网网址� Sjoberg said. B次元官网网址淎nd she brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淎nd they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch. They put the puppet on VirginiaB次元官网网址檚 lap, and I sat on AndrewB次元官网网址檚 lap, and they put the puppetB次元官网网址檚 hand on VirginiaB次元官网网址檚 breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.B次元官网网址�
On the way to New York, Sjoberg testified, EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 jet diverted to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and spent a few hours at one of Donald TrumpB次元官网网址檚 casinos, because of bad weather.
Upon hearing the change of plans, Sjoberg recalled Epstein saying, B次元官网网址淕reat, weB次元官网网址檒l call up Trump and weB次元官网网址檒l go toB次元官网网址� the casino. Sjoberg wasnB次元官网网址檛 asked if theyB次元官网网址檇 met up with Trump that night. Later in her testimony, she said she was never asked to give Trump a massage.
Sjoberg also testified that though she never met Clinton, Epstein once remarked to her that B次元官网网址淐linton likes them young,B次元官网网址� a remark she took as a reference to young women or girls.
Clinton has previously said through a spokesperson that while he traveled on EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 jet several times, he never visited his homes, had no knowledge of his crimes, and hadnB次元官网网址檛 spoken to him since his conviction. Trump has also said that he once thought Epstein was a B次元官网网址渢errific guy,B次元官网网址� but that they later had a falling out.
In her deposition, Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at TrumpB次元官网网址檚 Mar-a-Lago club to become a B次元官网网址渕asseuseB次元官网网址� for Epstein B次元官网网址� a job that involved performing sexual acts.
She in 2022 in which she claimed he had sexually abused her during a trip to London. That same year, Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against EpsteinB次元官网网址檚 former attorney, law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� in identifying him as an abuser.
The records released Wednesday included many references to Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he in 2022. Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.
ClintonB次元官网网址檚 name also came up because Giuffre was questioned by MaxwellB次元官网网址檚 lawyers about inaccuracies in newspaper reports about her time with Epstein, including a story quoting her as saying she had ridden in a helicopter with Clinton and flirted with Trump. Giuffre said neither of those things actually happened.
The judge said a handful of names should remain blacked out in the documents because they would identify people who were sexually abused. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they decide to tell their stories publicly, as Giuffre and Sjoberg have done.
Even before the documents were released, misinformation about what was in them abounded. Social media users wrongly claimed that late-night host Jimmy KimmelB次元官网网址檚 name might appear in the documents, spurred by a crack New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made Tuesday on ESPNB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Pat McAfee Show.B次元官网网址�
Kimmel said in a response on X that he had never met Epstein and that RodgersB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渞eckless words put my family in danger.B次元官网网址�
READ ALSO:
READ ALSO:
