From Trump to Naomi, why it’s not just Andrew feeling the heat
HE MIGHT not be able to sweat, but Prince Andrew won’t be the only one feeling a little hot under the collar following Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest. The socialite ran almost every aspect of Jeffrey Epstein’s seedy existence, from his homes and private jet to his colourful social calendar, which saw him rubbing shoulders with some of the most famous people in the world. Here are some of the figures who had connections to the late paedophile financier and may dread being dragged into the case as witnesses…
BILL CLINTON
Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein first met in the early 1990s, when the financier made large donations to both his presidential campaign and to refurbish the White House following his election.
Flight logs from Epstein’s private jet, which was famously dubbed the ‘Lolita Express’, suggest that after leaving office the former US president took at least ten trips on it.
One was a jaunt to Africa when he was joined on board by the actor Kevin Spacey, who much like Mr Clinton, has faced a string of allegations of sexual misconduct.
A book called A Convenient Death: The Mysterious Demise Of Jeffrey Epstein has alleged that during this period, Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell were conducting an affair.
The book also claims Epstein once took Mr Clinton to an orgy during an overseas jaunt. The ex-president allegedly walked in but immediately said ‘No, no, no, this is not my thing,’ before leaving.
Even after Epstein’s arrest, Clinton continued to give and receive hospitality. The financier made a $25,000 donation to his foundation in 2006, and in 2010 Maxwell was invited to the wedding of Chelsea Clinton.
Clinton (whose appears 21 times in Maxwell’s ‘little black book’ of contacts) has described claims of an affair as ‘a total lie’ and a spokesman has insisted that he ‘knows nothing about the terrible crimes’.
DONALD TRUMP
The most powerful man in the world was once proud to call himself a bosom buddy of Epstein.
‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,’ he told a New York magazine journalist in 2002. ‘He’s a lot of fun... It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.’
A now-notorious photo shows Trump and his future wife Melania posing with Epstein and Ghislaine at a tennis tournament in Palm Beach, where both men kept homes.
Further insight into the pair’s relationship comes courtesy of a video of the duo taken in 1992 at Mar-a-Lago in which they ogle young women on the dancefloor.
The future president (then recently divorced) is seen grabbing a female guest’s backside, saying: ‘Look at her, back there... She’s hot!’ Epstein reacts with a smile and a nod. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trump has lately changed his tune about his old wingman, saying last year: ‘I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.’
ALAN DERSHOWITZ
One of America’s most famous lawyers, who represented Trump at his recent impeachment trial, headed up the legal ‘dream team’ which negotiated an extraordinary 2008 plea bargain that saw Epstein spend 13 months in an open prison after being accused of dozens of child sex crimes.
The former attorney for everyone from OJ Simpson to Harvey Weinstein was dragged back into the Epstein affair in 2014 by Virginia Giuffre (formerly Roberts) – perhaps the financier’s most high-profile victim. In court papers, Giuffre claimed that she was routinely made ‘available for sex to politically-connected and financiallypowerful people’, saying that Dershowitz had abused her as a minor ‘not only in Florida but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the US Virgin Islands’.
In a 2018 court hearing, it emerged that a second alleged victim, Sarah Ransome, claimed to have been told by Maxwell ‘to have sex with third parties, including Alan Dershowitz, for example’.
Dershowitz vigorously denies all claims of impropriety. He admits having received a massage at Epstein’s home but says it came from an ‘old woman’.
WOODY ALLEN
The film-maker didn’t appear to have much in common with Jeffrey Epstein, aside from having been on the wrong end of abuse allegations, when he agreed to attend a dinner party at the convicted child sex offender’s Manhattan home shortly before Christmas 2010.
His dinner party invitation was extended by Maxwell, who assembled an array of stellar guests.
The main draw, however, was Prince Andrew who, according to the New York gossip columns, waxed lyrical about Prince William’s forthcoming wedding. ‘Everyone at the table, including Woody Allen jokingly asked him for an invite,’ read a report. ‘But he just smiled.’
Allen and Epstein’s relationship blossomed. In 2013, the duo were spotted strolling around the city’s Upper East Side together, with a
US newspaper reporting: ‘The former hedgefunder was “hugging (Allen) and talking close to his ear” on Sunday.’
JEAN-LUC BRUNEL
The French modelling agent made his name in the 1980s, claiming to have launched the careers of Jerry Hall and Sharon Stone.
He became matey with Epstein during the late 1990s, growing to become his closest male friend, and has been widely accused of using a Florida agency they co-founded called MC2 to fly dozens of young girls to America on model visas.
Court papers allege the women were ‘farmed out’ to have sex with the paedophile and his associates.
NAOMI CAMPBELL
The hot-tempered supermodel – – was dragged into the Epstein affair in 2010, when court papers revealed that she had once flown in the paedophile’s private jet.
In January, further controversy erupted when Virginia Giuffre used
Twitter to share photographs of herself standing next to Maxwell and Campbell at the supermodel’s 31st birthday party in St Tropez in the early 2000s.
EHUD BARAK
The one-time Israeli prime minister featured prominently in Epstein’s address book.
It has emerged Epstein had invested in one of Barak’s business ventures in 2015. Then US tax records revealed he had received $2million in grants from a foundation which counted the disgraced financier as a trustee.
In July, the dispute went stratospheric when the Mail published photos from 2016 showing Barak wearing a huge coat and hat to enter the child sex offender’s New York home. Several young women were photographed entering the property around the same time.
Barak later confessed he’d met Epstein at least ten times, but denied ever seeing him ‘in the company of women or young girls’.