United States

A US FEDERAL court posted more than 900 pages of documents related to multimillionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein this week.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking minors in 2019 and killed himself while awaiting trial.

The documents, which sparked a flurry of attention, include previously redacted names of individuals associated with Epstein and his former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, and serve as a reminder of the wide web of celebrities, politicians and academics in Epstein’s social sphere.

Once connected to some of the most powerful people in the world, Epstein was a millionaire financial adviser to some of the nation’s top corporate executives and politicians, and a convicted sex offender.

He was tied to former US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, and

Britain’s Prince Andrew, among other noteworthy names, and worked his way into wealthy social circles in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. He was known to host gatherings on his private island in the Virgin Islands and invite people to travel on his private plane. In 2019, the Associated Press described the college dropout-turned-financier as an “enigma”, his ascent to wealth “shrouded in mystery.”

Trump called him a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do” in a 2002 New York Magazine article, but he later said he was “not a fan” of Epstein’s.

A Clinton spokesperson said in 2019 that the former president had been on four trips on Epstein’s plane but that he knew nothing about Epstein’s “terrible crimes”.

Trump and Clinton eventually cut ties with Epstein. |