Court documents containing information on the 170 associates of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein have now been made public.
Last month, New York district judge Loretta Preska made a ruling that the identities of the individuals connected to Epstein should no longer remain secret, and the people known only as "John and Jane Does" be named.
According to ABC News, Judge Preska found that there is no legal justification to keep the names in the documents sealed, which means several prominent figures will be connected to the infamous disgraced financier in some way.
This revelation follows a defamation lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Epstein, against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former associate and convicted child trafficker. Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 of sex trafficking and similar charges for procuring teen girls for Epstein, as reported by BBC News.
The files - covering about 900 pages - disclosed multiple high-profile individuals whose names appeared numerous times.
Among them are two former US presidents - Donald Trump and Bill Clinton - and Prince Andrew, all three of whom have been photographed with the notorious financier. Other names include lawyer Alan Dershowitz and magician David Copperfield.
However, the inclusion of a name in this list does not necessarily mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein. Some of the names are people mentioned in passing at legal proceedings.
The documents also contain excerpts of depositions taken of Maxwell and Giuffre. There is also a deposition from Johanna Sjoberg, an alleged victim of Epstein. While her account has been public, this is the first time her testimony has been revealed.
The now-42-year-old - who has previously alleged that Maxwell recruited her to provide massages for Epstein in 2001 when she was at college - claimed that the 63-year-old Duke of York allergy groped her breast while posing for a photo with another accuser, Giuffre, and a puppet that said "Prince Andrew" on it, per CNN.
Buckingham Palace has previously said her allegations are "categorically untrue," as the outlet cites. In addition to this, the British royal paid millions to Giuffre to settle a case she filed alleging he sexually abused her when she was 17 years old. He said he had never met her and denied her claims.
The files include a testimony from Maxwell stating that Clinton - who notably had an 18-month-long affair with his then 22-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky - had traveled on board Epstein's private jet.
Also, deposition transcripts include references to the 42nd president as Sjoberg claimed in 2016 that Epstein spoke to her about him, alleging: "He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls," per CNN.
In 2019, Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Ureña denied the former president's involvement with Epstein and penned in a statement on X (formerly Twitter): "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."
The spokesman added that Clinton had flown on Epstein’s private plane but said he knew nothing of the financier’s "terrible crimes".
The document also includes testimony from Sjoberg, stating that Epstein told her he would contact Donald Trump on their way to one of his casinos. "Jeffrey said, Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to – I don’t recall the name of the casino, but – we’ll go to the casino," she said, as cited by the BBC.
The file includes no alleged wrongdoing by Trump as Sjoberg was questioned at one point whether she ever gave the 45th president a massage, and she responded: "No."
Sjoberg also testified that she met musician Michael Jackson and magician David Copperfield through Epstein, although she did not allege any wrongdoing by them. A few other names mentioned in the list is French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel - who took his own life in jail in 2022 while awaiting rape charges.
In her deposition, Giuffre alleged that she was forced to have sexual intercourse with well-known people including New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Before his death last year, Richardson denied ever meeting Epstein's accuser, and he was not charged with any crime.
Some victims' names remain sealed due to the sensitive nature of the crimes.
More documents are expected to be released in the coming days.
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