A U.S. court is poised to begin revealing the names of numerous individuals with connections to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, which could lead to the disclosure of new information about his sex trafficking activities.
Before pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008, Epstein associated with Wall Street moguls, royalty, and celebrities. He died by suicide in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Over 150 people who played a role in a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, are anticipated to have their names released after being sealed for years. The unsealing was set to commence on Wednesday, according to Edward Friedland, the district executive for the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
More than 50 of the names have already been made public.
Some individuals who had relationships with Epstein, such as Britain’s Prince Andrew and former Barclays CEO Jes Staley, have had their reputations tarnished because of their associations. JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank have paid $365 million to settle accusations they turned a blind eye to their former client’s activities.
Prince Andrew, who has been stripped of most of his royal titles, is among those expected to be discussed in the unsealed documents. He settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre last year for an undisclosed sum and has denied wrongdoing. ABC News said former U.S. President Bill Clinton would also be among those named. Epstein’s former pilot has testified that Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane several times.
Another name that could surface is Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agent who died in France in 2022 after being arrested on sex charges. The list of names expected to be released originates from a long-settled defamation lawsuit that Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell, 62, Epstein’s former girlfriend.
Maxwell, the daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein. She is appealing her conviction. Giuffre accused Maxwell of recruiting her when she was underage for Maxwell to abuse. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month that there was no legal justification to continue keeping most of the names in Giuffre’s lawsuit private. She ruled that some names would remain confidential, including those of people who were underage when Epstein abused them.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
