Long-sealed court documents containing the identities of more than 170 Jeffrey Epstein associates are beginning to be made public in a years-old lawsuit involving one of the dead sex offender’s accusers.
The initial tranche includes 40 previously undisclosed documents with almost 1,000 pages of depositions and statements, with the final library of documents expected to name prominent individuals.
According to official sources, two of the high-profile figures expected to be named are former President Bill Clinton and scandal-ridden Prince Andrew.
The files were ordered released by Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska last month.
They were filed in a since-settled defamation lawsuit that Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre brought against the late sicko’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2015.
Marc Randazza, a lawyer who fought to get the records unsealed, said the documents could answer many lingering questions about Epstein’s affairs.
“Who was involved, and how did they get away with it, and how far into people who are really in power does this reach, and why was it kept under wraps for so long?” he said.
“Who managed to exert that kind of power because the court should never have [sealed the documents] in the first place, and the extent to which the court has protected this information is irregular.”
The unmasked associates, ex-employees and victims — who had previously only been referred to in court papers linked to the suit as “Jane Does” or “John Does” — had been given until January 1 to appeal the judge’s order.
Preska noted in her ruling unsealing the documents that some of the names had already been made public in media interviews over the years and that some had not objected to their identities being disclosed.
In the days leading up to the unsealing, it was reported that Clinton was referred to more than 50 times in the redacted documents as “John Doe 36.”
Reports said that many of the references to Clinton, which were not expected to implicate him in any illegal activity, were believed to stem from Giuffre’s early attempts to compel the ex-president to testify against Epstein and Maxwell.
The former commander-in-chief, who was photographed with Epstein and flew on his private jet on numerous occasions, has long denied having any nefarious connections with the convicted sex offender.
Meanwhile, according to reports, Prince Andrew was said to be “tormented” over the fact that his name would be dredged back up and linked back to Epstein.
The disgraced royal, who also flew on Epstein’s jet and was once captured in a now-infamous shot with his arm around a then-17-year-old Giuffre, was stripped of his HRH, or “His Royal Highness,” moniker last year by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, over his ties to Epstein.
As speculation mounted over the list of names currently being released, Giuffre — long-described as Epstein’s “sex slave” — appeared to taunt associates of the well-connected pedophile.
“There’s going to be a lot of nervous ppl over Christmas and New Years, 170 to be exact, who’s on the naughty list?” Giuffre tweeted last month.
Giuffre’s defamation suit against Maxwell, which was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount, had centred on her claim that Maxwell defamed her by saying that she was lying about being sex-trafficked by Epstein when she was a teenager.
Maxwell was convicted in late 2021 of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
More to come …
