Content warning: Sexual violence, child sexual abuse
Over the weekend, three million of the Epstein files were released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
If printed as A4 pages and stacked, they would be as tall as the Eiffel Tower.
Multiple high-profile figures are named in the files, including former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, current U.S. President Donald Trump, and billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Gates.
Someone being named in the files is not a suggestion of wrongdoing, and many allegations are unverified.
Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein was an American hedge fund manager and convicted sex offender.
In 2008, he served 13 months in jail after pleading guilty to charges related to sex-trafficking minors in a controversial deal.
In 2019, police arrested him again on new federal sex trafficking charges. Epstein was denied bail and died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial.
Epstein was friends with high-profile politicians, celebrities, and the wealthy, some of whom have also been accused of engaging in sexual crimes.
Context
During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed that if elected, he would release the Epstein Files: all documents from past DoJ investigations into the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In November, U.S. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, forcing the release of the files.
The DOJ was required to publish all files by 19 December. This did not happen.
The names and identities of victims were removed from the files to protect them. The DOJ said this process caused the file release to be delayed.
The collection of documents shared last week will likely be the last major release of the Epstein files, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche telling ABC News (U.S.) that “this review is over.”
The Office of the Deputy Attorney General also said it has produced, “with few exceptions, all documents, files, records, videos and images related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell”.
The DOJ will now prepare a final report to Congress, detailing its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and justifying any redactions.
Here’s what was in the final release.
Mountbatten-Windsor
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew, the Duke of York) has been connected to Epstein since 1999.
Virginia Giuffre alleged Epstein trafficked her to Mountbatten-Windsor as a 17-year-old in 2001, a claim Mountbatten-Windsor denies.
In the latest release of files, emails show Epstein arranging a dinner for Mountbatten-Windsor (using the aliases ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘The Duke’)and a woman, described as “26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy” in August 2010.
Mountbatten-Windsor invited Epstein for dinner at Buckingham Palace a month later.This week, the BBC reported a second woman has accused Mountbatten-Windsor of assault, after being allegedly sent to him by Epstein.
Bill Gates
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been publicly linked to Epstein for some years.
The latest file release includes a series of emails sent from Epstein’s email address to himself, which appear to be notes addressed to Gates.
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Although the emails are sent to and from Epstein’s account, the author is unclear. One appears to have been written on behalf of a person named Boris.
One email details a story where Gates broke off a friendship, after the author helped Gates hide an STD and source antibiotics to secretly give to then-wife Melinda French Gates.
This week, a representative for Gates told The New York Times the details are “absolutely absurd and completely false.”
In 2019, after Epstein died, a representative for Gates told the NYT he “regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognises it was an error in judgment to do so.”
Elon Musk
In emails released in the latest tranche, Tesla, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk and Epstein tried to coordinate meeting multiple times between 2012 to 2014, including a visit to Epstein’s Caribbean island with Musk’s then-wife Talulah Riley.
These emails came four years after Epstein’s prison sentence for sex-trafficking minors.
In 2019, Musk told Vanity Fair that Epstein was “obviously a creep”.
This week, he said in a post to X: “Nobody has fought harder for full release of the Epstein files and prosecutions of those who abused children more than I did.”
“The extreme pain of being accused of being the opposite of who I am was worth it,” Musk added.
Donald Trump
In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine that Epstein was a “terrific guy”. In 2019, Trump said he had not spoken to Epstein in 15 years.
The latest release of files includes an 2018 email from journalist Matt Williams, directed to Epstein’s lawyer.
It included questions about Trump’s attendance on Epstein’s island and his participation in “sex parties”.
Documents from an FBI investigation into Epstein that mentioned Trump were also included.
Among the allegations recorded by the FBI were that Trump raped underage girls brought by Epstein to his estate, Mar-a-lago.
The DOJ called the claims “unfounded and false”.
Democrat letter
Democrat members of the U.S. Congress committee overseeing the DoJ wrote to Blanche last week, requesting access to the un-redacted files.
In their letter, the members said “only about half” of the six million Epstein files had been released by the DOJ, with 200,000 of those that were released being redacted or withheld.
The committee is looking to verify that the redactions have happened “in narrow circumstance... and not on the basis of ‘embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official’.”
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