A New York judge on Monday ordered the disclosure in early January of 180 names of people – victims, relatives, alleged accomplices – linked to the network of American financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sex crimes but who committed suicide in prison in 2019 before he was sentenced.
This Dec. 18 order by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Loretta Preska, seen on Tuesday by Agence France-Presse (AFP), is part of a libel case between Mr. Epstein's ex-lover and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison, and an American plaintiff against the couple, Virginia Giuffre.
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Virginia Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew under the influence of financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Photo: Portal / Shannon Stapleton
The judge listed the cases of about 180 people in a 50-page document – under numbers and the pseudonym Doe – and ordered that their identities be completed no later than 14 days from the date of this court document, i.e. January 1 or 2 to be published. 2024.
According to the British media Daily News, which published the information on Tuesday, Virginia Giuffre's libel lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell dates back to 2016 and was settled the following year.
However, the Miami Herald newspaper then took civil action to gain access to the file and investigate the Epstein network.
The financier was arrested in 2019.
To justify the disclosure of names – including those of personalities already quoted in the press – the American judiciary relies on the fact that certain people are easily identifiable in interviews published in recent years.
Sex trafficking
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein dated in the early 1990s before becoming professional collaborators and accomplices in their sex crimes for nearly 30 years.
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Ghislaine Maxwell lived for several years with financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide while in custody in New York, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Photo: Getty Images / Laura Cavanaugh
The 61-year-old former British, French and American socialite was convicted in New York in December 2021 of sex trafficking of minors on behalf of Mr Epstein and sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022.
Financier Jeffrey Epstein, who has strong business and political networks in the United States and abroad, was himself accused of sexually abusing and raping young girls, but his suicide by hanging in a New York prison in August 2019 made the charges public against him.
In another aspect of this international affair, in February 2022, Britain's Prince Andrew, friend of the Maxwell-Epstein couple, sealed an amicable settlement – worth $13 million, according to the Daily Telegraph – with 40-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who accused him in 2001 When she was 17 years old, she was said to have been sexually abused.
The disgraced 63-year-old prince denies these allegations.