Last Batch of Epstein Documents Released

Facts

• On Tuesday, the fifth and final tranche of documents relating to deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — totaling approximately 1.4K pages — were released.¹
• The documents, which have been released as part of a lawsuit brought by sex-trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre in 2015 and settled in 2017, show Epstein exercised his Fifth Amendment rights hundreds of times in depositions.¹
• The final batch of documents also includes depositions featuring Giuffre's claims she was paid exorbitant sums to have sex with several famous and rich men — including Prince Andrew and billionaire hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin — all of whom have denied the charges.²
• In her depositions, Giuffre also claimed to have met several other famous and prominent people — who she didn't see take part in any illegal activity.³
• Former Presidents Clinton and Trump were also mentioned in the unsealed depositions from Maxwell and Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg, though neither of the ex-presidents were accused of any wrongdoing in the depositions. Trump has previously claimed he had no contact with Epstein in over 15 years at the time of his death. Clinton claims he had not spoken to Epstein in over a decade before he died, and that he had no knowledge of his criminal activity.²
• Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison after she was convicted of sex trafficking. Epstein was found hanged in his prison cell in August 2019 while he serving a 45-year sentence for sex trafficking.⁴

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²NBC, ³Independent and ⁴Yahoo Entertainment.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by USA Today. While it's understandable that Americans' distrust of the elites has thrown them into a frenzy over this document dump, the only accusations being made are unsubstantiated claims online, not legal prosecutions. There were undoubtedly sexual predators involved other than Epstein and Maxwell, but that doesn't mean everyone listed in these documents was a sex offender. What we know for sure is that wealthy and powerful people were in Epstein's circle over the years, but more evidence is going to be needed if there are to be criminal prosecutions.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Substack. Brushing aside accusations against the US elite because no prosecutions have occurred is absurd. This is a man who, after avoiding charges of sex with a minor through a plea deal with US attorneys in 2007, was scheduled to meet with then-US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns seven years later. Between the documents being released publicly now, as well as accusations from victims that Epstein monitored his house guests on video, it's safe to assume he may have been blackmailing some of the world's most powerful people to keep himself out of trouble.