If you’re like me you’ve probably been following the case of deceased multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein on a somewhat part-time basis over the last few years.
Last week we learned that Senior Judge Loretta A. Preska of the Federal District Court in Manhattan had ruled that information containing the identities of some of Epstein’s associates who are alleged to have taken part in sexual interactions with then underage girls who say they were trafficked would be released leading to huge anticipation online.
Although a registered sex offender, much of the interest surrounding the case is less about Epstein and more about the mysterious list of elites who are named in court documents as having visited his private island, Little Saint James – some of whom allegedly having been flown out there on his private aircraft, often referred to as the Lolita Express.
It has been alleged that Epstein operated a secret sex-party-island providing elite acquaintances with a menu of sexual activities provided by underage girls who he and Maxwell trafficked for that purpose.
None of those named in the documents as having had encounters with the alleged victims have been formally accused of committing a crime in relation to the case.
The information contained in the documents is perhaps not the ‘wrecking ball’ the internet was hoping for, although it did reveal allegations that the late Prof. Stephen Hawking participated in a ‘sex party.’
The 45 court documents that were unsealed were part of a 2015 lawsuit taken against Ghislane Maxwell (Epstein’s long time friend/girlfriend) by one of his alleged victims, Virginia Guiffre, who claims that when she was 17-years-old she was trafficked to Prince Andrew for sex.
An image showing a teenage Giuffre with Prince Andrew and Maxwell has been widely circulated online, with both the Prince and Maxwell claiming that the image was fake.
After Prince Andrew was described by Giuffre as ‘sweaty’ he went on to claim in a BBC interview that he had lost the ability to sweat “at the time” as a result of his having “suffered an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War,”
Guiffre claims she was forced into sexual intercourse with him on three occasions when she was aged 17 and 18 in different locations namely: London (at Maxwell’s townhouse), in New York (at a property owned by Epstein), and in the US Virgin Islands, on Little Saint James.
Two individuals named in the documents released by Judge Preska as Doe 110 and Doe 107 have made a legal appeal to keep their identities sealed.
The individual referred to as Doe 110 says their “name and association with Epstein has been widely publicized by the media.” and Doe 107 who claimed the release of their identity would put them in danger.
The documents claim that Epstein had instructed Maxwell to “issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends” who will “come forward and help prove her allegations are false.”
The papers allege that a victim referred to as Jane Doe 3 – whose identity has been sealed because their right to privacy outweighs public interest according to Judge Preska – was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew during an orgy on Epstein’s Island and was told to ‘give him whatever he wants’ as well as being instructed to report back on the abuse.
Jane Doe 3 claimed that Maxwell had acted as a “madame” to facilitate this abuse and that on more than one occasion she was forced to have sex with high-powered lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
“Dershowitz came “pretty often” to Epstein’s Florida mansion and got massages while he was there” (Attachment 18, sworn testimony from Epstein’s housekeeper Juan Alessi)
The papers also say that Prince Andrew used a puppet in his own image as a prop to touch the breast of another alleged victim, Johanna Sjoberg.
Sjoberg stated in the documents: “I knew [Epstein] had dealings with Bill Clinton … He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.” (Attachment 12, Johanna Sjoberg’s 2016 deposition)
Sjoberg said that during a flight a pilot had told her to “go back and tell [Epstein] that we can’t land in New York and that we were going to have to land in Atlantic City. Jeffrey said, Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to — I don’t recall the name of the casino, but — we’ll go to the casino.” (Attachment 12, Sjoberg’s deposition, describing a 2001 trip that included a stop at Trump’s casino)
Asked if she had ever given a “massage” to Donald Trump, she answered “No.”
She also claimed she had met deceased pop star Michael Jackson “At Jeffrey’s house in Palm Beach,” but answered “No” when asked if she had given him “a massage”.
Magician David Copperfield was named by Sjoberg as being “a friend” of Epstein.
When asked if Copperfield had ever discussed Epstein’s ‘involvement with young girls’ with her she said he had ‘questioned’ her if she “was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls”.
Billionaire Highbridge Capital co-founder Glenn Dubin was named after Giuffre claims she was told to give him a massage “which means sex.”
Giuffre also alleged she was “with” heir and executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels, Thomas Pritzker “once” in answer to a question about how many times she had had sex with him.
After Epstein’s death in prison in 2019 – the circumstances of which were like something from a movie script – hope of extracting information from the chief witness was lost with focus shifting from Epstein onto Ghislaine Maxwell who is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence.
So far the only people who have been jailed in relation to the Epstein saga are Epstein himself – whose death in custody was ruled as suicide – and Ghislane Maxwell.
While the unsealing of the documents is not complete, the long list of unanswered questions surrounding the story of Epstein in general at this point have taken on somewhat of a life of their own with many of the official answers only serving to raise more questions.