The highly discussed documents tying influential people to financier Jeffrey Epstein have been unsealed, revealing names such as Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Michael Jackson. However, the list failed to surprise the ones who were aware of the decade-old case as these names were already doing rounds on social media.
Epstein, who killed himself in 2019, was a millionaire associated with celebrities, politicians, billionaires, and academic stars. A police investigation was initiated against him in 2005 after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, following which he was arrested in 2006.
However, the list pertains to a lawsuit filed against Epstein in 2015, by one of his victims, Virginia Giuffre. She is one of the dozen women who sued Epstein for abusing them at his apartments in Florida, New York.
There were mentions of Epstein’s friendship with Bill Clinton, who is not accused of any wrongdoing in the case, and of Prince Andrew, who previously settled a lawsuit accusing him of having sex with a 17-year-old minor.
The lawsuit is against Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who now is serving a 20-year-prison term for helping him in recruiting victims and abusing them. Epstein’s estate has since paid about $150 million in settlements.
Though Giuffre’s lawsuit was settled in 2017, the court had kept some documents sealed due to the privacy of Epstein’s victims and names which came up during the legal battle.
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