Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on sex-trafficking costs, returned to nationwide infamy this yr after a federal decide ordered the unsealing of a whole bunch of paperwork about allegations in opposition to him in a civil lawsuit.
Whereas Epstein’s brother, Mark, is just not alone in questioning the federal government’s conclusion that he died of suicide in federal custody, there may be additionally nice public curiosity within the disgraced financier’s associates, shoppers and potential accomplices.
Listed here are among the largest Epstein revelations of 2024:
The Jeffrey Epstein checklist: Court docket unseals names in Ghislaine Maxwell lawsuit
Almost 200 names that had beforehand been redacted from courtroom paperwork in a lawsuit in opposition to Jeffrey Epstein’s former lover and confederate Ghislaine Maxwell have been made public on orders of a federal decide in New York.
A whole bunch of paperwork have been launched in a number of waves in January.
Epstein had many high-profile connections, together with former U.S. presidents, overseas prime ministers and Britain’s Prince Andrew, in addition to Hollywood stars, main lecturers, individuals within the modeling and vogue industries and different public figures. Among the names have been beforehand identified by means of different means regardless of having been withheld from the general public’s eye within the lawsuit.
Lots of the names belong to individuals who haven’t been accused of wrongdoing, like former President Invoice Clinton, who may have requested the courtroom to have his identify stay sealed however declined. A spokesperson for Clinton additionally denied claims in one of many paperwork that alleged the previous president and Epstein had a “close personal relationship.”
Different names unsealed included billionaire Glenn Dubin and his former non-public chef, Rinaldo Rizzo, the magician David Copperfield, Tony Figueroa, Restricted Manufacturers founder and former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, and Epstein accusers comparable to Johanna Sjoberg and Annie Farmer.
Invoice Clinton denies visiting Epstein island in new memoir
Former President Clinton, who had a short enterprise relationship with Epstein, wrote in his new memoir that he needs he “had never met him.”
Clinton took flights on Epstein’s non-public jet on journeys for the Clinton Basis. He wrote that they solely mentioned “politics and economics” and that he by no means traveled to Epstein’s notorious Little St. James Island.
“Traveling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward,” he wrote in “Citizen,” a brand new ebook about his life after leaving the White Home.
In a deposition from Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg, which was unsealed through the January doc dump, she stated Epstein bragged about figuring out the previous president.
“I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton,” she stated. “I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together.”
Beneath questioning, she later added, “He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.”
Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing in reference to Epstein, and spokesperson Angel Urena has denied claims within the paperwork that Clinton and Epstein had any form of private relationship.
“I had always thought Epstein was odd but had no inkling of the crimes he was committing,” the previous president wrote in his ebook.
Former mannequin recounts Jeffrey Epstein abuse on his non-public island
Lisa Phillips, a former model-turned-talent scout and agent, was seeing her profession take off when she encountered Jeffrey Epstein.
The previous cowl woman, who stated she was abused by the late convicted intercourse offender on his non-public island, recounted her alleged harrowing ordeal on a podcast in October, “From Now On,” aiming to boost consciousness of human trafficking and the way it can influence anybody.
On a free day after a photoshoot within the Virgin Islands, one other mannequin invited her to go to Epstein’s non-public island, Little St. James.
Epstein requested her for a therapeutic massage, then slowly escalated the state of affairs into an outright intercourse assault, she stated.
“It wasn’t a straight, ‘Let me pull you into a room and abuse you,’” Phillips recalled. “He eases into things, like, ‘It’s just a massage, right?’ The girl went along with it and brought me into the room to do this massage with him. It was a slow thing that escalated into abuse. The whole process was very confusing to me.”
Through the years, she’s met different victims who have been attacked in the identical means, she stated.
“I was on an island,” she stated. “I wasn’t in a house where I could say, ‘Excuse me, I need to leave,’ and grab my stuff. I was far away from home on an island I should never have been on.”
Epstein grand jury information launched
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a brand new anti-trafficking legislation that cleared the way in which for state investigators to launch confidential grand jury information from the slap-on-the-wrist punishment Epstein obtained for baby intercourse trafficking within the 2000s. Hours after the legislation took impact, Palm Seaside County Court docket Clerk and Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo introduced the discharge.
Palm Seaside police initially opened the case after a battle between women at a neighborhood highschool, in keeping with the transcripts. One, simply 16, had been accused of prostitution by a classmate, and a faculty official later discovered $300 in her purse, which initially got here from Epstein.
She testified that she had been instructed to concoct a pretend life story and faux to be 18 to get $200 to offer Epstein a therapeutic massage earlier than the primary time she met him. Then she revealed she was requested to strip all the way down to her underwear and had a graphic sexual encounter with him.
In a courtroom order authorizing the discharge of the paperwork, Circuit Choose Luis Delgado warned that the contents have been disturbing.
“It is widely accepted that Epstein is a notorious and serial pedophile,” the order reads. “The testimony taken by the Grand Jury concerns activity ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape – all of the conduct at issue is sexually deviant, disgusting, and criminal. The details in the record will be outrageous to decent people.”
