Federal Judge Loretta Preska ruled on Tuesday that, starting Jan. 1, the identities of over 150 influential associates of Jeffrey Epstein will be unsealed and made public.
The names are listed in files belonging to a civil case involving Ghislaine Maxwell's role in the sexual abuse of Virginia Giuffre. Anyone who did not successfully keep their name out of the civil case has until New Year's Eve to object to it becoming public.
Maxwell is currently serving 20 years for her role in Epstein's operation. A jury found her guilty in December 2021 of “facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children.”
Epstein's sex trafficking operation allegedly included many high-profile participants. Many wondered if Maxwell would cooperate with the government to expose other perpetrators. But even if she decided to cooperate, experts concluded at the time that she would be unlikely to escape a significant prison sentence.
Epstein and Maxwell groomed vulnerable and overlooked underage girls to attend to the desires of high-powered figures. Giuffre said Epstein and Maxwell began trafficking her when she was 15.
In one unsealed interview, Giuffre claimed that she saw former President Bill Clinton at Epstein's private island, Little Saint James, dubbed “Pedophile Island” by locals.
“I remember asking Jeffrey what's Bill Clinton doing here kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said ‘well he owes me a favor,'” Guiffre recalled in a 2011 phone interview.
“He never told me what favors they were,” she explained. “I never knew. I didn't know if he was serious. It was just a joke…He told me a long time ago that everyone owes him favors. They're all in each other's pockets.” Guiffre didn't say if Clinton was involved in the island's reportedly nefarious activities.
The former president's relationship with Epstein has led some to wonder if that is why a recent Senate Judiciary Committee meeting was suddenly adjourned after a Republican senator said she would try to subpoena Epstein's flight logs.
In April, a Wall Street Journal investigative report disclosed details of Epstein's private calendar for the first time. The calendar included notes of meetings with current CIA Director William Burns when he served as deputy secretary of state, former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, Bard College President Leon Botstein and Noam Chomsky.
All of the meetings occurred after Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution involving a minor.
None of those individuals' named in The Wall Street Journal's reporting appeared in Epstein's black book or flight manifest.
In 2006, Palm Beach police began an investigation into accusations that Epstein molested at least 40 young women and girls. 2008, he pleaded guilty to two state charges, avoiding a potential life sentence.
A secret arrangement with then-U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alex Acosta, spared Epstein from decades behind bars. Acosta claimed he agreed to the sweetheart deal because his superiors told him Epstein was involved in intelligence work “above his pay grade.”
Epstein and Maxwell rubbed shoulders with Bill Clinton, Great Britain's Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, Wall Street billionaire Leon Black, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine.
On July 6, 2019, an FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested Epstein at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. A raid at his New York City townhouse found evidence of what authorities described as a sex trafficking empire.
At the time of his death, Epstein was being held without bail at New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center. Although his jailers promised the Justice Department they would have a guard check his cell every 30 minutes, those procedures weren't followed on the night of his alleged suicide. The two security cameras within view of his cell also malfunctioned.
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