Court documents were released on Wednesday offering new details about the associates, accusers and acquaintances of Jeffrey Epstein.
Summary
Court documents were released on Wednesday offering new details about the associates, accusers and acquaintances of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. Here’s what we know so far:
- The nearly 950 pages of documents were released as part of a defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, one of the alleged victims of Epstein, Maxwell, and Prince Andrew. The names were initially sealed until New York judge Loretta Preska ordered their release in December.
- The list featured prominent figures including former President Bill Clinton, whose name appears 73 times in the released documents; Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III; and former President Donald Trump, who appears four times.
- Neither Clinton or Trump are accused of criminal wrongdoing in the documents.
- However, Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg testified in a 2016 deposition that Epstein “said one time that Clinton like them young, referring to girls.”
- Clinton has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and said he regrets his relationship with the dead alleged sex trafficker.
- Other notable names included prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz; the late physicist Stephen Hawking; former Vice President Al Gore; former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who died last year; and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
- Not all prominent names on the list are accused of wrongdoing. Several, including Gore and Barak, were mentioned in the context of Epstein’s accusers denying any knowledge of their involvement.
- CNN noted the documents represent the first time that Epstein accuser Sjoberg’s testimony has been made public, but most of the information has been previously reported over the past four years.
- The New York Times pointed out the documents did not include a “smoking gun list of famous men who had sought to have sex with young women and teen girls.” The Times pointed to another mystery – “But one of the great curiosities of Mr. Epstein is how a high school dropout could amass a fortune worth $600 million and become friends with an array of politicians, celebrities, academics and wealthy men. And while the documents do not answer that question, they reveal the easygoing nature he seemed to share with his associates.”
- The Washington Post’s takeaway was less about the documents and more about how Republicans were “fixated” on their release. The Post continued, “But more than four years after the 66-year-old Epstein hanged himself in federal custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, Trump’s MAGA movement remains fixated on the notorious financier — even though Epstein and Trump shared overlapping, highflying social circles for years in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.” It’s unclear why the Post thinks interest in a massive sex-trafficking case would merely be a right-wing “fixation” and not of general interest to the public.
- The New York Post highlighted one unusual anecdote from the court documents – magician David Copperfield once performed magic tricks for one of Epstein’s alleged victims at his home. According to testimony from accuser Johanna Sjoberg, Copperfield asked her if she knew that Epstein was paying women to find other girls.
- Fox News elaborated on Copperfield, who had been accused of sexually assaulting a teen girl and was not previously linked to Epstein. Other names included soccer player Tony Figueroa, business titan Lex Wexner, and billionaire Glenn Dubin.
- National Review’s Jim Geraghty observed, “It’s easy to see why so many rich and powerful people would prefer if Epstein and his sex-trafficking ring were forgotten by the public. At least one former president had a longstanding close friendship with Epstein, traveled with him frequently, and has offered a blanket denial that is contradicted by official records.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
