What the unsealed Jeffrey Epstein files mean

Hundreds of pages of previously unsealed documents connected to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have been made public. Take a look at who the man is and what the files mean.

Previously unsealed documents connected to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have been made public for the first time following a New York court ruling.

Here’s what you need to know about Epstein and documents that until Thursday have been under seal since 2017.

WHO WAS EPSTEIN?

Jeffrey Epstein made his fortune as a financier and was a magnet for celebrities, billionaires and politicians. In 2005 he was accused of paying a 14-year-old for sex.

Despite allegations involving numerous underage girls, he pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges involving one victim and was jailed for 13 months.

Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: AFP

SEX TRAFFICKING CHARGES

In the decade he was free the convicted sex offender continued to mix with high profile figures, although some – like Bill Clinton and Donald Trump – cut ties with him. Neither is accused of any wrongdoing.

In 2019 he was charged with sex trafficking and later died in prison by suicide while awaiting trial.

His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was accused of helping recruit underage victims and she was jailed in 2021 for 20 years.

WHAT ARE THE RECORDS ABOUT?

The documents being unsealed are part of a defamation case against Maxwell by Australian Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims.

The legal action was settled in 2017 but the documents remained sealed, until now, because of privacy concerns for Epstein’s victims and other people whose names were not implicated in his crimes, nor accused of any wrongdoing, but who were mentioned during the investigation and legal battles.

US financier Jeffrey Epstein with former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Picture: AFP

WHAT IS IN THE DOCUMENTS?

They include almost 1000 pages of depositions and statements that include more than 150 names.

Those named will include a host of Epstein associates previously identified as John or Jane Does. A small number of names will be redacted because they would identify sexual assault victims.

Most of the claims made in pages revealed so far have been from transcripts of testimonies from Ms Giuffre of Johanna Sjoberg.

THE BIG NAMES REVEALED IN THE FILES

Some of the big names mentioned in the now unsealed documents include former US President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, Michael Jackson, magician David Copperfield and Stephen Hawking.

None is accused of any wrongdoing.

WILL THIS IMPACT PRINCE ANDREW?

Ms Giuffre gave evidence that Maxwell directed her to have sex with Prince Andrew, model agent and alleged sex trafficker Jean Luc Brunel, who died in 2022, computer scientist Marvin Minsky, who died in 2016, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who died in September, “another prince” and a “large hotel chain owner”.

Ms Sjoberg told the court that she and Ms Giuffre met Prince Andrew at Epstein’s New York mansion when Ms Giuffre was 17.

In February 2022, ahead of what would have been a very public and potentially messy trial, it was announced that the Duke of York and Ms Giuffre agreed to a settlement over a lawsuit where she alleged he sexually abused her when she was 17.

Prince Andrew has always strongly denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

WHAT MORE HAVE WE LEARNT ABOUT EPSTEIN AND MAXWELL?

Jeremy Epstein with former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Picture: AFP

Ms Sjoberg said Epstein gave her an explanation why he received so many massages from so many different girls but she thought it was “a little crazy”.

“He explained to me that, in his opinion, he needed to have three orgasms a day,” she said.

“It was biological, like eating.”

The documents also describe Epstein mocking Ms Giuffre in an email to Maxwell, telling her to offer her a reward to back up claims including that late physicist Stephen Hawking, who had motor neurone disease, participated in an orgy on Epstein’s private Caribbean island Little Saint James.

The files show an argumentative Maxwell repeatedly clashing with Ms Giuffre’s lawyers during a heated deposition by refusing to answer questions.

Originally published as What the unsealed Jeffrey Epstein files mean