Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Batman Forever/R. McDonald’s event in New York on June 13, 1995.
Patrick McMullan | Getty Images
New York federal court documents containing previously hidden names people related in some way to the late notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein began unsealing Wednesday afternoon.
Many of the more than 150 people named in civil court filings who are in the process of being released have previously been revealed to be somehow connected to Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
They include victims of Epstein who testified at the criminal trial of his supplier and ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
The documents were filed in connection with a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court by Epstein’s victim, Virginia Giuffre, against Maxwell.
The fact that people’s names appear in the records does not necessarily mean that they are involved in wrongdoing.
Only Epstein and Maxwell have been charged criminally in connection with the long-term abuse of girls and young women at residences in New York, the US Virgin Islands and elsewhere.
Among the documents unsealed Wednesday were a deposition of Giuffre’s attorneys for that lawsuit and requests to obtain other depositions from other people from her attorneys.
One such request describes how Maxwell in her testimony could not recall details of Epstein’s contacts with Britain’s Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton, both of whom were friends of the child killer.
Andrew in February 2022 agreed to settle out of court a lawsuit filed by Giuffre accusing him of sexually assaulting her while under the control of Epstein and Maxwell. Andrew has long denied her allegations, but his reputation has been damaged by them and by his association with Epstein.
HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York on July 11, 2019 in Harrogate, England.
Ian Forsyth | Getty Images
Another Epstein accuser, Johanna Sjoberg, in a deposition unsealed Wednesday, was also asked about Clinton by Giuffre’s attorney.
“Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?” Giuffre’s lawyer asked
Sjoberg replied: “She once said that Clinton likes them small, referring to girls.”
Sjoberg was asked if she ever massaged Donald Trump, the former president who was once friends with Epstein.
On one occasion, he testified, he was on a plane with Epstein, Maxwell and Giuffre that landed in Atlantic City, where Trump had a casino, after the plane’s pilots said they could not land in New York.
“Jeffrey said, OK, we’re going to call Trump and we’re going to — I don’t remember the name of the casino, but — we’re going to the casino,” Shomberg said.
Sjoberg also testified about an incident involving Prince Andrew at Epstein’s Manhattan home, when Maxwell went to a closet and pulled out a puppet of Andrew, then brought it to where the prince was sitting with Giuffre on a couch, and someone offered to take a picture.
“And so Andrew and Virginia sat on the couch and put the puppet, the puppet in her lap,” Sjoberg testified. “And then I sat on Andrew’s lap, and I believe of my own accord, and they took the puppet’s arms and put them on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine.”
Puppets of Britain’s Prince Andrew and his fiancee Miss Sarah Ferguson in London on March 30, 1986, which can be seen on the ITV television program ‘Spitting Images’.
Sjoberg testified elsewhere that magician David Copperfield was at a dinner party at Epstein’s residence and that another young lady was present.
Sjboberg said Copperfield “asked me if I knew that girls were being paid to find other girls.”
Epstein was known to receive sexual massages from girls and young women, some of whom were recruited by other women for this purpose.
In Maxwell’s deposition, filed Wednesday, she was asked about billionaire Glenn Dubin, co-founder of Highbridge Capital Hedge Fund.
“Did you ever give instructions [Giuffre] to have sex with Glenn Dubin,” Giuffre’s lawyer asked Maxwell.
Maxwell replied: “I have never instructed Virginia to have sex with anyone.”
Dubin’s representative in 2019 denied Giuffre’s claims that Maxwell had ever instructed her to have sex with him.
The documents unsealed Wednesday also named the late modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, Epstein’s one-time lawyer Alan Dershowitz and the late former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.
Judge Loretta Preska ordered the unsealing in mid-December.
Preska granted a 30-day extension barring the disclosure of two names, including a woman identified as Doe 107, to reconsider her claim that she faces a risk of physical harm in her home country if her identity is publicly revealed.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence on charges related to recruiting and grooming young women to be abused by Epstein.
In a statement Wednesday, Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, said that since 2019, when Epstein was arrested and a federal appeals court ruled on access to court documents, “The public has wondered, and many have rightly demanded, how Epstein ran the massive, global sex-trafficking business and got away with it for decades.”
“Questions about who aided and abetted him and who was involved in an operation that resulted in untold harm and destruction to the lives of countless girls and young women quickly emerged. Some of those questions have been answered, many have not,” said McCawley. “Some justice has indeed been served for the survivors. It is not nearly as much as we hoped and deserved. The public interest must still be served in learning more about the scale and scope of Epstein’s racket to advance the important goal of ending of sex trafficking Wherever it exists and to be more accountable. Unsealing these documents brings us closer to that goal.”
On Tuesday, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, during an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” said of the list of names: “There are a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are really hoping that it won’t come out.
“I’ll tell you what, if this list comes out, I’m definitely going to pop some kind of bottle,” Rodgers said.
Kimmel, the host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show, quickly responded to Rodgers in a tweet on social media site X, saying he would sue the football player if he persisted in implying that Kimmel had an affair with Epstein.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (L) and TV host Jimmy Kimmel.
Reuters
“Dear A——-: for the record, I have not met, traveled with, visited, or had any contact with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any “list” other than the clear – Fake nonsense that the soft minded like you can’t tell from reality,” Kimmel tweeted.
“Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will discuss the facts further in court.”
McAfee apologized Wednesday on his show for “participating” in Rodgers’ comments.
– Additional reporting from CNBC Dawn Giel