Jeffrey Epstein list: New documents reveal paedophile’s responses to sex trafficking claims

Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Richardson and other high profile figures have been named in the filings from a lawsuit between Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell

Which big names are on Epstein’s list?

Over the past week thousands of pages of court documents relating to late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, have been made public after US judge Loretta Preska ordered the release of filings in a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.

The documents named scores of prominent figures including, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Victoria’s Secret boss Les Wexner. Being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

The final batch of documents, released on Tuesday, included depositions from Ms Giuffre, Maxwell and Epstein.

In Epstein’s deposition, he was questioned about his campaign of abuse of young and underage girls. He pleaded the Fifth over 1,000 times.

In Maxwell’s deposition, she was confronted with disturbing messages left for Epstein – one of which referenced what appeared to be code for procuring an underage Russian girl for Epstein. “She is two times eight years old. Not blond. Lessons are free and you can have your first today if you call,” it read.

Key points

• Unsealing of documents related to decades of Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls concludes
• What were the allegations against Epstein and Maxwell?
• Epstein refused to say if he tried to blackmail Prince Andrew over ‘sexual encounter’, documents reveal
• Aaron Rodgers refuses to apologise over feud with Jimmy Kimmel

[12 January 2024 20:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Who was Jean-Luc Brunel? Jeffrey Epstein’s disgraced fashion mogul friend named in new filings

Fresh accusations against Jean-Luc Brunel, the late Parisian model agent alleged to have arranged depraved gifts for Jeffrey Epstein, have resurfaced in newly unsealed documents relating to the disgraced financier.

Brunel, who was said to have trafficked dozens of women and girls to Epstein, died by suicide at the La Santé prison in the French capital last year. He was found dead in a prison cell while awaiting trial on charges of raping a minor.

The 76-year-old – once nicknamed the king of the catwalk – was there after being arrested in December 2020 following claims by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre that he used her as a sex slave while she was still a minor. The suicide came days after Ms Giuffre agreed a multi-million out-of-court settlement over her allegations of sexual abuse by Prince Andrew – claims he has always strongly denied.

It brought an end to the life of a man some have suggested was even more debased than his American billionaire friend. Brunel is said to have systematically raped girls and women over three decades. His vast riches made him so apparently untouchable that frustrated French detectives trying to nail him had labelled him “the ghost”.

(BFM TV)

Paris-born Brunel was a model talent scout who rose to be boss of the Karin Models agency in the 1970s. He is credited with helping turn the business into a fashion powerhouse, while discovering several supermodels including Christy Turlington and Milla Jovovich.

So renowned did his reputation become for making stars that young women, the model Desiree Gruber reportedly said in 1988, “starved themselves [to] parade for Jean-Luc Brunel”.

Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci were among the famous faces who had worked with him. He met Ghislaine Maxwell in the 1980s. Maxwell, in turn, introduced him to her then-partner, Epstein.

The pair, court documents suggest, bonded over a shared love of the high life and an interest in underage girls.

They appear to have come to an agreement that, while Brunel travelled the fashion globe, he would scour each city for girls he could groom for Epstein.

Not even the fact that Brunel was kicked out of the agency in 1999 – following a BBC report into abuse in the industry – could deter the pair. They simply set up a new business, MC2 Model Management, and continued in the same vein.

Soon after Epstein’s death in July 2019, however, a French judicial inquiry into Brunel’s conduct was opened. Evidence gathered led to a warrant for his arrest – which was executed as he attempted to flee to Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Brunel was found dead by officers at La Santé prison, in Paris, at 1am on 19 February 2022, while awaiting trial for charges of rape and trafficking of minors.

[12 January 2024 21:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Epstein’s brother claims dead sex trafficker was ‘just having a good time’

The brother of Jeffrey Epstein defended the late sex trafficker following the release of bombshell documents, saying he was “just having a good time.”

While speaking on NewsNation’s On Balance, Mark Epstein was asked about the explosive allegations against his brother and insisted “Jeffrey liked to have a good time.”

Host Leland Vittert interrupted, “There’s a, there’s a big difference though between having...”

Before Vittert could finish his sentence, Mr Epstein said he refused to speculate “because I wasn’t there.”

Read the full story:

[12 January 2024 22:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Trump hits back at Epstein allegations after list unsealed: ‘Stupid island’

Donald Trump lashed out online at allegations that he was on the plane of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The former president took to Truth Social on Wednesday to share screenshots of a Daily Mail article criticising actor Mark Ruffalo after he backtracked after sharing fake images of Mr Trump on Mr Epstein’s plane surrounded by young girls that turned out to have been created by artificial intelligence.

Gustaf Kilander has the full story:

[12 January 2024 23:00 · Rachel Sharp]

WATCH: Epstein spurned Trump because he thought he was ‘crook’, brother claims

[13 January 2024 00:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Epstein victim claimed she was sex trafficked to former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner

Jeffrey Epstein’s victim Virginia Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to former Victoria Secret’s CEO Les Wexner, newly unsealed documents show.

The allegations emerged in a 2016 deposition by Ms Giuffre, which was part of likely the final batch of documents ordered unsealed by Judge Loretta Preska in the now-settled litigation between Ms Giuffre and Epstein’s fixer Ghislaine Maxwell.

Although Ms Giuffre had previously alleged she had been trafficked to other high-profile figures, it is the first time that allegations have emerged that Mr Wexner had sex with underage girls.

The Independent has reached out to L Brands group for comment.

Ms Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to have sex with Mr Wexner between three and ten times during the time that she was recruited by Epstein and Maxwell. Ms Giuffre said that she was instructed by Maxwell to wear lingerie for Mr Wexner – which Maxwell went on to categorically deny in her own deposition.

Read the full story here:

[13 January 2024 01:00 · Rachel Sharp]

More than 4,000 pages of Epstein files have been released. These questions remain unanswered

Very few new details and names have emerged in the more than 4,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein files that have been unsealed. Judge Loretta Preska has yet to rule on whether the names of two J Does mentioned in the documents will be released to the public. Andrea Blanco reports:

[13 January 2024 02:00 · Rachel Sharp]

The alleged associates of Jeffrey Epstein: Names and numbers

New batches of unsealed Jeffrey Epstein court documents continue to reveal a number of high-profile individuals whose names appeared multiple times in various materials, including footnotes.

Among them are two former US presidents – Donald Trump and Bill Clinton – and Prince Andrew, all three of whom have been pictured with and known to associate with the disgraced financier in the past.

Other names include lawyer Alan Dershowitz, magician David Copperfield, Michael Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

However, being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

[13 January 2024 03:00 · Rachel Sharp]

WATCH: Comedian Jim Gaffigan makes daring Jeffrey Epstein reference at Golden Globes 2024

[13 January 2024 05:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Did Epstein keep tapes of high-profile figures having sex?

In emails sent by Epstein victim Sarah Ransome – sections of which were included as exhibits in one of the filings unsealed on 8 January – she said that an unnamed friend “had sexual intercourse with former US President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Virgin group magnate Richard Branson” and that these encounters had been filmed by Epstein and that she herself had later seen the sex tapes.

All three strongly deny the allegations against them.

A Virgin Group spokesperson referred The Independent to the New Yorker’s article, adding: “We can confirm that Sarah Ransome’s claims are baseless and unfounded.”

“We categorically reject all allegations made by Sarah Ransome. In 2016, Ms Ransome retracted her claims and then in 2019 after settling her claims with Epstein and Maxwell, she also admitted to The New Yorker that the ‘tapes’ had been ‘invented’. The allegations are baseless and unfounded,” the statement read.

“The actions of Jeffrey Epstein were abhorrent and we support the right to justice for the many victims impacted by his abuse.”

The unsealed extracts were included along with a letter sent by attorneys representing Alan Dershowitz in 2017, seeking to undermine Ms Ransome’s credibility.

In a New Yorker article released two years later in 2019, Ms Ransome admitted that “she had invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein’s behaviour, and to make him believe that she had ‘evidence that would come out if he harmed me’”.

Ms Ransome, who delivered a victim impact statement at Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing for sex-trafficking charges, has since doubled down on her allegations during a media appearance on 9 January.

Ms Ransome said it is “no secret” that the alleged tapes were made, but she did not elaborate this time on who was in the tapes.

“There are videos that exist. The people that know they exist I’m sure are very frightened of them being released,” she told Good Morning Britain.

[13 January 2024 07:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Virginia Giuffre claims Epstein had room known as ‘the dungeon’ in NYC townhouse

Virginia Giuffre claimed that dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had a room known as “the dungeon” inside his New York City townhouse in a 2016 deposition.

Among the newly-unsealed court documents released on Tuesday was testimony the Epstein victim gave as part of a lawsuit brought against Ghislaine Maxwell.

“So there was pictures on his desk in the office and around that room, and then there’s this room that I refer to as the dungeon and that had a huge photograph of me and another girl, I mean huge as in bigger than that wall cabinet,” she testified.

“There’s a painting of both of us doing salacious acts together.”

When asked what she meant by “salacious acts”, she replied: “Sexual acts, you know what I’m saying?”

Ms Giuffre said that there “nude photographs” of victims around the paedophile’s property.