The latest part of records from a case involving Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile who died in jail before facing federal s*x-trafficking charges, was made public on Friday.
Friday’s release comprised over 1300 pages as of mid-afternoon, after hundreds of pages of papers unsealed on Wednesday and Thursday, with more to come.
The materials were unsealed as part of a 2015 civil defamation suit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an American woman who claimed Epstein s*xually molested her as a juvenile and that Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, assisted in the abuse. The unsealing this week is the result of a court order issued on December 18 by the judge handling the litigation in response to the media’s legal attempts to publicly reveal the documents.
The documents, including previously unsealed data, are believed to contain roughly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, famous entrepreneurs, politicians, and possibly more.
CNN is now reviewing the papers.
Famous acquaintances and friends
During a 2009 deposition unsealed on Friday, a former Jeffrey Epstein employee recalled a list of famous and prominent people in Epstein’s sphere, including two previous presidents.
Juan Alessi told attorneys that he dined with former President Donald Trump in Epstein’s Palm Beach home’s kitchen and met former President Bill Clinton on Epstein’s jet. According to the deposition, he also stated that he met Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, at their Palm Beach house.
According to the letter, Alessi also claimed to have met foreign beauty queens and an unknown Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry.
When queried about Clinton’s name appearing in a previous set of disclosed records, a Clinton aide restated a 2019 statement that Clinton had traveled on Epstein’s private plane but knew nothing about the financier’s “terrible crimes.”
According to the spokesman, it has “been nearly 20 years since President Clinton last had contact with Epstein.” Clinton has not been charged with any crimes or wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
In addition, Trump has not been accused of any crimes or wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. When asked about Trump’s name appearing in newly disclosed records earlier this week, a Trump aide attacked the media.
Alessi also mentioned the young women who came to the residence to massage Epstein.
Alessi responded to inquiries regarding one female who he believed was under the age of 18. Her name remained blacked out in the leaked records. Alessi stated that her mother would take her to Epstein’s house on occasion.
“Everybody got $100 an hour,” Alessi claimed of the money.
Among the high-profile persons listed as Epstein’s friends is renowned magician and illusionist David Copperfield.
Copperfield’s name is mentioned during Sarah Kellen’s deposition testimony, which was unsealed on Friday. A plaintiffs’ lawyer inquired about Epstein’s relationship with the illusionist and whether the two recruited girls for each other. The lawyer wondered if Copperfield offers Epstein tickets for young women when he performs and if the girls are invited backstage after the shows.
Kellen maintains her Fifth Amendment right and refuses to answer all questions.
A lady who massaged Epstein for years in the early 2000s mentioned Copperfield in a 2016 deposition unsealed Wednesday. She testified that she met the illusionist at a dinner at Epstein’s Palm Beach home and that the two were friends.
In her evidence, Johanna Sjoberg testified that Copperfield performed magic shows at the Palm Beach House and asked her about Epstein’s tactics for obtaining ladies to work for him.
“He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls,” she stated.
Copperfield did not elaborate at the time, according to Sjoberg.
She also mentioned another female in the residence who “seemed young” at supper with Copperfield. She remembered thinking at the time that the girl might be in high school.
Copperfield’s reps have been contacted for comment.
In a handwritten note left for Epstein in 2005, the name of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein appears as well.
Weinstein attempted to reach Epstein that morning, according to the handwritten note dated March 1, 2005. “She had been on the phone with Mr. Harvey Weinstein,” the note says. It was among roughly 200 handwritten phone messages.
At one point, Giuffre’s lawyer, Brad Edwards, prepared a book titled “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein,” which was published in 2020 and discussed Weinstein’s role in Epstein’s world. According to Edwards, Epstein informed a victim that he would introduce her to Weinstein. According to another piece, Epstein discontinued his friendship with Weinstein after he became too aggressive with one of his “favorite girls.”
The documents make no mention of Weinstein’s misbehavior in relation to Epstein.
Weinstein’s lawyer has been contacted by CNN.
Weinstein, 71, is still in prison after being convicted of s*x crimes in New York and California on claims that he used his clout to lure women into private meetings, assault them, and then hush any accusations.
Documents that are unsettling
Some of the documents are unsettling.
Attorney David Yarema questions accuser Nadia Marcinkova in a newly disclosed extract from her deposition, “Were you with Jeffrey Epstein on his birthday when one of his friends sent to him 12 – sorry, three 12-year-olds for the purposes of Jeffrey Epstein s*xually abusing them?”
He then inquires as to whether “these three 12-year-olds were from France.” “Did Jean Luc Brunel or someone else send them to him on his birthday?”
Marcinkova invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to that inquiry and throughout her deposition, which includes many names that remain redacted.
Brunel, a French modeling scout, died in a prison cell in 2022 while being investigated by French police for his connections to Epstein. In her own legal depositions, Virginia Giuffre has also repeated the story of 12-year-olds being sent to Epstein.
Previous document releases featured information regarding Epstein’s acquaintances and accusations, albeit much of it had already been reported on by various media sites or made public through other judicial procedures.
Giuffre and Maxwell’s legal suit was settled in 2017, although some court documents have remained sealed until now.
The majority of the documents in the litigation were released in January 2019, one day before Epstein committed suicide in jail.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of running a s*x trafficking organization and s*xually abusing hundreds of minor females. He died in custody while awaiting his trial. Prosecutors in New York indicted Maxwell on multiple counts of s*x trafficking. She was found guilty in 2021.