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Documents from the third round of litigation involving convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison before he could stand trial on federal sex trafficking charges, were released Friday.
Friday’s release included more than 1,300 Hundreds of pages of documents had been released as of mid-afternoon, and more are expected to be released, following the hundreds already unsealed Wednesday and Thursday.
The unsealed documents reveal that Virginia Roberts, an American woman who alleges that Mr. Epstein sexually abused her when she was a minor, and that Mr. Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, abetted the abuse. It is part of a 2015 civil defamation lawsuit filed by Giuffre. This week’s unsealing follows a court order issued by the judge overseeing the case on Dec. 18 in response to media legal efforts to release the documents publicly.
The total document, which includes material not yet sealed, is expected to include nearly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, prominent businessmen and politicians, and potentially more. includes more names.
CNN is reviewing the documents.
famous friends and acquaintances
Jeffrey Epstein’s former employee names a number of prominent and influential people in Epstein’s orbit, including two former presidents, in a 2009 deposition unsealed Friday. talked about it in detail.
Juan Alessi told his lawyers that he had dinner with former President Donald Trump in Epstein’s Palm Beach kitchen and met with former President Bill Clinton on Epstein’s plane. According to his affidavit, he also said he met Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson at his home in Palm Beach.
Alessi also said he met a foreign beauty queen and an unknown Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, according to the document.
On Wednesday, when asked about Clinton’s name appearing on the earlier unsealed documents, her press secretary reiterated her 2019 statement that she had boarded Epstein’s private plane. , Mr. Clinton said he knew nothing about the financier’s “horrible crimes.”
“Nearly 20 years have passed since President Clinton last had contact with Mr. Epstein,” the spokesperson said. Mr. Clinton has not been charged with any crime or wrongdoing related to Mr. Epstein.
Mr. Trump has not been charged with any crime or wrongdoing regarding Mr. Epstein. Trump’s press secretary responded earlier this week by attacking the media when asked about Trump’s name appearing in newly unsealed documents.
Alessi also spoke of young women who came to Epstein’s house to give them massages.
Mr. Alessi responded to a question about one woman, who he understood to be under 18. Her name was still redacted from the unsealed document. Alessi said her mother sometimes accompanies her to Epstein’s home.
As for pay, “everyone received $100 an hour,” Alessi said.
Renowned magician and illusionist David Copperfield is also one of the prominent people identified as Epstein’s friends.
Mr. Copperfield’s name was mentioned in a deposition released Friday by Sarah Kellen, one of Mr. Epstein’s then-employees. Plaintiffs’ lawyers asked about Mr. Epstein’s relationship with the illusionist and whether they solicited girls from each other. The lawyer questioned whether Mr. Copperfield gave tickets to young women during performances of Mr. Epstein’s shows, and whether the girls were invited backstage after the show.
In response to all questions, Mr. Kelen asserts his Fifth Amendment rights and refuses to answer questions.
Copperfield was also named in a 2016 deposition released Wednesday by a woman who massaged Epstein for years in the early 2000s. She said she met the illusionist at a dinner party at Mr. Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, and it was her opinion that the two were friends, she testified.
Johanna Sjoberg testified in a deposition that Copperfield performed magic tricks while at his Palm Beach house and asked Epstein what she knew about how he procured girls to work for him. .
“He asked if I knew the girls were being paid to find other girls,” Sjoberg said.
Shoberg said Copperfield did not elaborate at the time.
She also said there was another girl in the house who looked “younger” at the dinner party that Mr. Copperfield also attended. She recalled thinking the girl might have been in high school at the time.
CNN has reached out to Copperfield representatives for comment.
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s name also appears in a 2005 handwritten note left for Epstein.
The handwritten note, dated March 1, 2005, appears to be a phone message Weinstein left for Epstein when he tried to call him that morning. “She was on the phone with Mr. Harvey Weinstein,” the message said. The message was among nearly 200 phone messages.
Evidence from Epstein-related lawsuits
Unsealed legal documents in a civil case related to Jeffrey Epstein show a handwritten phone message saying Harvey Weinstein called him. A close-up of that message is shown here.
Brad Edwards, Giuffre’s former lawyer, wrote a book published in 2020 titled “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for Jeffrey Epstein’s Victims,” in which he discussed Weinstein’s involvement in the world of Mr. Edwards wrote that Mr. Epstein told the victim that he would introduce him to Mr. Weinstein. In another excerpt, Mr. Edwards wrote that he ended his relationship with Mr. Weinstein because Mr. Epstein acted too aggressively towards one of Mr. Weinstein’s “favorite women.”
The documents do not suggest any wrongdoing by Weinstein in relation to Epstein.
CNN has reached out to Weinstein’s attorney.
Mr. Weinstein, 71, has been convicted of sex crimes in New York and California in connection with allegations that he used his influence to lure women into private meetings, assault them, and then silence their accusations. He is currently in prison.
Some documents are disturbing.
In newly unsealed excerpts from accuser Nadia Marcinkova’s deposition, lawyer David Yarema asks Marcinkova: Is Jeffrey Epstein sexually abusing them? ”
He then asked, “Are these three 12-year-olds from France?” Were they sent by Jean-Luc Brunel for his birthday, or were they sent by someone else? ”
Ms. Marcinkova invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to that question and throughout her deposition. It still contains multiple names that have been redacted.
Brunel, a French model scout, died in custody in 2022 while under investigation by French authorities for her ties to Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre also detailed in her court deposition how her 12-year-old children were sent to Epstein.
Previous document releases included information about Epstein’s associates and accusers, much of which had previously been reported in various media outlets or made public through other court proceedings.
Giuffre and Maxwell settled their civil lawsuit in 2017, but some court documents remained sealed until now.
Most of the documents in the case were unsealed in 2019, the day before Epstein died by suicide in prison.
Epstein was indicted in 2019 on federal charges for running a sex trafficking ring and sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.
Epstein died in prison while awaiting trial. New York prosecutors charged Maxwell with sex trafficking charges involving multiple victims. She was sentenced in 2021.
This is breaking news. Please check the latest information.
Contributors: CNN’s Riley Gutierrez-McDiarmid, Kara Scannell and Kurt Devine.
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