The first of the Jeffrey Epstein documents have been unsealed. Here's what we know.

A federal judge has begun releasing the names of more than 150 of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, associates, opponents and alleged co-conspirators. The names are scattered among a trove of once-sealed documents that describe the sex trafficking ring Epstein operated from his Palm Beach mansion and beyond.

Prominent figures such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump appear among the records, though none beyond Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are directly implicated in the crime.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska noted that many of those named in Wednesday's 900 plus-page document dump have already been identified over the course of Maxwell's criminal trial. The records do, however, offer glimpses into compelling moments throughout the now-settled defamation lawsuit against Maxwell.

Unredacted transcripts of Epstein's madam and victims' depositions among released documents

The lawsuit stems from Maxwell's attempt to discredit one of several teens she recruited and groomed for abuse. Virginia Giuffre, who in 2001 worked as a 16-year-old spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, said Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew and other prominent men after Maxwell lured her into the Palm Beach financier's circle.

Maxwell said Giuffre lied about the abuse, prompting Giuffre to sue her in 2015. Though the case was ultimately settled, months of pre-trial proceedings generated the wealth of material judges have been releasing since 2019.

The lengthiest of those in Wednesday's batch were deposition transcripts. Maxwell's were often combative. She adamantly denied grooming underage girls for Epstein and seemed to grow impatient when Giuffre's lawyer posed the question again.

"Have you ever said to anybody that you recruit girls to take the pressure off you, so you won't have to have sex with Jeffrey?" attorney Sigrid McCawley asked.

"You don't ask me questions like that," Maxwell replied. "First of all, you are trying to trap me, I will not be trapped. You are asking me if I recruit. I told you no."

She denied remembering certain events, even those recorded on flight logs and in photographs, and offered no explanation for what opposing counsel would later call her "convenient forgetfulness."

She suggested Giuffre had heard about other victimized girls and decided to “hop on the band wagon.”

Another woman who Maxwell recruited said she believed Giuffre

Where Maxwell cast Giuffre as a liar, witness Johanna Sjoberg described her as lost. Sjoberg said she met Giuffre in 2001 on a trip to New York with Epstein and knew Giuffre was underage because she wasn't allowed into a casino.

“At the time, I had the impression that she did not have a family, or she had walked away from her family," Sjoberg said. "And it seemed to me, you know, they (Epstein and Maxwell) had just sort of adopted her, not as a child, but they would take care of her.”

She told the attorneys she believed Giuffre.

Sjoberg also said she’d met David Copperfield at Epstein’s house, where he "did some magic tricks." She also said Copperfield asked whether she was aware that “girls were getting paid to find other girls,” but that the magician didn’t specify whether the girls in question were underage.

Donald Trump, Bill Clinton named in docs but not accused of crime

Sjoberg, who said she was recruited by Maxwell while she was sitting on Palm Beach Atlantic University's campus in West Palm Beach, also spoke briefly about Clinton and Trump. Both have denied knowing about Epstein's crimes.

Sjoberg described a planned trip to New York with Epstein and Maxwell in 2001. Sjoberg said their flight was diverted to Atlantic City in New Jersey, which prompted Epstein to suggest calling 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.

She also told lawyers that Prince Andrew once touched her breast while she posed for a photo at Epstein's mansion in New York, and that Epstein "said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls."

Trump made a similar comment about Epstein during an interview with New York Magazine in 2002. He called the financier a "terrific guy" who likes "beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

He backtracked in 2019, telling reporters he "wasn't a fan" of Epstein.

Unveiled documents part of lawsuit against Epstein's longtime confidante

Though Giuffre's lawsuit against Maxwell was settled and sealed in 2017, the Miami Herald successfully fought to have the names and documents associated with it made public. Judges released hundreds of documents contained in the court filings on Aug. 9, 2019, one day before Epstein died in prison, and have steadily released more since then.

Wednesday's batch included previously redacted testimony, including that of Rinaldo Rizzo, a former chef for Epstein’s billionaire friends Glenn and Eva Dubin. He said a 15-year-old Swedish girl told him Maxwell threatened her and “confiscated her passport to try to make her have sex with Epstein” while on his private island.

Rizzo also said Maxwell instructed a group of girls as young as 14 to “play a ‘kissing game’ with and for” Epstein.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a Tallahassee prison — where she teaches etiquette to fellow inmates — for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution-related charges in 2008 and served 13 months in a work-release program at the Palm Beach County Jail.

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein with sex trafficking in July 2019. He was found hanged in his jail cell less than a month after his arrest.

Palm Beach Post reporters continue to review the newly released documents. Check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Epstein names and documents released, former presidents among them