The Epstein case and its derivatives continue to raise great expectations years after the death of the tycoon, pedophile and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his cell in a maximum security prison in Manhattan in August 2019. The judge presiding over the 2015 lawsuit filed by one of the victims, Virginia Giuffre, against Epstein's mistress and partner Ghislaine Maxwell has lifted the secrecy of hundreds of pages of documents from that case, ending in an unusual verdict. judicial agreement.
Victims of sexual assault, people who interacted with the pedophile, lists of potential witnesses, and friends and associates of the financier appear in the first batch of new documents, to be followed by others. Although many of these documents so far cited people like John Doe and Jane Doe (the common way of maintaining a secret identity), numerous figures linked to Epstein were already known, such as Prince Andrew and former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. In any case, the list of people cited and their justification in the summary are so heterogeneous that their mere appearance in the documents should be treated with the greatest caution. The vast majority of people whose names appear in the documents are not accused of any crime. If anyone was expecting a customer list, this isn't the case, despite the misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating on social media.
For example, former President Donald Trump is mentioned, but in a question to a witness who is asked whether she has had relationships with him or given him massages, to which she answers no, in a series of questions in which she also Scientist Marvin Minsky, filmmaker George Lucas and lawyer Alan Dershowitz are quoted, each with negative answers. Giuffre retracted an allegation she made in 2022 against Dershowitz, Epstein's lawyer, saying she may have made a mistake when she denounced him.
In another testimony, a witness is asked whether she saw Trump at Epstein's home, on his island in the Virgin Islands, in New York or New Mexico, the places where the financier had a home, with the same answer to all four Questions: “No. “What I remember”.
Interest in the papers was so great that the CourtListener website that distributed them collapsed minutes after the documents were published. 40 documents were published, mostly witness statements, but also emails, demands, subpoenas and other legal documents.
Epstein was arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after being accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. Dozens of other minors reported similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors finally allowed the financier to plead guilty in 2008, even though he was a single victim. He served 13 months in a work release program.
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Some famous acquaintances parted ways with Epstein after his conviction, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but the millionaire continued to socialize with the rich and famous, often through philanthropy, for another decade. The Miami Herald's reporting renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York filed sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019. He committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial. His partner, heiress Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking of minors in June 2022 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
It is the Florida newspaper mentioned above that requested the release of the documents, which the judge ultimately agreed to, although some of the victims' names remain crossed out.
Giuffre said at the time that the summer she turned 17, she was hired as Epstein's “masseuse” at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago club, which included sexual acts. She also claimed that she was pressured to have sexual relationships with men close to Epstein, including Prince Andrew, with whom she reached an agreement in 2022 to withdraw the sexual abuse lawsuit. Prince Andrew is mentioned several times in the declassified documents.
Investor Glenn Dubin, modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel and former CEO of Limited and Victoria's Secret, Leslie Wexner, are also quoted compromisingly.
Some names still remain secret at the request of those named. According to American media, among them would be the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, who has publicly regretted meeting with Epstein to discuss, in his opinion, philanthropic cooperation.
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