Amid great hype, the first batch of previously secret court documents was unsealed late Wednesday related to Jeffrey Epstein, the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Social media has been rife in recent weeks with posts speculating the documents amounted to a list of rich and powerful men who were Epstein’s “clients” or “co-conspirators.” There was no such list.
The first 40 documents in the court-ordered release largely consisted of already public material revealed through nearly two decades of newspaper stories, TV documentaries, interviews, legal cases and books about the Epstein scandal.
Still, the records — including transcripts of interviews with some of Epstein’s victims and old police reports — contained reminders that the millionaire surrounded himself with famous and powerful figures, including a few who have also been accused of misconduct.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
There were mentions of Epstein’s past friendship with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump — who are not accused of any wrongdoing — and of Britain’s Prince Andrew.
The documents being unsealed are related to a lawsuit filed in 2015 by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She is one of dozens of women who sued Epstein for abusing them at his homes in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico. This suit was against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant who is now serving a 20-year prison term for helping recruit and abuse his victims.
Giuffre’s lawsuit was settled in 2017, but the court had kept some documents blacked-out or sealed because of concerns about the privacy rights of Epstein’s victims and others whose names had come up during the legal battle. More documents are expected to be released in the coming days.
More coverage
In her deposition, Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to become a “masseuse” for Epstein — a job that involved performing sexual acts.
Giuffre also claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Epstein's social orbit, including Prince Andrew, another unnamed prince, the former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, the owner of a large hotel chain and Glenn Dubin, the billionaire hedge fund manager, among others. All of those men said her accounts were fabricated.
A request from NBC News for a response from Prince Andrew was not immediately returned Wednesday night, but Andrew has long denied her allegations. She settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2022 in which she claimed he had sexually abused her during a trip to London.
A spokesperson for Dubin told NBC News Wednesday that he "strongly den[ies] these allegations" and described them as unsubstantiated statements.
In her deposition, Maxwell disputes most of the accusations made by Giuffre and denies any knowledge of illegal behavior from Epstein.
In a 2016 deposition unsealed Wednesday, Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg testified that she once met Michael Jackson at Epstein’s Palm Beach, Fla., home, but that nothing untoward happened with the late pop icon.
Sjoberg also testified that though she never met Clinton, Epstein once remarked to her that “Clinton likes them young,” a remark she took as a reference to young women or girls. Sjoberg added she had never met Clinton and never saw him on Epstein’s island.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Clinton referred to a 2019 statement that said while the former president acknowledged traveling on Epstein's jet several times, he never visited his homes, had no knowledge of his crimes, and hadn't spoken to him in over a decade.
In a deposition, Maxwell said Clinton had dined on Epstein’s plane, but testified Clinton had never visited Epstein’s Caribbean Island, Little St. James.
Trump also appears in Sjoberg's deposition, but it contains no allegations of wrongdoing.
On one occasion, Sjoberg testified she was on a plane with Epstein, Maxwell and Giuffre that landed in Atlantic City after the plane could not land in New York. Upon hearing the change of plans, Sjoberg recalled Epstein saying, “Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to” the casino. Sjoberg wasn’t asked if they’d met up with Trump that night. Later in her testimony, she said she was never asked to give Trump a massage.
Trump was also found to have flown on one of Epstein’s planes at least once, and video emerged in July 2019 of Epstein and Trump partying together at Mar-a-Lago in the early 1990s.
Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday but has previously said he had not talked to Epstein for 15 years before his death.
Sjoberg described going to a dinner at one of Epstein’s homes also attended by magician David Copperfield.
She said Copperfield did magic tricks before asking if she was aware “that girls were getting paid to find other girls.” One of the key allegations against Epstein and Maxwell was that some of the girls he paid for sex acts then acted as recruiters to find him other victims. Sjoberg said Copperfield didn’t get more specific about what he meant.
A publicist for Copperfield did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The records released Wednesday included many references to Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022. Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.
A former member of Epstein’s domestic staff said in a deposition that he felt uncomfortable with the number of young women showing up at the house, and felt threatened by Maxwell to stay quiet.
Sworn testimony from two housekeepers allege that Epstein’s former attorney, law professor Alan Dershowitz, came "pretty often to Epstein's Florida mansion and got massages while he was there."
In the newly unredacted filings, attorneys for Giuffre reveal that at some point during his deposition, Epstein invoked his Fifth Amendment right rather than answer a question about Dershowitz. It is not known what question prompted that response from Epstein.
Dershowitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has strenuously denied any involvement with underage girls. He has said he was looking forward to the document release to help clear his name.
In 2022, Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Dershowitz, saying she “may have made a mistake ” in identifying him as an abuser.
Who is Jeffrey Epstein?
A millionaire known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars, Epstein was initially arrested in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors ultimately allowed the financier to plead guilty in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.
Some famous acquaintances abandoned Epstein after his conviction, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but many did not. Epstein continued to mingle with the rich and famous for another decade, often through philanthropic work.
Reporting by the Miami Herald renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking. He killed himself in jail while awaiting trial.
The U.S. attorney in Manhattan then prosecuted Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for helping recruit his underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison term. Now 62, Maxwell is in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla., and has filed an appeal of the verdict, claiming prosecutors used her as a scapegoat.
What was Jeffrey Epstein convicted of?
Epstein was arrested in Florida in 2005, accused of paying a teenage girl for sex. Despite that dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse around that time, prosecutors ultimately allowed him to plead guilty to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.
In 2019, with renewed attention on Epstein and his past, federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking — he then killed himself in jail while awaiting trial.
What was Jeffrey Epstein's cause of death?
Epstein hanged himself in his cell as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press in 2023, including emails between jail officials and psychological evaluations, shed light on the moments leading up to his death. According to the thousands of pages of records obtained, Epstein was anxious and despondent during much of his time in jail, prompting concern from jail guards and psychological experts about his mental state. He complained often about jail life, including poor sleep, constipation, the color of his uniform and his treatment by other detainees. The noise from a broken toilet in his cell left him sitting in the corner with his hands over his ears, according to one psychologist.
These records showed he was moved from the jail’s general population to specialized housing. He also was briefly placed on suicide watch before being downgraded to psychiatric observation — which was his status when he killed himself.
Epstein was found dead on the morning of Aug. 10, 2019. He had hanged himself with a bedsheet, according to the medical examiner.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
