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Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy individual known for his connections with celebrities, politicians, billionaires, and academic figures, faced in itial legal trouble in 2005 when he was arrested in Palm Beach, Florida.
The charges stemmed from allegations of paying a 14-year-old girl for sexual services. Despite numerous accounts from other underage girls describing similar incidents of sexual abuse, prosecutors allowed Epstein to plead guilty in 2008 to a charge related to a single victim. He served a 13-month sentence in a jail work-release program, AP reported.
Also Read: Prince Andrew named in Jeffrey Epstein court files
The report further noted that following his conviction, some notable associates, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, distanced themselves from Epstein, while others continued their associations. Despite the controversy, Epstein remained in social circles involving the rich and famous for an additional decade, often engaging in philanthropic activities.
What are these records about?
The unsealed documents are associated with a lawsuit initiated in 2015 against Ghislaine Maxwell by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre is among numerous women who filed lawsuits against Epstein, alleging that they were subjected to abuse at his residences in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and New Mexico.
Also Read: Bill Gates was blackmailed by Jeffrey Epstein for his affair with a 20-yr-old Russian bridge player
Giuffre claimed that when she was 17 years old, she was enticed away from her job as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to work as a “masseuse” for Epstein. This role involved engaging in sexual activities.
Approximately 2,000 pages were made public by a court in 2019, and further documents were disclosed in the subsequent years of 2020, 2021, and 2022. The upcoming set of approximately 250 records contains redacted sections or is entirely sealed.
How to access these records?
The ‘Court Listener’ website, where Epstein documents are hosted, experiences a crash due to an overwhelming increase in traffic.
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However, Free Law Project in a post on X said, “We are getting utterly hammered by the Epstein docs and are working on a fix. In the meantime, the https://storage.courtlistener.com. links work fine. Reply here with the storage links folks will want and hopefully, we can recover the site. Thank you and apologies!”
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What to expect now?
As reported by AP, US District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who assessed the documents to determine their unsealing, stated in her December order that she decided to release the records because a significant portion of the information contained in them is already publicly available.
The individuals mentioned in the documents encompass Epstein’s accusers, members of his staff who shared their accounts with tabloid newspapers, witnesses who testified during Maxwell’s trial, and people referenced in depositions without facing allegations of inappropriate conduct.
Also Read: Bill Clinton named as ‘Doe 36’ in confidential court papers for Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse case
Additionally, the list includes individuals involved in investigating Epstein, such as prosecutors, a journalist, and a detective.
Noteworthy public figures, already known for their associations with Epstein through prior documentation, are also present, as highlighted by the judge. Among them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modelling agent with close ties to Epstein, who faced charges of raping underage girls before he died in a Paris jail in 2022. Virginia Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Published: 04 Jan 2024, 07:30 AM IST
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