Major political figures named in release of Epstein court case files

Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with former President Bill Clinton was among the litany of associations he maintained that featured prominently in a series of court documents from a civil case that a New York court released on Wednesday.

The Southern District of New York published a batch of 40 documents related to a defamation case filed by Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex crimes.

The case was settled in 2017, and Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019, but the case is making headlines again after media outlets sued to have documents related to it published.

Among the materials was was a list of nearly 80 individuals whom Giuffre's attorneys identified as being "likely to have discoverable information relevant" to the case. Among those Giuffre's attorneys identified were high-profile figures such as Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

Giuffre accused Dershowitz of being one of the men to whom Epstein had given her for sexual activity, but later settled the case with him in November 2022, claiming it had been a case of mistaken identity.

"I now recognize I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz," she said.

Media reports ahead of the release expected major figures such as former President Bill Clinton to be named in the document dump. The former president featured in multiple documents, including a deposition (document 12) in which Giuffre's lawyer questioned Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg as to the nature of Clinton's relationship with Epstein.

"I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton. I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together," she said. 

When asked whether Epstein had ever discussed Clinton with her, Sjoberg replied that "[h]e said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls."

Initial reports that the document release would be delayed were inaccurate and the Southern District of New York began publishing court files Wednesday pursuant to a court order from federal Judge Loretta Preska last month. The confusion stemmed from Preska granting a 30-day delay to a single individual mentioned in the documents due to claims she faced "risks of physical harm" from her name being released.