A U.S. judge unsealed the names of dozens of people who appeared in testimony or depositions connected to an old lawsuit filed by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers.
Where do these names come from?
The disclosure in federal court in New York stems from a defamation suit filed in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later sentenced to 20 years in prison. Giuffre accused Epstein and Maxwell of trafficking her to powerful people including Prince Andrew in the early 2000s, when she was a teenager. Maxwell said at her sentencing that meeting Epstein was “the greatest regret of my life.”
Prince Andrew in 2022 settled a lawsuit brought by Giuffre and said he regretted his association with Epstein. His representatives said at the time: “Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.”
Are these all new names?
No. Many of the unsealed names were previously known associates of Epstein or had already been linked to the case even though they had been referred to anonymously in the court documents as John Does or Jane Does. The individuals weren’t defendants in the civil lawsuit against Maxwell, which was settled in 2017.
Is this an Epstein client list?
No. Some of the John Does and Jane Does are Epstein victims, former employees, people who traveled on Epstein’s plane and other types of associates. Some are journalists, witnesses or individuals who might have never met Epstein.
Who are the prominent people in the documents?
Among the high-profile names are some known Epstein associates including Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Leslie Wexner as well as Glenn Dubin and Eva Andersson-Dubin.
In one unsealed deposition, an Epstein victim is asked by a lawyer if Epstein ever talked about Clinton. She replied, “He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.” This woman also testified that she was traveling in 2001 with Epstein on his plane when it had to land in Atlantic City, N.J., and that Epstein 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 spokesman for Clinton said in 2019 that the former president had cut off ties with Epstein more than a decade before and didn’t know about Epstein’s alleged crimes. The spokesman said then that Clinton took four flights on Epstein’s plane and once visited the townhouse, each time with his Secret Service team and for reasons related to the Clinton Foundation’s work. A spokesman declined to comment further Wednesday. Clinton wasn’t accused of wrongdoing and didn’t object to the unsealing.
When Epstein was arrested in 2019, Trump said he hadn’t talked to Epstein for about 15 years. “I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you,” Trump said at that time. Epstein and Trump spent time together in the 1990s and both men said that they subsequently had a falling-out.
Epstein was the former money manager for Wexner, the billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret. Wexner “severed all ties with Epstein in 2007 and never spoke with him again,” a Wexner spokesman has said.
Epstein connected Dubin to JPMorgan Chase, which bought control of his hedge fund in 2004 for more than $1 billion. Andersson-Dubin has said she dated Epstein in the 1980s. After Epstein was arrested in 2019, the couple said that they were “horrified” and that they had continued their friendship because they believed he had rehabilitated himself.
Who had been previously named in the documents?
In a 2016 deposition for the case that was previously unsealed, Giuffre said she was directed to have sex with Glenn Dubin, former Sen. George Mitchell, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Marvin Minsky and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel. The men have denied the allegations. Richardson, Minsky and Brunel are now deceased.
“The Dubins strongly deny these allegations, as we first said in 2019, when these unsubstantiated statements first surfaced,” a spokeswoman for the Dubins said Wednesday.
Giuffre had named the lawyer Alan Dershowitz as one of the men she allegedly had sex with, a claim he denied and she later withdrew. Giuffre and Dershowitz filed defamation suits against each other, which they agreed to drop in 2022, when Giuffre said she might have mistakenly identified him.
Dershowitz told the Journal that he had urged the court to release all the documents. “The documents, if all are released, will confirm my total innocence,” he said in an email Wednesday. “Selective release would be unfair.”
The judge unsealed those names in 2019 along with hundreds of pages of documents from the case, the day before Epstein died in jail.
Why are more names being unsealed now?
The Miami Herald and others had asked the court to unseal more documents from the case. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled in December that many of the names were already reported in the media or the person in question didn’t raise any objections that would outweigh the presumption of access.
Where can I learn more about Epstein’s associates?
The Wall Street Journal over the past year has revealed Epstein’s VIP circle after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring and soliciting a minor for prostitution. The Journal showed how Epstein used his connections to lure women whom he abused up until his death and was also meeting powerful people in his last decade, including the software billionaire Bill Gates and the current Central Intelligence Agency director, William Burns.
Both of the men have said they regret the association. Gates has said he met with Epstein because he thought Epstein was going to help with philanthropy. A spokeswoman for Burns has said he met with Epstein for advice related to transitioning to the private sector and didn’t have a relationship with him. Epstein died in 2019 in jail awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
—Emily Glazer contributed to this article.
Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com and David Benoit at David.Benoit@wsj.com
