Previously sealed court documents identifying people associated with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public on Wednesday.
The 943 pages of court filings are related to a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged sex trafficking victim, against Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 of conspiring with the financier and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Maxwell was accused of luring girls to Epstein's various homes for him to abuse. She has maintained her innocence and has appealed her conviction.
Epstein, who was accused of preying on underage girls as young as 14, died at the age of 66 in a jail cell of suicide before he could stand trial in Manhattan on sex trafficking charges. Authorities determined he hanged himself. He always denied any wrongdoing.
At the time, he was already a convicted sex offender after being found guilty by a Florida state court in 2008 of one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The documents, whose release was ordered by a New York judge in December, reveal the names of over 70 people who associated with Epstein during his life, four of which are redacted. The names include celebrities and officials like Michael Jackson, magician David Copperfield and former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
They also contain excerpts of depositions and motions in the case against Maxwell which shed light on her relation with Epstein and answer claims made against several of his associates, including Britain's Prince Andrew.
Read the unsealed Epstein documents in full here.
Most of the names revealed in the unsealed documents were already known to the public. While the release of the files were much anticipated, the documents do not contain a "smoking gun" against those who associated with Epstein. They don't contain any evidence or allegation of wrongdoing linked to these people, who are simply considered to have associated with Epstein.
The disgraced millionaire, who had become a millionaire thanks to his law firm called J Epstein and Co, founded in the early 1980s, was known to have a wide circle of friends among celebrities, politicians and other high-profile figures.