Long-sealed court documents containing the identities of more than 170 Jeffrey Epstein associates began being made public Wednesday night in a years-old case involving one of the deceased sex offender's accusers.
The files, which likely include the names of former President Bill Clinton and the disgraced Prince Andrew, were ordered released last month by Manhattan federal judge Loretta Preska.
The two men later settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre against the late Sicco madam Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.
Mark Randazza, the lawyer who fought to unseal the records, said the documents could answer many questions about Epstein's sordid affair.
“Who was involved, how did they get away with this incident, how far does this incident affect those who are actually in power, and why has it been kept secret for so long?” Randazza said of this story: “Who could have exercised such power? Because the court should never have exercised such power.” [sealed the documents] To begin with, the extent to which courts have protected this information has been irregular. ”
The unmasked co-workers, former employees and victims, previously referred to only as “Jane Does” or “John Does” in court documents related to the case, responded to the judge's order. He was given until January 1 to appeal.
In his decision to release the documents, Preska noted that some of the names had already been made public in media interviews over the years, and that some did not object to having their identities published.
In the days leading up to the unsealing, it was reported that the redacted document referred to Clinton as “John Doe, 36 years old” more than 50 times.
Many of the references to Clinton were not expected to involve any illegal activity, but Giuffre's early attempts to coerce the former president into testifying against Epstein and Maxwell, according to reports. It is thought to originate from.
The former commander-in-chief has long denied any nefarious relationship with the convicted sex offender, although he has been photographed with Epstein and flown on his private jet multiple times.
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew is said to be “distressed” by the fact that his name has been dug up again and linked to Epstein, according to reports.
The disgraced royal, who was also on Mr Epstein's jet and was photographed cradling then-17-year-old Giuffre in his arms, was captured in a now infamous shot last year. ) was stripped of his title. Her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, sued over her relationship with Epstein.
Giuffre, who has long been described as Epstein's “sex slave,” appears to have mocked a pedophile associate with deep ties, amid mounting speculation over the list of names to be released.
“Christmas and New Year's will make a lot of people nervous. 170 to be exact, who's on the naughty list?” Giuffre tweeted last month.
Giuffre's defamation lawsuit against Maxwell was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount, but Giuffre's claims that Maxwell lied about being sex trafficked by Epstein when she was a teenager. The main argument was that he defamed her by saying he was following her.
Maxwell was found guilty in late 2021 of recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
