Prosecutors said that they found this photograph of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during the 2019 raid on Epstein’s New York townhouse. (Photo via DOJ)
A federal court on Wednesday, after much anticipation, moved forward with the release of numerous names that came up over the course of litigation connected to the rampant sexual abuse of young girls committed by the mysteriously wealthy, jet-setting, connected financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, whose infamous crimes and death behind bars before he could be held accountable in a court of law made him a household name in America and around the globe.
On Dec. 18, Senior U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska detailed her findings as to whether or not to unseal the names of nearly 200 John and Jane Does mentioned in prominent Jeffrey Epstein victim and Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre’s nearly decade-old defamation case against the eventually convicted Epstein accomplice and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
On Wednesday, Preska issued an order that noted only Does 107 and 110 argued against unsealing, the former claiming “unsealing would cause her physical harm.” While Doe 107 has until Jan. 22 to submit those arguments in opposition, the rest of the parties “have informed the Court that they will begin filing the unsealed records outlined in this Court’s December 18 Order later” on Wednesday, the judge said.
Giuffre, née Virginia Roberts, sued Maxwell in the Southern District of New York for defamation in 2015, which was years before the Miami Herald’s Julie K. Brown and her “Perversion of Justice” investigative reporting brought to national light the sweetheart deal that let Epstein skate on federal charges in 2008, Epstein’s resulting cushy county jail stint with work release privileges for soliciting prostitution from a minor, and the immunization of his potential co-conspirators (like Sarah Kellen, who went on to marry NASCAR driver Brian Vickers, and Nadia Marcinkova) from prosecution (at least in Florida) for facilitating the serial abuse of young girls — all while the government kept victims and the public in the dark.
The lawsuit said Maxwell had not only “facilitated” Giuffre’s sex trafficking and abuse but also defamed her when she “wrongfully subjected Giuffre to public ridicule, contempt and disgrace by, among other things, calling Giuffre a liar in published statements with the malicious intent of discrediting and further damaging Giuffre worldwide.” Giuffre alleged Maxwell defamed her through an agent’s statement that said the sex trafficking allegations were “untrue,” “shown to be untrue,” and “obvious lies.”
Though the Giuffre lawsuit settled and was voluntarily dismissed in 2017, the case docket remained active for years and years as various parties fought for and fought against the release of documents long believed to contain new details about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and the so-called “Lolita Express,” his enablers and former employees, victims, and the names of some of the world’s most powerful people in politics, the royal class, and business.
Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 federal sex trafficking arrest and jailhouse death the next month, itself a source of national controversy (as the “Epstein didn’t kill himself” meme illustrates), and Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest a year later only intensified the document unsealing efforts.
In advance of the release of the documents, Judge Preska’s unsealing order provided a measure of clarity on which Does would or wouldn’t be named and why, sometimes including links to news articles that already publicly named individuals.
For example, Does 3 and 4, who did not object to unsealing and already came forward more than a decade ago in a media interview, meaning documents naming them were subject to release. The judge included a hyperlink to a 2011 Daily Mail interview of Cathy and Miles Alexander, which identified them as managers of Epstein’s private island Little St. James — the U.S. Virgin Islands property now known as “Pedophile Island.”
Doe 5 was evidently Epstein victim Carolyn Andriano, a friend of Virginia Giuffre’s who testified at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial. After the trial, she revealed her name in a Daily Mail article where she recalled Giuffre, then a minor, telling her she “got to sleep with” Prince Andrew while in London with Epstein and Maxwell.
It was also clear prior to unsealing that Doe 8 was former President Bill Clinton’s ex-body man Doug Band, as the judge pointed to the 2020 Vanity Fair article “Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile” — a story about Band that included the several references to Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their connections to the Clintons:
By the fall of 2011, the rivalry had turned into a war of attrition. Band looked for an advantage anywhere he could find one. The Clintons’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell provided one. Band told me he had been trying to push Epstein out of Clinton’s orbit ever since their much-discussed 2002 trip to Africa aboard Epstein’s private 727, dubbed the “Lolita Express.” Band recalled that Epstein had made a bunch of ridiculous claims on the trip, like boasting that he invented the derivatives market. Band said he had no idea about Epstein’s sex crimes back then but got enough bad vibes that he advised Clinton to end the relationship. But Clinton continued to socialize with Epstein and take his money. In 2006 Epstein donated $25,000 to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton made more than two dozen trips on Epstein’s jet around this time, Epstein’s flight logs show. In January 2003, according to Band, Clinton visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St. James. Band said it was one of the few trips he declined to go on in his time with Clinton. A Clinton spokesperson said the president had never been to the island and provided detailed travelogue entries of the period in question that did not contain a visit.
Chelsea had ties to Epstein and Maxwell, Band said; he showed me a photo of Bill and Chelsea posing with Epstein and Maxwell at the King of Morocco’s wedding. Chelsea remained friends with Maxwell for years after the press revealed Maxwell was a close associate of Epstein’s. For instance, Chelsea invited Maxwell to her 2010 wedding at the Brooke Astor estate in Rhinebeck, New York, after Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida to procuring sex from a minor.
It was similarly apparent that Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent long-known to be connected to Epstein and who repeatedly flew on Epstein’s jet, would be named. Brunel died by hanging in 2022 in France following his arrest in a rape and sex trafficking investigation.
Nor was it a surprise to see repeated references to Bill Clinton, who was reported to be Doe 36 ahead of unsealing.
While several Does’ names remained redacted, as they were victims of sexual abuse (most of them when they were minors), other documents naming publicly known victims were ordered released (see: Doe 44, Epstein victim Anouska De Georgiou, Doe 45, Epstein victim Teala Davies, and Does 63 and 64, Epstein and Maxwell victims Annie and Maria Farmer.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the first batch of documents released on Wednesday.
Ghislaine Maxwell sends a worried email after realizing she opened herself up to Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit
On Jan. 10, 2015, Maxwell emailed her agent Ross Gow, after he had called Giuffre a liar on his client’s behalf. The fallen British socialite sensed that a “US legal nightmare” was on the horizon:
I am out of my depth to understanding defamation and other legal hazards and don’t want to end up in a law suit aimed at me from anyone if I can help it. Apparently even saying Virginia is a lier has hazard! I have never been in a suit criminal or civil and want it to stay that way.
The US lawyers for the Jane Does are filling additional discovery motions and if I speak I open my self to being part of discovery apparently. I am trying to stay out of litigation and not have to employ lawyers for years as I get lost in US legal nightmare. I stand no legal risk currently on these old charges and civil suits against Jeffrey We need to consult with US lawyers on any statement I make and the complaints too
Perhaps we make a statement ofthe legal risk of saying anything for potential defamation or something that prevents a full and frank detailed rebuttal+ the press not being the place for that? Regardless, Philip plse call jeffrey lawyer and see what you can under.stand from him and pehaps craft something in conjunction with him? Either way I think you need to speak to him to understand my risk so you can help me understand it – too may cooks in the kitchen and l can’t make good decisions. Plse reach out to him today+ 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 he’ll even looks like – statements that don’t address all just lead to more questions..what is my relationship to clinton ? Andrew on and on.
Let’s rest till monday. I need head space
Virginia Giuffre recalls in a deposition that she had sex with Hyatt Hotels billionaire Tom Pritzker one time — and that she was trafficked to a “Spanish” president
In a May 2016 deposition, Giuffre was asked if she was sexually trafficked to foreign presidents. She confirmed that she was “lent out for the purposes of sex” to a “Spanish” president she estimated to be in his 40s at the time.
She said that she believed he met the man in New Mexico, which is where Jeffrey Epstein owned a multimillion dollar ranch.
“Possibly New Mexico. I’m sorry. It’s really hard to go back and remember lots of different events with lots of different people,” Giuffre said.
From there, Giuffre was directly asked about Tom Pritzker and how many times she had sex with him.
“I believe I was with Tom once,” Giuffre said.
Other documents shed more light on the circumstances, as Giuffre remembered them.
Maxwell attorney Laura Menninger asked: “Where were you sent to have sex with the owner of a large hotel chain by Ghislaine Maxwell?”
“I believe that was one time in France,” Giuffre answered. “I believe it was around the same time that Naomi Campbell,” a world renowned model, “had a birthday party.”
“Where did you have sex with the owner of a large hotel chain in France around the time of Naomi Campbell’s birthday party?” Menninger followed up.
“In his own cabana townhouse thing. It was part of a hotel, but I wouldn’t call it a hotel,” Giuffre said. “Jeffrey was staying there. Ghislaine was staying there. Emmy was staying there. I was staying there. This other guy was staying there. I don’t know his name. I was instructed by Ghislaine to go give him an erotic massage.”
“She used the words erotic massage?” Menninger asked.
“No, that’s my word,” Giuffre clarified. “The word massage is what they would use. That’s their code word.”
Giuffre said Maxwell “was not in the room” but “was in another cabana” when the erotic massage of Pritzker allegedly took place.
From there, the line of questioning shifted to ask Giuffre about having sex with Marvin Minsky, an MIT professor and computer scientist who died in January 2016, and about being “directed” to have have sex with Glenn Dubin (a billionaire investor married to Jeffrey Epstein’s model ex-girlfriend Eva Andersson), Prince Andrew, Jean-Luc Brunel, “another prince,” and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Menninger asked Giuffre if there was anyone else Maxwell “directed” her to “go have sex with?”
“I am definitely sure there is,” she replied. “But can I remember everybody’s name? No.”
Giuffre’s legal team pushed to depose Bill Clinton for a “necessary” reason
Giuffre attorney Sigrid McCawley in June 2016 submitted a filing that said the “only remaining witness” they wanted to grill under oath was one “William Jefferson Clinton.”
“His deposition is necessary for the following reason,” the filing said, before elaborating:
In a 2011 interview, Ms. Giuffre mentioned former President Bill Clinton’s close personal relationship with Defendant and Jeffrey Epstein. While Ms. Giuffre made no allegations of illegal actions by Bill Clinton, Ms. Maxwell in her deposition raised Ms. Giuffre’s comments about President Clinton as one of the “obvious lies” to which she was referring in her public statement that formed the basis of this suit. Apart from the Defendant and Mr. Epstein, former President Clinton is a key person who can provide information about his close relationship with Defendant and Mr. Epstein and disapprove Ms. Maxwell’s claims.
During Maxwell’s deposition (see page 13), she said it was “100 percent false” that Bill Clinton “had a meal on Jeffrey’s island” but that she was “sure he had a meal on Jeffrey’s plane.” She claimed not to know how many times Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane, but disputed Giuffre’s since-recanted story about seeing Clinton fly to Epstein’s island on a helicopter.
Maxwell then referred to Doug Band as a friend of hers.
Johanna Sjoberg, an Epstein employee and victim, recalls “Clinton likes them young” line and names famous men
During a May 2016 deposition, Johanna Sjoberg recalled meeting Epstein friend and magician David Copperfield and heard Jeffrey Epstein talking on the phone about the French celebrity hairstylist Frederic Fekkai. Sjoberg said Copperfield performed magic tricks at a dinner and once questioned her “if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls.”
Moments later, she was asked about Fekkai.
“Did you ever hear or observe Jeffrey Epstein talking on the phone about Frederic Fekkai?” Sjoberg was asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“What did you hear?”
“I heard him call someone, and say, Fekkai is in Hawaii. Can we find some girls for him?” Sjoberg said.
“And what was your reaction to that?” an attorney followed up.
“Well, I was massaging and I didn’t have a reaction. I tried to remain reaction less the whole five years,” Sjoberg said.
Sjoberg recalled a creepy incident where Jeffrey Epstein took her shopping at Victoria’s Secret (whose CEO was billionaire Epstein pal Les Wexner) and Epstein went into the fitting room with her after he “picked out everything” for her to wear. She also recalled Epstein, more than once, telling her that he wanted her to be the mother of his baby.
On Bill Clinton, Sjoberg said that she only figured out Clinton and Epstein were friends when she read a Vanity Fair article about a trip to Africa.
“Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?” a lawyer asked.
“He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls,” Sjoberg answered.
Ghislaine Maxwell got heated and knocked a court reporter’s computer off a table after she was questioned during a deposition about Prince Andrew
While Maxwell’s lawyers repeatedly grilled Giuffre on memory lapses, Giuffre’s lawyers said Maxwell should take a look in the mirror:
Defendant even testified that she did not recall having Ms. Giuffre at her London townhome with Prince Andrew. Defendant stuck to this incredible story despite flight logs establishing her traveling to London with Ms. Giuffre and despite a photograph the three – Ms. Giuffre, Prince Andrew and Defendant – all standing together in Defendant’s home. See McCawley Decl. at Exhibit 1, April 22, 2016 Deposition of Defendant at p. 108-111. Defendant’s deposition consisted almost entirely of “I don’t recalls” or “I refuse to answer that question” and also included a physical outburst that knocked the court reporter’s computer off the conference room table. See McCawley Decl. at Exhibit 1, April 22, 2016 Deposition of Defendant at 207-208.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell email together in 2015 to discredit Virginia Giuffre and “helpful leakage” follows
On Jan. 12, 2015, Epstein emailed Maxwell saying “you can issue a reward to any of virginias friends acqauionts family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false the strongest is the clinton dinner, and the new version in the virgin isalnds that stvn hawking partita-ted in an underage orgy.”
A month later, Maxwell’s agent notified her of some “helpful leakage” in the media.
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