The identities of dozens of well-known figures linked  to Jeffrey Epstein have been revealed in court papers unsealed in the US overnight.

The files are part of a defamation case brought against Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in jail for sex trafficking underage girls to him.

She was sued by Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York three times in 2001 when she was 17 – claims the duke vehemently denies.

High-profile people such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Al Gore, Kevin Spacey and Stephen Hawking were all included in evidence filings. 

Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Cameron Diaz and Bruce Willis are in there along with model Naomi Campbell. None of them have been accused of any involvement in Epstein’s crimes, but Epstein was a name-dropper, Johanna Sjoberg claimed in evidence released overnight. Ms Sjoberg was clear that she had never met them. 

Also mentioned are the late physicist Stephen Hawking and magician David Copperfield. 

Some of the people named overnight were associates, friends or victims of Epstein. But the vast majority were named in evidence by witnesses who said they had no links to the paedophile at all – or had not seen them at his many homes.

The identities of more than 170 people are now set to be made public following a US judge’s order last month, with the first tranche of documents released last night. 

They are set to be released on a rolling basis this week.  However inclusion of a name does not necessarily mean they were accused of any wrongdoing, with some names simply put to witnesses who denied meeting them.

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Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Cate Blanchett and Naomi Campbell are mentioned in the Epstein list. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on their part

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Jane Doe 3 claims she was ‘forced to have sexual relations with Prince Andrew’ in an alleged orgy

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Stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Bruce Willis and Cameron Diaz are all named in the evidence – but are not implicated in any way. This transcript shows how Johanna Sjoberg said Epstein was a name-dropper but she had never met any of the stars he claimed to know

Who is named in the Epstein list? And what do the court documents say about them?

Prince Andrew 

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Today it emerged that one of Epstein’s alleged sex slaves, known only as Jane Doe 3, claimed that she was told to have intercourse with Prince Andrew during an orgy on Epstein’s island, Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands.

A 2014 court filing alleges that she was ‘forced to have sexual relations with this Prince when she was a minor in three separate geographical locations.’ She claims this happened ‘in London (at Ghislaine Maxwell’s apartment), in New York, and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands (in an orgy with numerous other under-aged girls).’

The newly unsealed docs claim Epstein told Jane Doe 3 to ‘give the Prince whatever he demanded’. Jane Doe 3 claims that Ghislaine Maxwell ‘facilitated Prince Andrew’s acts of sexual abuse by acting as a ‘madame’ for Epstein’.’

The unsealed documents include the transcript of Virginia Giuffre being questioned over the whereabouts of the photograph showing her with the Duke of York.

Asked during her deposition in 2016 where the picture was, she said: ‘I probably still have it. It’s not in my possession right now.’

Ms Giuffre added it may have been in storage boxes at her mother and father in-law’s in Sydney, Australia.

She also said documents related to the case may have also been in the storage boxes which were ‘full of Nerf guns, my kids’ toys, photos.’

During the deposition, Ms Giuffre said she had given the picture to the FBI in 2011 but had last seen it before she packed up her home to emigrate to Australia from Colorado.

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Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts, aged 17, now known as Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell at Ghislaine Maxwell’s townhouse in London. The Duke of York denies ever meeting Ms Giuffre

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg shed new light on an April 2001 trip to New York in which she said Prince Andrew touched her breast while they posed for a photo at Epstein’s Manhattan town house.

In the testimony, some of which appeared as excerpts in previous court filings, Sjoberg said she and Virginia Giuffre had flown with Epstein to New York on his private jet. Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew were said to have met them there.

At one point, she testified, Maxwell called her to an upstairs closet where they pulled out a puppet of Andrew that had been made for a television program.

‘It looked like him,’ Sjoberg said. ‘And she brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.’

‘And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch. They put the puppet on Virginia’s lap, and I sat on Andrew’s lap, and they put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.’

The reference is believed to relate to Andrew’s Spitting Image puppet. Buckingham Palace previously said the allegations were ‘categorically untrue’.

Among the unsealed documents appears to be an email sent by Ghislaine Maxwell mentioning the Duke of York.

The message was sent from the email address [email protected] to Philip Barden and Ross Gow in January 2015.

It reads: ‘I have already suffered such a terrible and painful loss over the last few days that I can’t even see what life after press hell even looks like – statements that don’t address all just lead to more questions … what is my relationship to Clinton? Andrew on and on.’

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case to Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.

The duke was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. Andrew has always denied the claims.

Bill Clinton

There are also mentions in the documents of Jeffrey Epstein’s past friendship with former US president Bill Clinton – who is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Jeffrey Epstein claimed Bill Clinton ‘liked them young’, Johanna Sjoberg told lawyers.

Deposition documents show Ms Sjoberg was asked if she knew the former US president was a friend of Epstein.

Ms Sjoberg said: ‘I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton.

‘I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together.’

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Bill Clinton is pictured with Jeffrey Epstein in an undated photograph

Asked if Epstein had ever talked about the former president, Ms Sjoberg said: ‘He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.’

Other mentions included legal arguments over whether Virginia Giuffre should be allowed more time to depose potential witnesses, including Clinton.

Giuffre never alleged he was involved in illegal behavior, but her attorneys said the former president was a ‘key person who can provide information about his close relationship’ with Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein.

Maxwell’s attorneys countered that Clinton testimony was not relevant.

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Donald Trump 

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Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach. Trump and Epstein spoke regularly, documents claimed

Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg said she and Virginia Giuffre had flown with Jeffrey Epstein to New York on his private jet.

On the way to New York, Sjoberg testified, Epstein’s jet diverted to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and spent a few hours at one of Donald Trump’s casinos, because of bad weather.

Upon hearing the change of plans, Sjoberg recalled Epstein saying, ‘Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to’ the casino. Sjoberg wasn’t asked if they’d met up with Trump that night. Later in her testimony, she said she was never asked to give Trump a massage.

Trump previously said that he once thought Epstein was a ‘terrific guy,’ but that they later had a falling out.

In her deposition, Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to become a ‘masseuse’ for Epstein – a job that involved performing sexual acts.

Doug Band

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Six files relating to the Clinton confidante are due to be released in early 2024. Band has been named as Doe number 8 on the list of 177 people. He is pictured left with Ghislaine Maxwell and right with Bill Clinton

Doug Band, one of Bill Clinton’s closest aides who is credited with rehabilitating the 42nd president’s image in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, was referred to as a ‘friend’ by Ghislaine Maxwell during a deposition, the new documents show.

It was earlier reported that Band joined Clinton and Epstein on various trips to Asia and Africa.

Band told Vanity Fair in a 2020 that he had long asked Clinton to cut off ties to Epstein and Maxwell, despite being unaware of their crimes, just because of bad ‘vibes’ he got from them.

‘Did you ever have a relationship with [Band]?,’ Maxwell was asked in a deposition.

‘We are talking about adult consensual relationships, it’s off the record,’ she answered.

Lawyers then requested that she define her relationship with Band.

‘I was friends with Doug but you are suggesting something more so I want to be clear what you are actually asking me,’ Maxwell replied. The heiress proceeded to not answer further questions around Clinton and Epstein’s friendship at this time.

Band worked in Clinton’s White House Counsel’s office and served as Deputy Assistant to the President before becoming his chief advisor from 2002 to 2011.

With Band’s help, Clinton fashioned a new role for his post presidency with his Clinton Global Initiative which donated millions to good causes.

Stephen Hawking 

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Stephen Hawking pictured at a barbecue on Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island Little St. James in 2006

Jeffrey Epstein was ready to reward one of his victim’s friends if they could ‘prove her allegations false’ – including that Professor Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy, the court documents revealed.

An email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell showed he was content for her to ‘issue a reward’ to any of Virginia Giuffre’s friends to counter her claims, shortly after she filed a civil claim in the US in 2015.

The email read: ‘You can issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false.

‘The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.’

Hawking died in 2018 aged 76.

David Copperfield 

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In her May 2016 deposition, Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg described going to a dinner at one of Epstein’s homes also attended by magician David Copperfield.

She said Copperfield did magic tricks before asking if she was aware ‘that girls were getting paid to find other girls.’

One of the key allegations against Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell was that some of the girls he paid for sex acts then acted as recruiters to find him other victims.

Sjoberg said Copperfield was not more specific about what he meant.

A publicist for Copperfield has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Michael Jackson

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg testified in the newly-released deposition that she once met Michael Jackson at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.

But she added that nothing untoward happened with the late pop icon.

Jackson died in Los Angeles aged 50 in June 2009.

Naomi Campbell

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Naomi was photographed at the Rosa Cha Post-Show Celebration party in 2002 with Ghislaine Maxwell

Pilot David Rodgers previously revealed logs from 2009 which showed Naomi Campbell was among those who flew on his jet.

In a video from 2019 she admitted that she knew Epstein, adding: ‘I was introduced to him on my 31st birthday by my ex-boyfriend Flavio [Briatore, the Italian businessman who has been convicted of fraud]. He was always front and centre at Victoria’s Secret shows.’

She was also pictured near Epstein’s alleged ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell at a party in 2002.

The model denied knowing about Epstein’s activities, adding: ‘What he’s done is indefensible and when I heard what he’d done it sickened me to my stomach… I have had my fair share of sexual predators.’

She said she was ‘shocked’ by the coverage of her friendships with disreputable characters, before adding: ‘I’m not a saint… but I will not be held hostage by my past.’

In the evidence released overnight Johanna Sjoberg says she never met Ms Campbell or saw her at Epstein’s homes.

Leonardo DiCaprio

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Leonardo DiCaprio at the 2024 Golden Globes

Epstein’s French modeling agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, who allegedly procured more than 1,000 women and girls for the paedophile financier to sleep with, died on in an apparent prison suicide to avoid trial.

Brunel was also often spotted partying with superstars like Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

In a 2016 deposition of Epstein victim Johanna Sjoberg was asked if she had met Mr DiCaprio.

Ms Sjoberg she said she never had – but that Epstein loved to name-drop celebrity names during massages.

‘When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging him, and he would get off -– he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, “Oh, that was Leonardo, or, That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis“. That kind of thing’.

Tom Pritzker 

In her deposition, Virginia Giuffre said she had sex with several politicians and financial leaders.

Giuffre’s deposition named several prominent figures who have previously denied her allegations of wrongdoing, including billionaire US businessman Tom Pritzker.

A spokesperson for Pritzker said the businessman ‘continues to vehemently deny’ the allegation.

Alan Dershowitz 

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In 2022, Virginia Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Jeffrey Epstein’s former attorney, law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she ‘ may have made a mistake ‘ in identifying him as an abuser.

According to one of the documents, Epstein allegedly forced a woman named as Jane Doe #3, who was a ‘minor’ at the time, to ‘have sexual relations’ with Dershowitz.

It also claimed: ‘In addition to being a participant in the abuse of Jane Doe #3 and other minors, Dershowitz was an eye-witness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein’s co-conspirators.’

But Dershowitz said in a statement to People: ‘The woman who initially accused me subsequently stated that she may have misidentified me and she withdrew her lawsuit against me.’

The high-profile lawyer supported the release of the documents.

He told NewsNation: ‘I want everything out, every document, every piece of paper, half-truths or lies, and I wanted them out for personal reasons because I know that they would prove what I’ve said from day one, that I did nothing wrong.

‘There are some people who may be ashamed of the fact that they hung out with Epstein but remember a lot of people hung out with Epstein before he was convicted.

‘Presidents of Harvard, deans, Nobel quality scientists, he was very well thought of in the beginning.’

Frédéric Fékkai

Celebrity hair stylist Frédéric Fékkai was named in the court documents, although it is unclear what relationship – if any – he had with Jeffrey Epstein.

In a deposition in May 2016 relating to Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg, she was asked by attorney Sigrid McCawley: ‘Did you ever hear or observe Jeffrey talking on the phone about Frédéric Fékkai?’

‘I heard him call someone, and say, Fékkai is in Hawaii,’ Sjoberg responded over the objection of the Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney Laura Menninger. ‘Can we find some girls for him?’

‘And what was your reaction to that?’ McCawley asked.

‘Well, I was massaging and I didn’t have a reaction,’ Sjoberg replied. ‘I tried to remain reactionless the whole five years.’

Fékkai has not yet commented on the claims.

Leslie Wexner

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Another name appearing in the documents was Leslie Wexner, a former business partner of Jeffrey Epstein who founded L Brands, a retail empire that included Victoria’s Secret.

He was referred to when Ghislaine Maxwell was asked if she provided a woman with an outfit of a sexual nature to wear for Wexner.

‘Categorically no,’ Maxwell replied. ‘You did get that, I said categorically no.’

She also denied that she had communicated with Wexner about the lawsuit.

Wexner previously said in a letter to his employees that that he ‘was never aware of the illegal activity’ that Epstein was charged over.

Glenn Dubin 

Virginia Giuffre claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Jeffrey Epstein’s social orbit, including the billionaire hedge fund Glenn Dubin, among others.

She said she also had sex with other political leaders whose names she could not remember.

All of those men, including Dubin, said her accounts were fabricated.

Dubin has not yet commented on the documents.

Jean-Luc Brunel 

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The documents name many public figures known to have associated with Jeffrey Epstein over the years, but whose relationships with him have already been well documented elsewhere, according to the judge.

One of them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022.

Virginia Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse. His name was peppered throughout the documents released today.

The documents show that Giuffre said during a 2016 deposition that she had been told by Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with several men.

After asking Giuffre in turn about each of the men, Laura Menninger, a lawyer who was part of Maxwell’s legal team at the time, asked: ‘Other than Glenn Dubin, (redacted), Prince Andrew, Jean Luc Brunel, Bill Richardson, another prince, the large hotel chain owner and Marvin Minsky, is there anyone else that Ghislaine Maxwell directed you to go have sex with?’

Ms Giuffre replied: ‘I am definitely sure there is. But can I remember everybody’s name? No.’

Ehud Barak

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Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, is claimed to have met with Jeffrey Epstein on various occasions.

The politician was allegedly a regular guest of Epstein’s at his Upper East Side townhouse and also flew on Epstein’s jet.

In her deposition, Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg denied ever meeting Barak.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal in April last year, Barak accepted that he met with Epstein while in New York and that Epstein ‘often brought other interesting persons, from art or culture, law or science, finance, diplomacy or philanthropy.’

But he insisted that he never met Epstein ‘with girls or minors, or even adult women in improper context or behaviour’.

Kevin Spacey 

Kevin Spacey was also mentioned in the documents once, in which Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg denied meeting him.

Sjoberg was asked by an attorney: ‘I may have already asked you, but have you met Kevin Spacey?’ She replied: ‘No’.

Separately, in July last year, Oscar-winning actor Spacey was cleared at Southwark Crown Court in London of a string of alleged sex attacks on younger men which were said to have taken place between 2001 and 2013.

Bill Richardson

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Virginia Giuffre’s deposition named several prominent figures who have previously denied her allegations, including the late New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

She said Ghislaine Maxwell asked her to give Mr Richardson a massage but added: ‘I don’t know dates.’

Giuffre added: ‘I can’t tell you where we were. I know where I was sent to. I don’t know where we were when she told me to do that.’

Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg was also asked whether she had met Governor Richardson.

She replied: ‘Hmm, I want to say that he was supposed to come to dinner when we were in New Mexico. I don’t know if I met him. I believe that he and Ghislaine had dinner separate from myself.’

Mr Richardson died aged 75 in September last year.

Al Gore 

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Former Vice President Al Gore, who served under Bill Clinton, was also among the well-known names mentioned in the documents.

He was referred to regarding materials that Ghislaine Maxwell sought from Virginia Giuffre before trial in the civil defamation lawsuit.

The document said Maxwell asked Giuffre to produce any photos or videos that she had that showed with a number of high-profile people, including Gore.

But Giuffre’s attorneys said she objected because any such alleged photographs were in the ‘custody and control’ of Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

While Guiffre previously claimed that Mr Gore travelled on Epstein’s private plane, a photo of Gore and Giuffre has never been released.

Gore has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

George Lucas 

Star Wars creator George Lucas was also named in the documents, although with no suggestion of any wrongdoing.

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg was asked in May 2016 whether she had ever met or given massages to a number of high-profile celebrities including Lucas.

But she denied having done so – and that was the only mention of Lucas in the document.

Who was paedophile Jeffrey Epstein? What was he accused of? How did he die?

A millionaire known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars, Epstein was initially arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.

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Andrew would call his friend Epstein every week, it has been claimed

Dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors ultimately allowed the financier to plead guilty in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.

Some famous acquaintances abandoned Epstein after his conviction, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but many did not.

Epstein continued to mingle with the rich and famous for another decade, often through philanthropic work.

Reporting by the Miami Herald renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking.

He killed himself in jail while awaiting trial.

The US attorney in Manhattan then prosecuted Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for helping recruit his underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison term.

What are the records about? Why have they been released?

The documents being unsealed are part of a 2015 lawsuit filed against Maxwell by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre.

She is one of the dozens of women who sued Epstein saying he had abused them at his homes in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico.

Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to become a ‘masseuse’ for Epstein – a job that involved performing sexual acts.

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The documents were released last night. The first tranche was of 943 pages, with more to come

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre holds a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others

Giuffre also claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Epstein’s social orbit, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, the former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and the billionaire Glenn Dubin, among others. All of those men said her accounts were fabricated.

Giuffre settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2022. That same year, Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Epstein’s former attorney, the law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she ‘ may have made a mistake ‘ in identifying him as an abuser.

Giuffre’s lawsuit against Maxwell was settled in 2017, but the Miami Herald went to court to access court papers initially filed under seal, including transcripts of interviews the lawyers did with potential witnesses.

About 2,000 pages were unsealed by a court in 2019. Additional documents were released in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The batch currently being released contains around 250 records that sections that were blacked out or were sealed entirely because of concerns about the privacy rights of Epstein’s victims and other people whose names had come up during the legal battle but weren’t complicit in his crimes.

Only around 40 of those documents were made public Wednesday. More will be released in the coming days.

What else can we expect to see in the coming days?

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who evaluated the documents to decide what should be unsealed, said in her December order that she was ordering the records released because much of the information within them is already public.

Some records have been released, either in part or in full, in other court cases.

The people named in the records include many of Epstein’s accusers, members of his staff who told their stories to tabloid newspapers, people who served as witnesses at Maxwell’s trial, people who were mentioned in passing during depositions but aren’t accused of anything salacious, and people who investigated Epstein, including prosecutors, a journalist and a police detective.

There are also boldface names of public figures known to have associated with Epstein over the years, but whose relationships with him have already been well documented elsewhere, the judge said.

One of them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022. Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.

His name was peppered throughout the documents released Wednesday.

Clinton and Trump both factor in the court file, partly because Giuffre was questioned by Maxwell’s lawyers about inaccuracies in newspaper stories about her time with Epstein. One story quoted her as saying she had ridden in a helicopter with Clinton and flirted with Trump. Giuffre said neither of those things actually happened. She hasn’t accused either former president of wrongdoing.

The judge said a handful of names should remain blacked out in the documents because they would identify people who were sexually abused. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they decide to tell their stories publicly, as Giuffre has done.

When will all the documents be released?

The judge hasn’t set a target for when all of the documents should be made public, but more documents are expected to come in the next few days.