The US Justice Department published this Wednesday a first batch of judicial documents related to the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, and which had been classified until now.
The documents are part of a defamation lawsuit filed in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s main accusers, against his ex-lover and partner, the British heiress Ghislaine Maxwell, and have garnered media attention due to the expectation that they will involve to prominent figures related to the billionaire.
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🇬🇧 | THE EPSTEIN PAPERS: Reference to Prince Andrew in the Epstein Archives:
“We went into a closet and took out the puppet, the caricature of Prince Andrew, and brought it in. And there was a little tag on the puppet that said ‘Prince Andrew,’ and that’s when I knew who… pic.twitter.com/p2HzkoimfT
— Alerta News 24 (@AlertNews24) January 4, 2024
However, it is expected that many of the names are already known, since they were identified during the 2021 trial against Maxwell – sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping the financier to sexually abuse minors – or because they have given interviews or have been the subject of complaints.
Judge Loretta Preska, of the federal court for the Southern District of New York, had ordered that as of January 1, the documents, until now sealed, and which include the identity of about 150 people, be made public.
🇬🇧 | NOW – THE EPSTEIN PAPERS: Stephen Hawking allegedly participated in one of the many meetings with minors on Jeffrey Epstein’s island. pic.twitter.com/gsy80bGGih
— Alerta News 24 (@AlertNews24) January 4, 2024
Being mentioned in the documents does not imply any type of guilt, since there are everything from emails to statements from victims or witnesses. The identity of those who were minors or have not made public statements will remain hidden.
🇺🇸 | NOW – THE EPSTEIN PAPERS: Former television host Oprah Winfrey has been revealed as a client of The Epstein List.
— Alerta News 24 (@AlertNews24) January 4, 2024
The deadline was set to give anyone who opposed the publication of their name time to object. At least two people have objected and have until January 22 to explain their reasons.
The first batch of documents, published this Wednesday, is around 1,000 pages in total.
🌎 | NOW – THE EPSTEIN PAPERS: Model Naomi Campbell has been revealed as a client on The Epstein List.
— Alerta News 24 (@AlertNews24) January 4, 2024
Lista Epstein
It is known that the final list will include the name of the prince andrewwhom Giuffre sued for sexual abuse and with whom she reached an out-of-court settlement, and also former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), identified by ABC News as ‘John Doe 36’, whom Giuffre unsuccessfully tried to subpoena to testify.
Clinton, against whom no charges are pending, appears on the passenger lists of Epstein’s flights to different countries, but his possible presence on one of the financier’s islands is not clear, something that Giuffre claims but he denies.
Epstein committed suicide in 2019 in a federal prison in New York, where he was awaiting trial for allegedly creating a child sex trafficking ring in his mansions in the Big Apple and Florida. The youngest girls were 14 years old, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
