Epstein list: Who is named in unsealed documents so far?

Celebrities and former politicians are mentioned in evidence that formed part of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's civil lawsuit against his former lover Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015. Many have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Some 60 of 250 previously sealed documents relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released by a US court.

After Judge Loretta Preska ruled they could be unsealed in December and no objections were made, the first set of court papers were published on 3 January.

They largely consist of legal arguments and interviews carried out for Virginia Giuffre's 2015 civil lawsuit against Epstein's former lover Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming girls for him.

Epstein offered reward to disprove orgy claim

Image:Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: AP

Ms Giuffre has been the most vocal of Epstein's accusers and settled a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew for a reported $12m (£9.5m) in 2022.

The Duke of York, who stepped back from public life and was stripped of his titles over his association with Epstein, vehemently denies Ms Giuffre's claims.

One of the files released this week is evidence from a woman called Johanna Sjoberg, another of Epstein's alleged victims.

Image:Johanna Sjoberg. Pic: ANL/Shutterstock

In it are references to celebrities, politicians, and philanthropists, many of whom are not accused of wrongdoing but are believed to have known or associated with the late paedophile.

Epstein was first arrested in 2005 and later found dead in his New York prison cell while awaiting trial on further sex trafficking charges.

Here we look at some of the most well-known names in the newly released documents.

Prince Andrew

Image:Pic: AP

Ms Sjoberg's evidence says Prince Andrew touched her breast while on a sofa at Epstein's New York mansion in 2001 while he, Maxwell, and Ms Giuffre were there. The Duke of York and Buckingham Palace strongly deny this.

She says Maxwell took out a puppet - believed to be the one of the duke used for the BBC satire Spitting Image.

The evidence reads: "It looked like him. And she [Maxwell] brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.

"And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch.

"They put the puppet on Virginia's lap, and I sat on Andrew's lap, and they put the puppet's hand on Virginia's breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo."

Ms Giuffre's evidence claims she was "sex-trafficked to PA [Prince Andrew] and other men, including two of the world's most respected politicians" with those names redacted. The duke has always denied this.

A transcript of a video interview with Epstein's Palm Beach housekeeper Juan Alessi also sees him claim the duke "spent weeks there" and would have "daily massages".

Michael Jackson

Image:Pic: AP

Ms Sjoberg is asked in evidence: "Did you ever meet anybody famous when you were with Jeffrey?"

She replies: "I met Michael Jackson", adding that it was "at Jeffrey's house in Palm Beach".

Asked if she "massaged him", as she alleges she was forced to do with Epstein and others, she responds: "I did not."

Donald Trump

Image:Epstein and Trump in 2002

The former US president was pictured socialising with Epstein and Maxwell and the pair are thought to have been friends.

Asked in her evidence if she ever massaged him on Epstein or Maxwell's request, she said no.

She later says that on one occasion she was on a plane with the pair and Ms Giuffre, which was told it could not land as expected in New York. Instead, it was diverted to Atlantic City, where Mr Trump had a casino.

Ms Sjoberg says: "Jeffrey said 'Great, we'll call up Trump and we'll go to - I don't recall the name of the casino, but - we'll go to the casino'."

Bill Clinton

A spokesperson for Clinton said in 2019 that he "knows nothing of Epstein's terrible crimes" and cut off all contact with him after he was first arrested in 2005.

Ms Sjoberg is asked: "Do you know if Bill Clinton was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein?"

She replies: "I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together."

Epstein flew many well-known philanthropists and politicians around the world in his private jet to visit various international development project sites.

Quizzed if Epstein "ever talked to her about Clinton", she replies: "He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls."

An email from Ms Giuffre to Vanity Fair journalist Sharon Churcher in May 2011 also sees the former claim Mr Clinton threatened the publication "not to write sex-trafficking articles" about Epstein.

Separate evidence from Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome sees her tell a journalist in 2016 that sex tapes were filmed of Mr Clinton, Prince Andrew and others, by Epstein. A 2019 article in the New Yorker reports she invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein's behaviour".

Stephen Hawking

Image:Pic: AP

As well as Ms Sjoberg's evidence, an email from Epstein to Maxwell is included in the unsealed files from soon after Ms Giuffre filed her 2015 lawsuit.

In it, Epstein says Maxwell should "issue a reward" to any one of Ms Giuffre's associates who can prove any of the allegations in the lawsuit to be false.

"You can issue a reward to any of Virginia's friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false," it says.

"The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy."

The late physicist Stephen Hawking was photographed on Epstein's Caribbean island in March 2006, as part of a trip to a science conference on neighbouring island St Thomas.

The conference was paid for by Epstein and saw 20 other scientists attend. There is no accusation of any wrongdoing by Mr Hawking.

Sir Richard Branson

Emails from Ms Ransome to a reporter in 2016 claim Sir Richard Branson, Mr Clinton and Prince Andrew were filmed having sex with people by Epstein.

They read: "When my friend had sexual intercourse with Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson, sex tapes were in fact filmed on each separate occasion by Jeffrey.

"Thank God she managed to get a hold of some footage of the filmed sex tapes, which clearly identify the faces of Clinton, Prince Andrew and Branson having sexual intercourse with her.

"Frustratingly enough Epstein was not seen in any of the footage but he was clever like that!

"When my friend eventually had the courage to speak out and went to the police in 2008 to report what had happened, nothing was done and she was utterly humiliated by the police department where she went to report what had happened with Epstein, Clinton, Branson and Prince Andrew."

A New Yorker article, released in 2019, reported Ms Ransome admitted "she had invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein's behaviour, and to make him believe that she had 'evidence that would come out if he harmed me'".

On behalf of Sir Richard Branson, a Virgin Group spokeswoman said: "In a New Yorker report published in 2019, Ransome admitted that she had 'invented' the tapes. We can confirm that Sarah Ransome's claims are baseless and unfounded."

Harvey Weinstein and Abigail Wexner

Image:Pic: AP

Image:Les Wexner and his wife Abigail. Pic: AP

In the documents released, photocopies of Epstein's assistant's notepad details calls to Epstein from Harvey Weinstein and Abigail Wexner "to talk about something private" in 2005.

Abigail Wexner is married to the former Victoria's Secret billionaire Les Wexner.

Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer, is currently in jail for rape and sexual assault.

David Copperfield

Image:Pic: AP

In some of the documents, Ms Sjoberg claims that illusionist David Copperfield was a friend of Epstein's and that she met him once.

"Someone called me from the house and said he would be there and if I wanted to come have dinner then I could meet him," her evidence reads.

When she arrived, he wasn't there, but a girl named Sarah Kellen was, along with another girl she didn't know but "seemed young".

She asked her what "school" she went to, but didn't recognise the name of it, she says. Therefore she assumed "she could be younger than 25 college age".

Read more:
Who's who in the Epstein scandal
Epstein documents - what you need to know

But she then agreed with the interviewer that "school" could have meant secondary school as opposed to university, meaning she could have been even younger.

Asked what Copperfield did during the dinner, she says, "some magic tricks".

Quizzed if Copperfield "ever discussed Jeffrey's involvement with young girls with you", she says: "He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls."

She adds that he didn't go into further specifics.

Ehud Barak

Image:Pic: AP

Ms Sjoberg was asked if she had ever met the former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak.

She said she hadn't, adding that she had never met "any foreign president" or "Nobel Prize winner".

Bill Richardson

Image:Pic: AP

She was also asked about the then Democratic governor of the US state of New Mexico.

She says: "I want to say he was supposed to come to dinner when we were in New Mexico. I don't know if I met him."

"I believe that he and Ghislaine had dinner separate from myself," she adds.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Bruce Willis

Image:Pic: AP

Image:Pic: AP

Ms Sjoberg is asked about a "press report that said you had met Cate Blanchett or Leonardo DiCaprio" in her evidence.

She says she didn't meet either of them, but "when I was massaging him [Epstein], he would be on the phone a lot of the time, and one time he said 'Oh that was Leonardo, or 'That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis. That kind of thing".

The interviewer clarifies: "So name-dropping?", to which she responds: "Yes."

Cameron Diaz

Image:Pic: AP

Among the other Hollywood stars she is asked about is actor Cameron Diaz.

But like the others, when asked if she ever met her via Epstein, she says: "No."