new york –
New unsealed documents about Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls were released Thursday, revealing how the financier used his connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit victims. , hundreds of pages have been added to the fountain of information detailing how the crime was covered up. .
The 19 documents (about 300 pages) were half of the more than 40 documents released Wednesday. Documents so far, with more to come, include individuals who interacted with or collaborated with Epstein in the years before he was publicly accused of paying underage girls for sex nearly 20 years ago. The names of famous people and politicians who have done the same are scattered throughout the book.
Most of these names are familiar to those who have been following the scandal closely, including the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, household manager, and chief recruiter of young vulnerable women. is well known.
During Maxwell’s criminal trial two years ago, some of Epstein’s victims were aspiring models and artists. He spoke as if it was the ticket to his dream. Maxwell, 62, was convicted of sex trafficking and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Most of the approximately 250 documents to be made public starting this week in one of the lawsuits against Maxwell contain information that has not been known for years about the man who operated in elite circles until his arrest on sex trafficking charges in July 2019. Rehashing the incident, he was cornered and turned himself in. life in prison.
But they included some new details about a pyramid of abuse that grew over three decades and victimized dozens of teenage girls and young women.
According to testimony from his victims and other witnesses cited in newly released documents, some of the celebrities who were around Epstein before he was exposed as a sex offender include Donald Trump. – Former Presidents Trump and Bill Clinton, singer Michael Jackson, and magician David Copperfield were among those present. None of these men were accused of wrongdoing.
A famous story about Britain’s Prince Andrew was also repeated. One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, accused the royal family of having sexual contact with him when she was 17. The prince denied the charges and settled the lawsuit in 2022.
The court documents now made public relate to a 2015 lawsuit filed by Giuffre against Maxwell. Thousands of pages of documents in the case were previously made public, but some sections were blacked out due to privacy concerns.
U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska last month ordered those redactions removed, primarily because the names in the documents had already been made public through press reports and other court proceedings.
Among the more interesting documents released Wednesday was a May 2016 deposition of Joanna Sjoberg, who worked as a masseuse in Epstein’s household. Ms. Sjoberg once met Mr. Michael Jackson at Mr. Epstein’s girlfriend’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, and she said nothing bad happened to the late pop icon. Epstein also had homes in Manhattan, New Mexico, and the Virgin Islands.
She also said that during a visit to New York in April 2001, Prince Andrew groped her breasts while she was taking pictures at Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse.
Clinton has previously said through her press secretary that although she has flown on Epstein’s jets many times, she has never visited Epstein’s home, knows nothing about his crimes, and has not spoken to Epstein since his conviction. He said he did not. Trump also said he once thought Epstein was a “great guy” but that they had since fallen out with him.
Ms. Sjoberg also testified that she had attended a dinner party at Mr. Epstein’s home, where magician David Copperfield was also in attendance.
She said Copperfield performed the trick before asking her if she knew that “girls were being paid to find other girls.” One of the charges against Epstein and Maxwell was that several of the girls he paid for sex acts later recruited other victims. Sjöberg said Copperfield did not get more specific about what he meant. A Copperfield spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The newly released records also include numerous references to Jean-Luc Brunel, a French model agent who was close to Epstein and committed suicide in a Paris prison in 2022 while awaiting trial for raping an underage girl. include. Giuffre was one of the women who accused Brunel of sexual abuse.
Separately, Brunel’s estate was sued this week by a woman who claims Brunel and others sexually assaulted her while she was working as a model in New York. At one point, she was taken by car to a house in Canada, where she was allegedly abused by the men for several days. The lawsuit, filed in California state court, does not mention Epstein or Maxwell.
Below are the newly released documents.
