Eleven biggest bombshell revelations in Epstein court docs from ‘sex tapes and underage orgies to puppet groping’
IT has been a terrible week for a string of disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s pals and associates who have been exposed in a cache of newly unsealed court docs.
Here are the 11 of the biggest bombshell revelations that reveal a depraved and sordid tale of sex tapes, underage orgies, baths, billionaires, a prince and two presidents.
In total, 215 documents have been released as part of a 2015 defamation lawsuit brought by the Duke of York’s accuser Virginia Giuffre against Epstein‘s former lover and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Delivered in several anticipated drops, the files have revealed the inner-workings of Epstein’s world – while dragging a sprinkling of previously unmentioned celebrities and politicians into the mix.
The docs have made public the lurid details of a string of sexual allegations made against Prince Andrew, former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, physicist Stephen Hawking and A-list celebrities.
1. Andrew, Clinton & Branson’s ‘sex tapes’
Epstein victim Sarah Ransome wrote emails to a reporter in 2016 claiming the duke, Bill Clinton and billionaire businessman Sir Richard Branson were filmed having sex by Epstein on separate occasions.
She later retracted the claims and told the New Yorker in 2019 “she had invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein’s behaviour, and to make him believe that she had ‘evidence that would come out if he harmed me'”.
However, on Tuesday she stood by allegations she made in 2016 that the tapes had existed and claimed she had been forced to withdraw them when her family was threatened by Maxwell and “others”.
All of the above have always vehemently denied any wrongdoing over their association with Epstein and no tapes have ever emerged publicly.
A spokesman for Branson blasted the claims as “baseless and unfounded”.
2. Stephen Hawking’s ‘underage orgy’
The doc drop revealed an email that had been sent from Epstein to Maxwell that showed the billionaire asking her to “issue a reward” to any of Giuffre’s friends who “come forward and help prove her allegations are false”.
Among the allegations listed by Epstein in the email were a “Clinton dinner” and a claim that Stephen Hawking “participated in an underage orgy”.
In the message, Epstein suggested Giuffre had made claims about both the British scientist and former US President Bill Clinton.
The email read: “You can issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false.
“The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.”
In 2015, photos emerged showing Hawking, who died in 2018 aged 76, being hosted on Epstein’s private Caribbean island before he was first charged in 2006.
The internationally renowned physicist was pictured at a barbecue on Little St James, often referred to as Epstein’s “Paedo Island”.
He was part of a group of 21 scientists attending a conference in March 2006, which Epstein had funded.
3. Duke of York’s ‘underage orgy’
A woman named only as Jane Doe 3 alleged she was “forced” into sexual relations with “a member of the British Royal Family, Prince Andrew (a/k/a Duke of York)”.
The accuser alleged the encounters took place at three locations including on Epstein’s private island “in an orgy with numerous other underaged girls”.
The alleged victim said she was to “give the Prince whatever he demanded” and also told to report back to Epstein the “details of the sexual abuse”.
The duke has always strenuously denied the now resurfaced allegations.
4. Andrew and a puppet
During testimony in May 2016, a woman named Johanna Sjoberg, 42, claimed Prince Andrew had groped her when she was 21.
She alleged that the duke used a puppet of himself to touch her breast while sitting on a couch inside Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in March 2001.
Buckingham Palace previously blasted the allegations as “categorically untrue”.
5. Bill Clinton ‘likes them young’
In Sjoberg’s interview under oath, she said Epstein had told her that former president Bill Clinton “likes them young, referring to girls”.
In 2019, Clinton’s spokesman said he knew “nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to” and that the pair had not spoken “in over a decade”.
6. Giuffre ‘trafficked’ to Andrew and ‘two of world’s most respected politicians’
In an email exchange with journalist Sharon Churcher in May 2011, Giuffre said she was concerned about speaking out after Clinton had allegedly “threatened them not to write sex-trafficking articles” about Epstein.
In a follow up email, Churcher said it would be a “gamble” for Giuffre to not have more to say about how she was “sex-trafficked to PA [Prince Andrew] and other men including two of the world’s most respected politicians”.
The names of the two politicians in the email remain redacted.
In Giuffre’s deposition released on Tuesday, she alleged she had sex with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who passed away in September and another “prominent US politician” when she was 17.
Asked how many times she allegedly had sex with the unnamed official, she replied “twice that I can recall.”
7. Donald Trump’s sex with ‘many girls’
Ransome also claimed that “many girls” had sexual relations with former US president Donald Trump, including her friend who wasn’t named.
In an email written to a journalist in 2016 and filed in court papers, Ransome said: “She confided in me about her casual ‘friendship’ with Donald. Mr. Trump definitely seemed to have a thing for her and she told me how he kept going on about how he liked her ‘pert nipples,'”.
The claims were also flagged by Dershowitz in his letter which attempted to prove the Epstein victim lacked credibility.
The former President has slammed the since-retracted claims and branded them “simply false”.
8. Maxwell’s computer search terms
Provisional search terms used by lawyers to find relevant files on Maxwell’s computers were also disclosed in the documents.
Amongst the terms on a list were “Andrew”, “Prince”, “Royal”, “PA”, “Kensington”, “Duke” and “York”.
9. Duke and Duchess of York ‘friends’ with Epstein
Epstein’s former housekeeper Juan Alessi claimed Andrew had “daily massages” while he stayed at the paedophile financier’s Florida home.
During his video-taped interview under oath in 2009, Alessi said Sarah, Duchess of York, only paid a short visit to Epstein, but the duke “spent weeks with us”.
10. Epstein quizzed over Andrew ‘blackmail plot’
Epstein refused to answer questions over whether he attempted to blackmail the duke after his alleged sexual encounter with Giuffre in London in 2001.
The disgraced financier pleaded the fifth amendment eight times as he was quizzed during a former trial against his ex-lover, Maxwell.
He was directly asked whether he and Maxwell instructed Giuffre to have sex with Andrew and whether he had asked her to gather a “full report” to be later used as “blackmail material”.
He was also questioned over whether Andrew had sex with Giuffre “several times” and if the information gathered for the trial had “the potential to affect the reputation” of the duke.
To each targeted question, Epstein exercised his right to the fifth amendment – refusing to answer to avoid incriminating himself.
The revelations, uncovered in the last dump of bombshell court documents, followed allegations that Epstein paid Giuffre £11,800 to have sex with the prince.
Andrew’s accuser has previously claimed he sexually assaulted her in a Victorian-style bath at Ghislaine’s mews house in Belgravia in March 2001.
Monday’s drop of documents revealed Maxwell’s lawyer had claimed that Giuffre lied about having sex with Andrew because he was “too big for the bath”.
The prince strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
However, the late Queen’s second son stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Giuffre – a woman he claimed never to have met.
11. Maxwell’s fears over links to Andrew
Maxwell could be seen sending an email in January 2015, shortly after a civil claim had been filed against her, in which she described herself as “out of my depth”.
The socialite said: “I have already suffered such a terrible and painful loss over the last few days that I can’t even see what life after press hell even looks like – statements that don’t address all just lead to more questions… what is my relationship to Clinton? Andrew on and on.”
Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020 despite attempts by her defence counsel to have her released on bail.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June 2022.
Epstein was found hung in a prison cell in New York on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial for a range of offences, including trafficking minors for sex, and multiple rapes.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.