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Unsealed Court Documents Reveal New Allegations Against Powerful Jeffrey Epstein Associates
By
Zach Schonfeld
Published Aug 9, 2019
Modified Aug 9, 2019
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By
Zach Schonfeld
Published Aug 9, 2019
Modified Aug 9, 2019
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Thousands of pages of newly unsealed court documents reveal lurid details of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking of underaged girls and young women during the early 2000s—as well as other high-profile men accused of taking part.
The documents stem from a 2015 federal defamation case filed by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who says she was kept as a teenage sex slave for Epstein and his powerful friends, against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein’s alleged madam. Those documents were unsealed on Friday in Manhattan federal court, after the Miami Herald—among other outlets—petitioned the court to lift the seal.
Epstein has been accused of preying on dozens if not hundreds of underaged girls, who were lured on the pretense of giving him massages. Since the billionaire sex offender’s arrest last month, many observers have noted his network of famous friends and associates (including current and former U.S. presidents) and wondered whose name might turn up in investigations.
The newly unsealed documents reveal that Giuffre claimed in a deposition to have been forced to have sex with such political figures as former Maine Senator George Mitchell, Prince Andrew, and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, as well as “a well‐known Prime Minister and other world leaders.” (A Richardson spokesperson has denied the allegations.) Giuffre has previously claimed that she was also forced to have sex with Prince Andrew several times when she was 17.
Among the documents are flight records showing that President Donald Trump, a longtime Epstein acquaintance, flew on Epstein’s private plane in 1997. Giuffre claimed in testimony to have met both Trump and then-President Bill Clinton during this time. However, as the Miami Herald clarifies, to her knowledge, “neither Trump nor Clinton had any intimate contact with ‘us’—referring to the girls Epstein kept as sex slaves.” (Clinton’s spokesperson last month issued a statement saying that the former president knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes, though he did travel on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and 2003.)
Giuffre claims to have been first approached by Maxwell at age 16, when she was working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Her suit was settled out of court. Herald reporter Julie K. Brown, whose dogged and tireless reporting is largely crediting with re-opening the Epstein case long after much of the media had moved on, has a new piece out today detailing some of the more harrowing aspects of Giuffre’s testimony. It is a disturbing read.
Epstein, who pleaded not guilty to the federal sex trafficking charges, is currently being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. In late July, he was reportedly found injured after a possible suicide attempt.
The unsealed court documents can be viewed here, via Scribd.
Tagged
Bill Richardson
George Mitchell
jeffrey epstein
sex abuse
sex trafficking
Zach Schonfeld
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