List of names linked to Jeffrey Epstein to be made public soon
The little black book that once belonged to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is about to become public knowledge.
Scripps News
WASHINGTON – The Jeffrey Epstein list is soon to surface.
Hundreds of sealed court filings about Epstein, the accused sex trafficker who hanged himself inside a jail cell in 2019, are expected to include the names of prominent people like Prince Andrew and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Clinton has not been accused of anything illegal. One of Epstein’s victims said in court papers that she met the ex-president on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean; Clinton has denied ever visiting the island.
What is the Epstein list?
The “list” is expected to include more than 150 names found in court documents, which could illuminate which prominent figures continued to associate with Epstein and his former girlfriend and convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell after he was convicted in 2008 in Palm Beach, Florida, of procuring sex from a minor. The sealed documents were part of a defamation lawsuit brought by one of their accusers, Virginia Giuffre.
A number of boldfaced names have been linked to Epstein since federal agents arrested the hedge fund manager on sex trafficking charges in July 2019, including billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. A Gates spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the two met only “for philanthropic purposes, which he regrets.” Summers has said through a spokesman that he “deeply regrets,” mixing with Epstein.
No one besides Epstein and Maxwell has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in the case.Political analyst Charlotte Clymer said the release of the names would only be worrying “if our nation’s leaders and political media attempt to downplay the Epstein list and cover-up any crimes against innocents.”
“When it comes to matters of sexual abuse and human trafficking, transparency is always a good thing,” said Clymer, a Democrat.
Giuffre claimed that, while she was a teenager, Epstein and Maxwell pressured her into sexual encounters with powerful men, including Prince Andrew. Giuffre reached an out-of-court settlement with Andrew, who denied her allegations. She also made accusations against prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz, but dropped them in late 2022.
Epstein killed himself by hanging while awaiting trial at a federal detention center in Manhattan.
Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite turned convicted sex trafficker, is serving a 20-year federal prison for helping financier Epstein sexually abuse underage girls,
No allegations against Clinton
Giuffre did not accuse Clinton of wrongdoing; she said she met the former president on Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
In a 2019 statement, Clinton’s office said the former president “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”
It also said that Clinton did fly on Epstein’s airplane, but he has “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade.”
Epstein also knew Donald Trump well before he became president; there is no indication that Trump’s name is in the documents.
In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The unsealing
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month that there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal the names of more than 150 “John and Jane Does” listed in the filings.
Preska ordered the unsealing of documents after Jan. 1. The release could take place anytime in the coming days or weeks.
Top names in politics, the arts and business
Over the years, some names have floated out.
Epstein’s former pilot, Larry Visoski, testified in 2021 that Clinton and Trump had flown on Epstein’s private plane. Other prominent passengers included Prince Andrew, violinist Itzhak Perlman, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, the late Ohio Sen. John Glenn and actor Kevin Spacey, he said.
