Albuquerque Journal

Epstein sent girl to former Gov. Richardson for sex, she testified

Former gov, others named in 2015 civil lawsuit deny allegation­s

- BY ERIK LARSON AND ANDERS MELIN BLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — Jeffrey Epstein and a friend sent an underage girl to have sex with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and asset manager Glenn Dubin, she testified in court documents that were made public Friday — allegation­s the three deny.

Virginia Giuffre, now an adult, says she was also sent to modeling executive Jean Luc Brunel and the late MIT scientist Marvin Minsky, according to parts of a 2016 deposition she gave. The testimony by Giuffre, who claims she was a “sex slave” for Epstein from 2000 to 2002, expands on her previous allegation­s, in court filings and tabloids, that she was forced to have sex with the U.K.’s Prince Andrew and Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz. Both men have strenuousl­y denied those allegation­s.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, faces new federal criminal charges of sexually traffickin­g minors. None of the other men were defendants in the settled lawsuit, and they haven’t been accused by authoritie­s. But their appearance in the newly public papers adds to the list of those who could be tarnished by their apparent associatio­n with him.

Richardson, in a statement, said he’d never met Giuffre, called the allegation­s “completely false” and said that during his limited interactio­ns with Epstein he’d never seen him in the presence of underage girls.

Mitchell said the allegation in the released documents is false. In a statement, he said he never met, spoke with or had contact with Giuffre, or knew of or suspected Epstein had inappropri­ate conduct with underage girls.

Dubin and his wife, Eva, called the allegation­s “demonstrab­ly false and defamatory.” In an emailed statement, a spokeswoma­n added: “The Dubins have flight records and other evidence that definitive­ly disprove that any such events occurred.” Brunel couldn’t be reached for comment. In her 2015 civil lawsuit, Giuffre, a Floridian, claimed Epstein sexually abused her for two years starting in 2000, when she was 16. She said she was recruited by Epstein’s friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who she says participat­ed in the abuse. Giuffre claimed that Maxwell, daughter of the late British publisher Robert Maxwell, defamed her by publicly calling her a liar.

That case settled, with a judge sealing about 2,000 pages of documents. The appeals court on Friday upheld its previous order to unseal those documents. Some that were made public immediatel­y included emails, photograph­s and flight logs. Others will undergo further court review to determine what else can be released.

The Giuffre deposition, parts of which were attached as exhibits to court filings, includes her testimony responding to newspaper articles about her experience — outlining how she said she had been hired by Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort before Maxwell wooed her to work as a masseuse for Epstein. After that, Giuffre testified, Maxwell and Epstein began farming her out to powerful men.

In one part of Giuffre’s testimony, Maxwell’s attorney asked her to “name the other politicall­y connected and financiall­y powerful people that Ghislaine Maxwell told you to go have sex with.”

“They instructed me to go to George Mitchell, Jean Luc Brunel, Bill Richardson, another prince that I don’t know his name,” she said. “A guy that owns a hotel, a really large hotel chain, I can’t remember which hotel it was.”

She continued: “There was, you know, another foreign president, I can’t remember his name,” she said. “There’s a whole bunch of them that I just — it’s hard for me to remember all of them.”

Later in the deposition, Giuffre was asked about details of her alleged sexual encounter with Dubin.

“What words did Ghislaine Maxwell tell you to go have sex with Glenn Dubin?” Maxwell’s lawyer said.

“It was the same all the time, all right?” Giuffre responded. “They want me to go provide these men with a massage.”

For Richardson, Giuffre claimed, she was sent to New Mexico, according to the filing.

 ?? ELIZABETH WILLIAMS/VIA AP ?? In this courtroom artist’s sketch, defendant Jeffrey Epstein, left, and attorney Reid Wiengarten, second from right, listen to attorney Martin Weinberg, right, at a July 15 bail hearing in federal court in New York.
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS/VIA AP In this courtroom artist’s sketch, defendant Jeffrey Epstein, left, and attorney Reid Wiengarten, second from right, listen to attorney Martin Weinberg, right, at a July 15 bail hearing in federal court in New York.
 ??  ?? Bill Richardson
Bill Richardson

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