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Journalists, lawmakers and members of the public are combing through a new tranche of three million documents, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos relating to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
So what? The documents feature a range of individuals who decorate the worlds of royalty, politics, business, media and entertainment. High-profile British people are among them. Uncovered emails appear to show
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor inviting Epstein to a private dinner at Buckingham Palace;
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Lord Peter Mandelson providing Epstein with a character reference; and
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Sir Richard Branson offering PR advice on Epstein’s abuse conviction.
Timing matters. All of these emails appear to be sent after 2008, when Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor and registered as a sex offender.
Better late than never. Six weeks after a legally mandated deadline, the US Department of Justice released what it suggests will be the final declassification of files relating to Epstein. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, called it “the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people”.
No special treatment. Blanche denies that anyone, including Donald Trump, has been protected by the DoJ in its actions over the files. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has not been accused of any crime by victims of the financier.
Handle with care. Blanche says that there were documents not made public because of the presence of child sexual abuse material and the risk of identifying survivors.
Not everyone agrees. The lawyer Gloria Allred says that the names of numerous Epstein victims – some of whom she has represented – were disclosed by the latest release. Not all of them had been publicly identified before now. Reports in which the FBI details Epstein’s network of associates and employees were heavily redacted.
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Incomplete picture. Two congressmen, a Democrat and a Republican, have called for the Epstein files to be released in full. Federal prosecutors have identified six million documents “potentially responsive to the law”, less than 60% of which have been made public.
What’s up docs. The latest files include court records, emails, abuse material and unsubstantiated tips. Tesla’s Elon Musk and Microsoft’s Bill Gates both feature in the documents in some detail. Neither is tied to any wrongdoing. Musk said he repeatedly declined invites to Epstein’s island, while Gates dismissed allegations made by Epstein as “completely false”.
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In the frame. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted associate and former girlfriend, played a major role in collating the pictures that were included in the release. An FBI intelligence file said that Maxwell “frequently took nude or alluring photographs of the girls around Epstein”. Maxwell has previously said she never saw pictures of Epstein’s victims with any of his associates.
The royal. Emails appear to show that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace after the financier’s 2008 conviction for abusing a minor. Several photos appear to show the former prince crouching over an unnamed female on the floor. In two images, he is seen touching the person on her stomach. Keir Starmer said this weekend that Andrew should be “prepared” to testify to Congress over his links to Epstein.
His response. Andrew has not addressed his inclusion in the new files, but has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. He has faced allegations, which he has consistently denied, that he sexually assaulted the late Virginia Giuffre as a teenager. Giuffre and Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement in 2022.
The peer. In 2011, Lord Peter Mandelson appeared to give Epstein a positive character reference as part of an introduction to a Congolese official. He wrote that the convicted child sex trafficker was a “good friend and totally trustworthy”. The files suggest that Epstein made $75,000 of payments to accounts connected to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004.
His response. Mandelson said he believes the allegations of financial transactions, of which he said he has no recollection or record, are false. Mandelson told the BBC last month that his friendship with Epstein was a mistake and denied seeing minors at the financier’s properties. He said he was wrong to “believe Epstein following his conviction”. Mandelson, a former MP, resigned from the Labour party last night so as not to “cause further embarrassment”.
The billionaire. Sir Richard Branson, the British businessman, appeared to tell Epstein that he would love to see him again, as long as he brought his “harem”. At Epstein’s request, Branson also gave PR advice on his abuse conviction.
His response. Branson’s team said that Epstein had referred to three adults who travelled to the island with him as his “harem” and that he would never have used this term had the full facts of Epstein’s offending been known at the time. A spokesperson for Virgin Group, Branson’s company, said any contact between Epstein and Branson “took place on only a few occasions”.
What’s next? Inclusion in the files does not indicate wrongdoing and the high-profile people named may have only briefly met Epstein if at all. But this might fall on deaf ears with a public
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trying to come to terms with the apparent scale of Epstein’s network;
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still at a loss as to the hold he had over the rich, famous and powerful; and
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unlikely to give the benefit of the doubt to those who gladly corresponded with him.
What’s more… Liza Ravenscroft, described by a former boss as “bulletproof sunshine”, will be kept busy with any fallout for the British royal family that comes from the new details about Andrew’s links to Epstein. Prince William hired the crisis management expert last month.
Photographs courtesy US Department of Justice