Third batch of Jeffrey Epstein filings made public in NYC in old lawsuit involving convicted pedophile

NEW YORK — More Jeffrey Epstein filings were made public Friday in a cache of paperwork being unsealed this week in an old lawsuit involving the convicted multimillionaire pedophile who killed himself waiting for trial in 2019.

Most of what is contained in the newly unsealed docs — comprising scores of motions, depositions, law enforcement records, and other filings — was already public knowledge. The vast majority of the individuals whose names were made public this week, including victims, staff at Epstein’s properties, law enforcement members, and others tangentially linked to him, are not accused of wrongdoing.

Manhattan federal court Judge Loretta Preska noted most names were already out there in ordering the unsealing last month in a settled lawsuit between Epstein’s convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Virginia Giuffre, who has accused the former socialite and Epstein of recruiting and grooming her for abuse as a teen and pawning her off to powerful men for sex. The weightier docs in the case were unsealed years ago, including a trove on the eve of Epstein’s suicide at Manhattan’s shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Complex.

Still, additional details about the rich and influential acquaintances in Epstein’s orbit included in this week’s filings, from former President Bill Clinton to the late pop icon Michael Jackson, add color to claims made by countless women and girls who say Epstein capitalized on his high-profile connections when he abused them at his properties worldwide and serve as a reminder of the elite lifestyle the prolific abuser led. Neither Clinton nor Jackson was accused of participating in sexual misconduct in the unsealed papers.

Johanna Sjoberg, an alleged Epstein victim, in portions of her 2016 deposition unsealed Wednesday, said Epstein once told her Clinton “liked them young,” and the former president was described in other papers as once traveling to Thailand with the disgraced financier. Clinton has long denied knowing about the abuse or participating in it.

Sjoberg also claimed in her deposition that celebrity magician David Copperfield knew about Epstein’s pyramid sex trafficking scheme, claiming he once asked her if she “was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls.” Copperfield has not been accused of wrongdoing.

The papers brought years-old allegations against British royal Prince Andrew made by Giuffre back into the spotlight. She settled a separate suit with the king of England’s brother in early 2022 for a reported $16 million, which did not require an admission of wrongdoing. He’s vehemently denied abusing her when he was friends with Epstein. Giuffre’s known allegations she was forced to sleep with the former late governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, pioneering A.I. computer scientist Marvin Minsky, and billionaire investor Glenn Dubin also feature in the paperwork. All have denied her allegations.

A police detective’s deposition included in Thursday’s dump detailed interviewing up to 33 girls who were recruited for Epstein’s “massages,” and offered kickbacks to find other young girls. The unsealed testimony shed more light on how much evidence Palm Beach police had on Epstein in the mid-2000s before federal authorities took over the case and afforded him a highly unusual non-prosecution agreement that allowed him to plead guilty in state court to soliciting a 14-year-old for sex in exchange for a 13-month jail sentence, in which he was able to leave for work.

Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking more than a decade later by federal authorities in New York following a bombshell investigation in The Miami Herald and hanged himself before he could be brought to justice.

In 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years following her jury conviction on charges alleging she procured disadvantaged girls to be abused by the financier through an elaborate pyramid trafficking scheme. She’s appealing her conviction.

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