A trove of nearly 1,000 pages of court records related to the sex trafficking case of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender who died in jail in 2019, was unsealed on Wednesday, revealing the names of many of his friends and business associates.
The documents are part of a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, against his former girlfriend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison term. Giuffre accused Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls, and also claimed that she was forced to have sex with several prominent men in Epstein’s social circle, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, former US president Bill Clinton, and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
The unsealed records include depositions, emails, flight logs, police reports, and other evidence that shed light on the extent and nature of Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, as well as the identities of some of his powerful and influential contacts. Some of the names that were previously redacted from the documents are:
- Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret. Wexner was Epstein’s longtime patron and gave him access to his private jet and mansion. Wexner has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and said he cut ties with him in 2007.
- Glenn Dubin, the co-founder of hedge fund Highbridge Capital Management. Dubin and his wife, Eva Andersson-Dubin, a former Miss Sweden, were close friends of Epstein and Maxwell. Giuffre alleged that she had sex with Dubin at Epstein’s request when she was 17. Dubin has denied the allegation and said he had no involvement in Epstein’s illegal activities.
- Jean-Luc Brunel, the former owner of MC2 Model Management, a modeling agency that Epstein invested in. Brunel was accused of supplying Epstein with young girls from around the world, some as young as 12. Brunel was arrested in France in 2020 and is facing charges of rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking. He has denied the charges and said he was never a partner of Epstein.
- Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, and Nadia Marcinkova, four of Epstein’s former employees who allegedly helped him arrange and cover up his sexual encounters with minors. They were granted immunity from prosecution as part of Epstein’s controversial plea deal in 2008, but they are still under investigation by federal authorities. They have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights and refused to cooperate with the inquiry.
The unsealing of the documents comes after a long legal battle between Giuffre and Maxwell, who tried to keep them secret, arguing that they contained sensitive and defamatory information. A federal judge ordered the release of the documents in 2019, but Maxwell appealed the decision. The US court of appeals for the second circuit upheld the order in 2020, and the US supreme court declined to hear Maxwell’s appeal in 2021.
The documents are expected to fuel further public interest and scrutiny in the Epstein case, which has sparked numerous conspiracy theories and allegations of cover-ups and corruption involving some of the world’s most powerful people. The case has also raised questions about the failures of the criminal justice system and the media to hold Epstein and his associates accountable for their crimes.