NEW YORK (news agencies) — More than 130 additional court files were unsealed Friday in a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein, providing yet more detail about the late millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of underage girls and interactions with celebrities.
The latest round of documents included excerpts of testimony from people who worked for Epstein, copies of phone messages he received — including one from Harvey Weinstein — and lots of legal memos from lawyers discussing who could potentially have been called as a witness if the lawsuit ever went to trial.
No blockbuster revelations were apparent. Lots of the records covered material that has been the subject of many past news stories about Epstein and his victims. But like other documents previously made public in lawsuits related to Epstein, they provide a window into the rarified world he inhabited.
The records are all related to a defamation lawsuit that one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, filed in 2015 against the millionaire’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was accused by multiple women of helping Epstein recruit underage victims. The suit was settled in 2017. Maxwell was later prosecuted and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Here are some takeaways from the latest batch of released documents:
The records released Friday include the 2009 deposition of a former housekeeper at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, who talked about how much time the financier spent with Prince Andrew, the British royal who was a longtime friend of Maxwell’s.
Juan Alessi testified that “Prince Andrew spent weeks with us” and when he visited, he would receive daily massages at the mansion.
Alessi said Andrew would stay in the main guest bedroom, which he described as “the blue room.” He recalled seeing Andrew’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, on one occasion, but added, “I don’t think she slept in there.”
Alessi also remembered seeing other celebrities including Donald Trump and “a lot of queens and other famous people that I can’t remember.”
Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago club is also in Palm Beach, would come over to Epstein’s home for dinner, Alessi said, but he “never sat at the table,” dining instead with Alessi in the kitchen. Asked whether Trump ever received massages, he said, “No. Because he’s got his own spa.”
Alessi, who worked at Epstein’s sprawling home from 1990 to 2002, previously testified at Maxwell’s 2021 trial that he saw “many, many, many” young adult female visitors, often lounging topless by the pool. He also admitted to stealing $6,300 from Epstein’s desk.
Prince Andrew was publicly criticized when photos emerged of him visiting Epstein in New York even after the financier was imprisoned in Florida for a sex crime.
Giuffre sued Andrew, accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 17. Andrew said he didn’t remember ever meeting Giuffre. The lawsuit was settled in 2022 without ever going to trial, but the allegations damaged his public standing and led Andrew to withdraw from some royal duties.
media typically does not name people who say they are the victims of sexual abuse unless they have come forward publicly with their stories, as Giuffre has.
One document unsealed Friday contains copies of phone messages Epstein received, handwritten by staffers, in 2004, a year before police in Palm Beach started investigating allegations that he was paying underage girls for sex.
At the time, Epstein was getting attention for hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, offering free rides on his private jet to celebrities including former President Bill Clinton and actor Kevin Spacey.
The phone messages, while mostly mundane, give a small taste of those associations.
“She had on the phone Mr. Harvey Weinstein,” reads one message about a missed call.
Weinstein, then a force in Hollywood, was once part of a media investment group that included Epstein.
“At the time, Epstein was seen as a wealthy power broker with access to many people of various industries and for many reasons,” said Weinstein’s spokesman, Juda Engelmayer. “It wasn’t uncommon for people of that caliber to talk, as we see from the lists that have been coming out. There was and remains nothing more to that.”
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