The court documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which people were expecting to reveal the identities of nearly 200 Epstein associates, have been unsealed. The documents are related to a 2015 lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein's girlfriend.
Prior to the documents being unsealed, a series of tweets from Giuffre led many to suspect that some high-profile people who were not known Jeffrey Epstein associates might be listed in the documents. "There’s going to be a lot of nervous ppl over Christmas and New Years, 170 to be exact, who’s on the naughty list? This would t be possible without the Honourable Judge Preska ❤️ ," Giuffre wrote on X on December 20, 2023.
Though the court documents provided some more information about Epstein and listed some high-profile people who had some sort of connection to Epstein, many of the people who are mentioned were not accused of sexual misconduct.
Some of the people mentioned already had allegations against them that were known to the public. Britain's Prince Andrew is one of those people. He previously settled a lawsuit in which Giuffre accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. Johanna Sjoberg's May 2016 deposition was made public on January 3, and the documents show that she said Prince Andrew “put his hand on [her] breast.”
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Former President Bill Clinton, another person whose relationship with Epstein was previously known, was also mentioned in her deposition, though he has not been accused of wrongdoing. Giuffre testified that Epstein told her that “Clinton likes them young,” but she had never met Clinton.
Sjoberg's deposition also mentions former President Donald Trump. She testified that she was on a private jet with Epstein one time and they unexpectedly stopped in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In her testimony, she said that when Epstein learned of the stop, he said "Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to” Trump's casino. In the testimony, she also said that she wasn't asked to give Trump a massage.
Magician David Copperfield and the late musician Michael Jackson are two new names that were part of Sjoberg's deposition. Copperfield was reportedly at a dinner that Sjoberg went to at one of Epstein's homes. He "did some magic tricks" and "questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls," she alleged.
Sjoberg also alleged that she met Jackson at Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. Jean-Luc Brunel, a known Epstein associate who was found dead in jail while he was being held for alleged rape and sex trafficking of minors, was mentioned many times in the newly released documents.
Some of the people mentioned in the documents were people that Epstein used for "name-dropping" purposes, but the documents do not show whether or not Epstein actually knew these people. Sjoberg said that Epstein often mentioned names of celebrities. Sjoberg was asked if she ever met Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, or Bill Clinton.
"When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging [Epstein], and he would get off — he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, ‘Oh, that was Leonardo,’ or, ‘That was Cate Blanchett,’ or Bruce Willis. That kind of thing," Sjoberg said.
She said she did not meet Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, or Bill Clinton.
Some of the names included in the newly released documents were mentioned because of Epstein's "name-dropping" or for other reasons that do not indicate those people have been accused of any wrongdoing.
In the weeks leading up to the release of the documents, people began speculating about who might be mentioned in the documents. This led to some speculation, including allegations by NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers that TV host Jimmy Kimmel had reasons to be worried about the release of the documents.
"There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are really hoping that doesn’t come out," Rodgers said. Kimmel called Rodgers' comment "reckless."
"For the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any 'list' other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality," Kimmel wrote on X.
