New Delhi: Hundreds of pages of documents from a lawsuit connected to alleged sex trafficker and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein were unsealed Thursday revealing names of those who were associated with him in some way or the other.
Of the 200 names revealed, there are about two dozen high-profile ones but a majority are not accused of any wrong-doings.
The material mentions prominent figures such as former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, UK royal Prince Andrew, supermodel Naomi Campbell, popstar Michael Jackson, illusionist David Copperfield, scientist Stephen Hawking among others.
However, their reference in the newly unredacted documents is not a sign of wrongdoing or breaking the law.
These documents are part of a 2015 lawsuit against Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell by one of his alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre.
While the lawsuit was settled in 2017, this is not the first time documents in this case have been unsealed. Roughly 2,000 pages were unsealed by a court in 2019. Additional documents were released in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
This set of documents was released after Manhattan judge Loretta A. Preska issued an order last month, ruling that there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal more than 150 names mentioned as “John and Jane Does” in the records. Preska ordered the unsealing to begin after 1 January.
However, the federal judge also ordered that several of Epstein victims named in the documents should be allowed to remain anonymous, as releasing their identities would “disclose sensitive information regarding an alleged minor victim of sexual abuse who has not spoken publicly and who has maintained his or her privacy”.
The court issued an order earlier Wednesday extending the anonymity of two of the Does,107 and 110. Doe 107, is one of Epstein’s victims, whose lawyer has argued for her right to privacy.
Epstein allegedly sexually assaulted multiple underage girls, many of whom were as young as 14 years old, prosecutors said.
Giuffre is one of the many women who sued Epstein accusing him of sexually assaulting them at his homes in Florida, New York, the US Virgin Islands, and New Mexico.
Epstein died by suicide in jail while awaiting federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage women and is currently serving a 20-year prison term.
These documents, including material yet to be unsealed, are expected to include nearly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, politicians, actors and more. Many names of these associates and those in Epstein’s inner circle were previously referred to as ‘John Doe’ or ‘Jane Doe’ along with a specific number.
In these documents, Epstein admitted to one of the witnesses that the allegations against him were in fact true and his only excuse being that ‘they lied about their age’.
The roughly 900 pages comprise legal motions and excerpts from depositions given by accusers who describe in detail how Epstein had sexually abused them, including by forcing them to masturbate him during massages. They contain excerpts of depositions of Maxwell, Giuffre and Johanna Sjoberg, another Epstein accuser.
Sjoberg, in the document, described Prince Andrew touching her breast while taking photos, sitting on a couch inside Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
Buckingham Palace earlier called her allegations “categorically untrue”. In 2022, Prince Andrew paid millions to Giuffre to settle a lawsuit she filed alleging he sexually abused her when she was a minor.
Sjoberg also mentioned Clinton in her testimony, noting that Epstein once told her that the former US President “likes them young, referring to girls.” During his time as the US President, Clinton had an affair with a White House intern.
In her deposition, Maxwell confirmed that Clinton travelled on board Epstein’s private jet, but she did not know how many times.
The former US President reportedly took four trips on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and 2003 on humanitarian trips to Africa, accompanied by staff and supporters from the Clinton Foundation, according to Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Urena.
Asked if Clinton was a friend of Epstein’s, Sjoberg said she understood Epstein had “dealings” with him.
While he had then praised Epstein as a committed philanthropist, Clinton later cut ties with the disgraced financier.
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‘Great, we’ll call up Trump’
Sjoberg also testified that Epstein told her he would contact Donald Trump on their way to one of his New Jersey casinos. “Jeffrey said, ‘Great, we’ll call up Trump’,” she said, after their plane could not land in New York and had to stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
This was to plan a trip to Trump’s casino in the city.
When asked if she ever gave the former American president a massage, Sjoberg replied,”No.”
Trump, who has earlier said he had in 2019 claimed he had cut all ties with Epstein, had in 2002 reportedly told New York Magazine: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.”
He added: “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
In 2019, Trump had said, “knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.” But Trump added: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
One of the four women, who say they were “groomed” for sex by Maxwell, had in 2021 testified that Epstein took her to meet Trump when she was just 14.
She did not didn’t allege any improper behaviour by Trump but didn’t go into more details about why she was at the resort.
The woman also testified that she met Jackson and Copperfield through Epstein, but did not accuse them of any wrongdoing.
In her deposition, Giuffre said Maxwell forced her to have sex with prominent figures such as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Prince Andrew, tech guru Marvin Minsky, well-known French modelling scout Jean-Luc Brunel, American investor Glenn Dubin, and Hyatt Hotels chairman Thomas Pritzker.
Brunel, who was awaiting trial on charges of raping underage girls, died by suicide in a Paris jail in 2022.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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