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Some 60 of 250 previously sealed documents relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released by a US court.

After Judge Loretta Preska ruled they could be unsealed in December and no objections were made, the first set of court papers were published on 3 January.

They largely consist of legal arguments and interviews carried out for Virginia Giuffre's 2015 civil lawsuit against Epstein's former lover Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming girls for him.

Epstein offered reward to disprove orgy claim

Ms Giuffre has been the most vocal of Epstein's accusers and settled a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew for a reported $12m (£9.5m) in 2022.

The Duke of York, who stepped back from public life and was stripped of his titles over his association with Epstein, vehemently denies Ms Giuffre's claims.

One of the files released this week is evidence from a woman called Johanna Sjoberg, another of Epstein's alleged victims.
In it are references to celebrities, politicians, and philanthropists, many of whom are not accused of wrongdoing but are believed to have known or associated with the late paedophile.

Epstein was first arrested in 2005 and later found dead in his New York prison cell while awaiting trial on further sex trafficking charges.

Here we look at some of the most well-known names in the newly released documents.

Prince Andrew
Ms Sjoberg's evidence says Prince Andrew touched her breast while on a sofa at Epstein's New York mansion in 2001 while he, Maxwell, and Ms Giuffre were there. The Duke of York and Buckingham Palace strongly deny this.

She says Maxwell took out a puppet - believed to be the one of the duke used for the BBC satire Spitting Image.

The evidence reads: "It looked like him. And she [Maxwell] brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.

"And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch.

"They put the puppet on Virginia's lap, and I sat on Andrew's lap, and they put the puppet's hand on Virginia's breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo."

Ms Giuffre's evidence claims she was "sex-trafficked to PA [Prince Andrew] and other men, including two of the world's most respected politicians" with those names redacted. The duke has always denied this.

A transcript of a video interview with Epstein's Palm Beach housekeeper Juan Alessi also sees him claim the duke "spent weeks there" and would have "daily massages".
Ms Sjoberg is asked in evidence: "Did you ever meet anybody famous when you were with Jeffrey?"

She replies: "I met Michael Jackson", adding that it was "at Jeffrey's house in Palm Beach".

Asked if she "massaged him", as she alleges she was forced to do with Epstein and others, she responds: "I did not."
The former US president was pictured socialising with Epstein and Maxwell and the pair are thought to have been friends.

Asked in her evidence if she ever massaged him on Epstein or Maxwell's request, she said no.

She later says that on one occasion she was on a plane with the pair and Ms Giuffre, which was told it could not land as expected in New York. Instead, it was diverted to Atlantic City, where Mr Trump had a casino.

Ms Sjoberg says: "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'."
A spokesperson for Clinton said in 2019 that he "knows nothing of Epstein's terrible crimes" and cut off all contact with him after he was first arrested in 2005.

Ms Sjoberg is asked: "Do you know if Bill Clinton was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein?"

She replies: "I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together."

Epstein flew many well-known philanthropists and politicians around the world in his private jet to visit various international development project sites.

Quizzed if Epstein "ever talked to her about Clinton", she replies: "He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls."

An email from Ms Giuffre to Vanity Fair journalist Sharon Churcher in May 2011 also sees the former claim Mr Clinton threatened the publication "not to write sex-trafficking articles" about Epstein.

Separate evidence from Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome sees her tell a journalist in 2016 that sex tapes were filmed of Mr Clinton, Prince Andrew and others, by Epstein. A 2019 article in the New Yorker reports she invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein's behaviour".

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