Key takeaways from the new Epstein documents
Dozens of previously sealed court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein are being placed in the public eye - shedding light on the horror web of abuse and remarkable celebrity that surrounded the notorious paedophile.
Thousands of pages of documents will continue to come out in the coming days as part of a lawsuit brought by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre against the disgraced financier’s right-hand, Ghislaine Maxwell. The first set of 40 documents came on 3 January, followed by another set of 19 the following day.
These documents had been previously sealed or redacted, concealing the identities of over 100 victims, associates, or friends of Epstein, each identified as “J Doe” along with a distinctive identifying number. Now, those monikers are being replaced with real names, with the exception of sex abuse victims.
While much of what has been included in documents released so far was already widely known, the papers are still studded with the names of prominent individuals including former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, David Copperfield, Michael Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The majority of the big names face no allegations of misconduct as they include “alleged victims, people not accused of wrongdoing…and absent third parties”. Being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.
Here are some of the key takeaways on major names:
Prince Andrew:
The newly unsealed court documents contain references to Johanna Sjoberg, who has accused British royal member, Prince Andrew of groping her breast in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001. Buckingham Palace has vehemently denied her allegations.
In a deposition, Sjoberg claimed that Prince Andrew “put his hand on my breast”. In 2022, the royal settled a suit claiming sexual abuse that was filed by another accuser, Virginia Giuffre.
Ms Sjoberg also claimed in a deposition that during an encounter with Maxwell, Prince Andrew and Ms Giuffre in 2001, Maxwell gifted the prince a caricature puppet that looked like him. The incident Ms Sjoberg took place at Maxwell’s Mayfair home, where an infamous picture of Ms Giuffre, Andrew and Maxwell was also taken that night.
Prince Andrew has previously said he has no recollection of that night.
“And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch,” Ms Sjoberg said in the deposition. “They put the puppet on Virginia’s lap, and I 2 sat on Andrew’s lap, and they put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.”
Prince Andrew was also brought up in an email exchange between Ms Giuffre and a journalist by the name of Sharon Churcher. In a 2011 email thread, Ms Churcher advised Ms Giuffre that she should accept a request by Vanity Fair to purchase the infamous picture of Prince Andrew wrapping his arm around her.
“l would let VF buy your picture via [Ms Giuffre’s attorney],” Ms Churcher answered in her email. “The big gamble would be to let him also give them a statement saying your interviews with us were accurately reported and you have no more to say at this time how you were “sex trafficked” to PA and other men including two of the world’s most respected politcians ([redacted] and [redacted])...”
Bill Clinton:
In her 2016 deposition, Ms Sjoberg was questioned about whether Epstein had ever mentioned former president Bill Clinton. She testified that Epstein had once remarked that Clinton “likes them young, referring to girls”.
Previously, Mr Clinton’s spokesperson, in 2019, denied claims made about his involvement with Epstein. In a statement on X/Twitter wrote: “President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”
Mr Clinton’s name is mentioned 73 times in the documents so far, including footnotes.
In the second batch of documents a 2011 email from Ms Giuffre to Ms Churcher, included an accusation that Bill Clinton had threatened Vanity Fair reporters about writing stories on Epstein.
“B. Clinton walked into [Vanity Fair] and threatened them not to write sex-trafficing articles about his good friend.” [Jeffrey Epstein],” the email from Ms Giuffre stated.
Graydon Carter, a former longtime editor at the magazine, told The DailyTelegraph that the incident never took place. There are no other reports or evidence to substantiate the claims raised by Ms Giuffre in her email.
“This categorically did not happen,” Mr Carter said.
Donald Trump:
Ms Sjoberg also claimed that she was once on a private plane with Epstein when it made an unexpected stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She said that Epstein mentioned: “Great, we’ll call Trump.” She mentioned that Epstein suggested that they visit Mr Trump’s casino.
Elsewhere, Ms Sjoberg was asked if she ever gave Mr Trump a massage, to which she replied “no”.
In 2019, when asked about his relationship with Epstein following the financier’s arrest, Mr Trump said he “knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him”. But the former president added: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz was mentioned in the first two tranches of released documents. A Jane Doe claimed that Epstein instructed her to have sex with Dershowitz, which the former Harvard Law Professor has previously denied.
“Epstein required Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with Dershowitz on numerous occasions while she was a minor, not only in Florida but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” an excerpt of the filings by the plaintiff’s attorneys read.
Following accusations by Ms Giuffre that she had been trafficked to have sex with Mr Dershowitz, contentious legal battles between the pair rumbled on for the next three years. In November 2022, Ms Giuffre admitted that she may have made a mistake in identifying Mr Dershowitz as one of her abusers. Lawsuits were then dismissed on both sides.
Mr Dershowitz was also brought up in email communications between Ms Giuffre and Ms Churcher. Among the documents unsealed on 4 January was a motion by Maxwell’s attorneys to seek a subpoena for testimony from a Ms Churcher, who they accused of helping Ms Giuffre “fabricate stories” regarding Mr Dershowitz and Prince Andrew.
When asked by Ms Giuffre if she had “any information on [men]” Epstein sent Ms Giuffre to, Ms Churcher replied in a 2011 email: “Don’t forget Alan Dershowitz... JE’s buddy and lawyer – good name for your pitch as he repped Claus von Bulow and a movie was made about that case ... title was Reversal of Fortune.”
The email continued: “We all suspect Alan is a pedo and tho no proof of that, you probably met him when he was hanging ... w JE.”
Mr Dershowitz previously denied allegations in 2015 that he had sex with an underage girl. In a response just hours after the filings were unsealed, Mr Dershowitz again denied those allegations on Wednesday night.
“Of course I’m on that list, I was his lawyer. I flew on his plane,” Mr Dershowitz said during a YouTube livestream that he titled “The Epstein list and guilt by association.”
Ms Churcher denied the allegations and threatened legal action against The Independent for reporting on those claims.
“The claims are defamatory and absurd,” she said in a statement.
David Copperfield and Michael Jackson:
In her deposition, Ms Sjoberg revealed two previously undisclosed names: David Copperfield and Michael Jackson. She said that she met Jackson at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. During another instance at one of Epstein’s residences, she encountered Copperfield, who, according to her, “did some magic tricks”.
Ms Sjoberg claimed that Copperfield “questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls”.
‘Have a baby with me’:
In the recently released deposition, Ms Sjoberg revealed that the disgraced financier had propositioned her multiple times to have a baby with him. She stated that Epstein expressed his desire for her to be the mother of his child, to which she did not flat-out refuse but responded with a non-committal attitude, saying, “Oh, yeah, really?”
“Basically [he] just said, I want you to be the mother of my baby,” Ms Sjoberg said. “I don’t believe that I said flat-out no. I didn’t agree to it. I would just say, Oh, yeah, really?”
‘Mother hen’
During a May 2016 deposition, Johanna Sjoberg testified that on one particular occasion, Maxwell called several of the young girls on Epstein’s island “her children.”
“Did she ever refer to herself as a mother?,” Ms Skoberg was asked.
“Yes, like a mother hen,” she answered.
Stephen Hawking:
In 2015, after Ms Giuffre’s civil claim in the US, an email from Epstein to Maxwell surfaced, revealing Epstein’s request for Maxwell to “issue a reward” to counter Giuffre’s claims involving Prof Stephen Hawking in an alleged underage orgy.
The email suggested focusing on discrediting specific allegations, such as the claim that Hawking participated in such an event during a dinner in the Virgin Islands. Hawking, who died in 2018, has not been accused of a crime related to Epstein.
Ehud Barak:
According to documents, the former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, was a frequent visitor to Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse between 2013 and 2017. Barak has acknowledged these meetings in the past. He said that Epstein often introduced him to individuals from various fields like art, culture, law, science, finance, diplomacy, or philanthropy. However, he never met Epstein “with girls or minors, or even adult women in improper context or behaviour”.
Noam Chomsky:
According to documents, Epstein arranged multiple meetings with Noam Chomsky in 2015 and 2016. During this time, Mr Chomsky was teaching at MIT, a university where Epstein had made significant donations. The scheduled meetings involved gatherings of academics, and Mr Chomsky also took a flight on Epstein’s private jet to New York.
One specific event included a dinner at Epstein’s townhouse with film director Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn.
Epstein was arrested on 6 July 2019 for sex trafficking and died by suicide in jail. His former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was then prosecuted by the US attorney in Manhattan for helping recruit his underage victims. She was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Maxwell’s attorneys, Arthur L Aidala and Diana Fabi Samson were quoted as saying by the Guardian: “Ghislaine Maxwell took no position on the court’s recent decision to unseal documents in Giuffre v Maxwell as these disclosures have no bearing on her or her pending appeal.”
