Former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and UK royal Prince Andrew were among the dozens of people named in court documents that detailed people connected to sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The names were released as part of a lawsuit related to Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell following a New York federal judge’s order. The UK socialite is serving a 20-year jail term for crimes she committed with Epstein.
The document which spans over 943 pages was released on Wednesday evening. Some of those who were named are accused of wrongdoing while others on the list made allegations or are potential witnesses.
Epstein killed himself in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.
A report by the Associated Press pointed out that social media has been rife with misinformation ahead of the unsealing of the documents with many social media users claiming that the judge will release a list of clients or co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein.
The report said there is no such list and court documents related to Epstein that were previously sealed are being unsealed. The great majority of those whose names appear in the documents aren’t accused of wrongdoing or have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings or news accounts, the Associated Press said.
It carries no allegation of complicity in Epstein’s crimes.
Even though Clinton is named in the documents, there is no implication of illegality and his representatives told news agencies that the former president knows nothing about Epstein’s crimes.
New York Judge Loretta Preska also pointed out that many of those named in the lawsuit were already identified by the media or during Maxwell’s criminal trial. She added many others did not object to the release of the documents but some individuals have objected to the disclosure of their identities in the case.
The documents are part of 2015 civil lawsuit centred on allegations that Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated the sexual abuse of Virginia Giuffre who alleges she was a victim of trafficking.
Giuffre’s attorneys sought to depose former US president Bill Clinton as part of her defamation lawsuit against Maxwell. They argued that Clinton is one of the key persons who can provide information about his close ties with ‘defendant and Mr Epstein’, the court documents unveiled.
The document from 2016 marks the first time Giuffre’s attorneys indicated their desire to depose Clinton for his testimony, according to a separate report by US-based ABC News.
Giuffre also claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Epstein’s social orbit, most famously with Britain’s Prince Andrew. All of those men said her accounts were fabricated. She settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2022.
Johanna Sjoberg has also made a deposition who says Prince Andrew touched her breast ‘jokingly’ while taking photos. Sjoberg’s account has been public but this is the first time her deposition was unsealed. She worked sometimes for Epstein and she said that Epstein pressured her to go beyond her comfort level at times in giving sexualized massages, according to a separate report by CNN.
Johanna Sjoberg also recalled a time she was with Epstein on one of his planes and pilots informed them they needed to land in Atlantic City and that was when Epstein said they could contact Donald Trump. “Jeffrey said, Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to – I don’t recall the name of the casino, but – we’ll go to the casino,” Sjoberg said, according to CNN.
Sjoberg later said in her deposition she never gave a massage to Trump. Trump is also not accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein in the documents.
(with inputs from BBC and AFP)
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