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 Epstein鈥檚 鈥渃lients鈥� or 鈥渃o-conspirators.鈥�
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 鈥� including transcripts of interviews with some of Epstein鈥檚 victims and old police reports 鈥� 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 Epstein鈥檚 past friendship with Bill Clinton 鈥� who is not accused of any wrongdoing 鈥� and of Britain鈥檚 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 Epstein鈥檚 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 Epstein鈥檚 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, Epstein鈥檚 former girlfriend who is now for helping recruit and abuse his victims.
Giuffre鈥檚 lawsuit was settled in 2017, but the court had kept some documents blacked-out or sealed because of concerns about the privacy rights of Epstein鈥檚 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 Giuffre鈥檚 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 Giuffre鈥檚 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 Epstein鈥檚 home.
One former member of Epstein鈥檚 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 鈥渒ey person who can provide information about his close relationship鈥� with Maxwell and Epstein.
Maxwell鈥檚 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 Epstein鈥檚 homes also attended by magician David Copperfield.
She said Copperfield did magic tricks before asking if she was aware 鈥渢hat girls were getting paid to find other girls.鈥� 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 didn鈥檛 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 Epstein鈥檚 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.
鈥淚t looked like him,鈥� Sjoberg said. 鈥淎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.鈥�
鈥淎nd they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch. They put the puppet on Virginia鈥檚 lap, and I sat on Andrew鈥檚 lap, and they put the puppet鈥檚 hand on Virginia鈥檚 breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.鈥�
On the way to New York, Sjoberg testified, Epstein鈥檚 jet diverted to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and spent a few hours at one of Donald Trump鈥檚 casinos, because of bad weather.
Upon hearing the change of plans, Sjoberg recalled Epstein saying, 鈥淕reat, we鈥檒l call up Trump and we鈥檒l go to鈥� the casino. Sjoberg wasn鈥檛 asked if they鈥檇 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 鈥淐linton likes them young,鈥� a remark she took as a reference to young women or girls.
Clinton has previously said through a spokesperson that while he traveled on Epstein鈥檚 jet several times, he never visited his homes, had no knowledge of his crimes, and hadn鈥檛 spoken to him since his conviction. Trump has also said that he once thought Epstein was a 鈥渢errific guy,鈥� 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 Trump鈥檚 Mar-a-Lago club to become a 鈥渕asseuse鈥� for Epstein 鈥� 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 Epstein鈥檚 former attorney, law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she 鈥� 鈥� 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.
Clinton鈥檚 name also came up because Giuffre was questioned by Maxwell鈥檚 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 Kimmel鈥檚 name might appear in the documents, spurred by a crack New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made Tuesday on ESPN鈥檚 鈥淭he Pat McAfee Show.鈥�
Kimmel said in a response on X that he had never met Epstein and that Rodgers鈥� 鈥渞eckless words put my family in danger.鈥�
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