Jeffrey Epstein: Prince Andrew and Clinton named in Epstein court files
Image source, Reuters
Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew are named in court documents detailing people connected to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A New York federal judge has ordered the release of the files as part of a lawsuit related to Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
She is serving a 20-year jail term for crimes she committed with Epstein.
The BBC is currently reviewing the 943 pages of documents, which were released on Wednesday evening.
Some of those named are accused of wrongdoing, while others on the list are making allegations or are potential witnesses.
When ordering the release of the list, New York Judge Loretta Preska said many of those named in the lawsuit had already been identified by the media or in Maxwell’s criminal trial.
She added that many others did not raise an objection to the release of the documents.
The files include references to Johanna Sjoberg, who has claimed that Prince Andrew groped her breast while sitting on a couch inside Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
Buckingham Palace has previously said her allegations are “categorically untrue”.
In one deposition, which has already been reported, Ms Sjoberg alleged that Prince Andrew put his hand on her breast to pose for a photo with another accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and a puppet that said “Prince Andrew” on it.
In 2022, the British royal paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a lawsuit she filed alleging he sexually abused her when she was 17 years old.
Prince Andrew said he had never met Ms Giuffre and denied her allegations.
Media caption, Prince Andrew says he cannot recall any incident involving Virginia Roberts
Former US President Clinton is also named in the court documents, although there is no implication of any illegality. When contacted for comment, his representatives referred to a statement he issued in 2019 saying he “knows nothing” about Epstein’s crimes.
According to the files, Ms Sjoberg testified that Epstein once told her that Mr Clinton “likes them young”, referring to girls. Mr Clinton had an affair with a 22-year-old White House intern while he was US president.
The files include testimony from Maxwell confirming that Mr Clinton had travelled on board Epstein’s private jet, but she did not know how many times.
Mr Clinton travelled on Epstein’s plane on humanitarian trips to Africa in the early 2000s and at the time praised Epstein as a committed philanthropist, though said he later cut ties with him.
Mr Clinton’s 2019 statement said he was accompanied on his trips aboard Epstein’s jet by staff and supporters from his charity, the Clinton Foundation.
Media caption, Watch: The secret lives of Maxwell and Epstein
“His Secret Service detail travelled on every leg of every trip,” his statement added.
The court documents include a section where Maxwell’s lawyer seeks to debunk a media report that shortly after he left office Mr Clinton travelled to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean shortly after he left office.
A lawyer for Maxwell said that the former US president “did not, in fact travel to, nor was he present on, Little St James Island between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2003”.
The attorney added that if the claim was true, Secret Service agents would have been required to submit travel logs of the trip.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, An aerial view of Jeffrey Epstein’s island Little St. James
The document also includes testimony from Ms Sjoberg saying that Epstein told her he would contact Donald Trump on their way to one of his New Jersey casinos.
“Jeffrey said, ‘Great, we’ll call up Trump,'” she testified, after pilots said their plane could not land in New York and would need to stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The documents contain no alleged wrongdoing by Mr Trump. Ms Sjoberg is asked at one point in the deposition whether she ever gave Mr Trump a massage, and she replies: “No.”
Alfredo Rodriguez, a household employee who was tasked with security for Epstein, described Maxwell as “the boss” in his testimony, according to the court files.
Mr Rodriguez, who died in 2015, was told to carry cash at all times to give to high school girls, and the girls who were helping recruit for Epstein, the documents say.
Epstein died in jail in 2019. His death, as he awaited federal sex-trafficking charges, was ruled to be a suicide by the New York medical examiner.
This is a developing story. More updates to follow.
