This Friday, January 5, the third batch of court files related to the case of millionaire Jeffrey Epstein was published. A measure that was carried out after the judge of the federal court for the Southern District of New York, Loretta Preska, ordered the disclosure of the until now sealed evidence, which was part of a civil defamation lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein, against his ex-lover and partner, Ghislaine Maxwell.
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Is about 411 pages containing emails and witness statements, about which there are still no further details, and which follow the publication of two previous batches of documents. The previous 40 contained about 1,000 pages and were revealed on Wednesday, January 3, while another 19 were published on Thursday, with 327 pages.
Epstein committed suicide in prison in 2019, while waiting to be prosecuted for sex trafficking of minors. Previously, she had served a brief 13-month prison sentence between 2008 and 2009 for soliciting sexual services from a minor.
More than 200 names of politicians were mentioned in Giuffre's lawsuitbusinessmen, academics and entertainment figures, although the mere inclusion in the so-called Epstein list does not imply that all of them have been part of illegal practices with minors.
New testimonials
The documents revealed Thursday include testimony from a young woman identified as 'Jane Doe 3,' who accused Epstein of forcing her to have sexual relations with “numerous prominent U.S. politicians, powerful business executives, a well-known prime minister and others.” leaders,” since she was recruited at age 15 by Ghislaine Maxwell, the only participant in the Epstein plot who has been tried and convicted.
According to 'Jane Doe 3', Epstein used her to obtain business favors from these men, but also requested details of their meetings, to later use them as blackmail, if necessary.
The 10-page testimony claims that the young woman was forced to have relations with Prince Andrew of England three times: in Maxwell's apartment in London, in New York and on Epstein's private island in the Virgin Islands, during what he described as an “orgy where there were many minors.”
The London Metropolitan Police, Scotland Yard, ruled out this Friday initiating new investigations against Prince Andrew, as requested by the British anti-monarchy organization Republic.
“We are aware of the disclosure of court documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein,” a Scotland Yard spokesperson said. “As with any matter, if new and relevant information is presented to us, we will evaluate it. No investigation has been commenced.”
The third son of the late Queen Elizabeth and younger brother of King Charles III has repeatedly denied having had relations with Giuffre, but he was stripped of all his military honors, his royal rights and reached an agreement with the woman in 2022, in exchange for payment of an undisclosed amount.
The batch declassified this Friday also includes the interrogations carried out on Ghislaine Maxwell during the process against her launched by Giuffre, which shows that she limited herself to evasive answers to questions such as whether she had introduced the woman and Prince Andrew. Maxwell responded that she did not remember, even though among the evidence used in her case was a photo of her with Giuffre and the then Duke of York.
Multiple speculations
The documents do not offer any major news regarding what was already known, although they are a reminder of Epstein's practices, such as using minors in a type of pyramid scheme to recruit other young girls, or how he used his powerful connections to keep his crimes covered.
The papers are based on Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, but dozens of other women affected by Epstein came to file lawsuits against him for having abused them.
In fact, Judge Preska has explained that she ordered the publication of the papers because most of the data contained in them was already common knowledge. However, the decision to declassify the documents has brought with it a flood of speculation, inaccuracies, rumors and in some cases, lies about the content.
For example, numerous social media users have repeated that Epstein's client list includes television host Jimmy Kimmel, although his name only came to the fore due to a joke by American football player Aaron Rodgers on another television program.
The same thing happens with the mention of the deceased physicist Stephen Hawkingwho appears on the list after the discovery of an email, with his name misspelled, dating back to 2015, in which Epstein suggested offering a reward to anyone who would deny an unfounded accusation against Hawking.
The list also includes former employees who apparently had no involvement in Epstein's criminal network. For example, Sarah Kellen, a former secretary, was accused by an adult victim of the millionaire of having scheduled her trips and appointments with him, knowing that she would be abused.
Kellen responded through a spokesperson in 2020 that she was carrying out such tasks at the request of Epstein and Maxwell, and that she herself had suffered sexual and psychological abuse for years.
It is expected that in total about 250 documents between this week and nextas part of Judge Preska's decision.
With AP, Reuters and EFE
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