These are pieces that shed a little more light on the links between sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and influential figures in the international political and economic spheres. On Wednesday January 3 evening, American justice began to reveal the names of contacts, acquaintances, relatives, victims or alleged accomplices of the American financier, who committed suicide in prison in 2019 before his trial for charges of sex trafficking of minors .
Among these approximately 150 to 180 identities – taken from a thousand pages of court documents made public by the Manhattan federal justice system – we find former Democratic presidents Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), as well as Prince Andrew of York, a member of the British royal family.
“Details” on Epstein ties
However, these documents do not mention illegal or reprehensible behavior on the part of men other than Jeffrey Epstein. On the other hand, “the documents revealed by the federal court in Manhattan, appear to add a little more detail about the relationships that Jeffrey Epstein maintained, over the years, with powerful men, such as former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and a member of British royalty, Prince Andrew”, details the New York Times.
In the case of Donald Trump, the New York billionaire is mentioned in the documents as an acquaintance of Epstein. One of the American financier’s alleged victims, Johanna Sjoberg, who worked with him from 2001 to 2006, recounts in her deposition revealed Wednesday evening, the friendly meetings between Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump. “During a flight on one of Jeffrey Epstein’s planes, she says they made an unscheduled stopover in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Jeffrey Epstein allegedly suggested they visit Donald Trump’s casino” , according to comments reported by the New York Times.
“No clues” of illegal facts
As for Bill Clinton, much closer to the fallen financier and who traveled with him in the 2000s, his name is mentioned dozens of times but, again, without any clear indication of illegal facts. When Johanna Sjoberg was asked what she knew about the Democratic ex-president, she said he once said “Clinton liked them young, talking about girls.”
As for Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II, Johanna Sjoberg declared that when she met him for the first time, he “put his hand on my chest”, again according to the American daily. The latter, a friend of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, sealed an amicable agreement in February 2022 – for $13 million according to the Daily Telegraph – with Virginia Giuffre, 40, who accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2001 when she was 17, although the 63-year-old prince disputes these accusations.
Most of those close to Jeffrey Epstein, however, denied having been aware of his abusive behavior with young women. The underlying question, which the documents do not answer, is whether the sex trafficking ring he was suspected of leading helped him climb the social ladder and work on his relationships.
The documents revealed Wednesday stem from a defamation complaint filed in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, against Ghislaine Maxwell. The latter, ex-partner and collaborator of the American financier, was convicted in December 2021 in New York of sex trafficking of minors on behalf of Epstein and sentenced in June 2022 to 20 years of imprisonment. The man, with powerful economic and political relays in the United States and abroad, was himself accused of having sexually assaulted and raped young girls, but his suicide by hanging in prison in New York in August 2019 extinguishes public action against him.