Thousands of pages of court documents tied to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal were unsealed recently and have brought more information to the forefront. The final set of these documents, dubbed the Epstein files, were released last week and include depositions of Jeffrey Epstein, his ex-girlfriend and long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and victim Virginia Giuffre.
Transcripts of the depositions show that Epstein was questioned about the sex trafficking activities and abuse of underage girls, Independent reported. In response to the questions, the US financier and sex offender, “pleaded the Fifth over 1,000 times.” For those faced with criminal charges, pleading the Fifth is a legal dispensation to exercise one's right to remain silent and not incriminate themselves.
Maxwell was questioned about her involvement in the scandal, and in particular, was asked about the coded messages left for Epstein that appear to be linked to the procurement of underage children. The unsealed document includes the message: “She is two times eight years old. Not blond. Lessons are free and you can have your first today if you call,” which Ms Maxwell was questioned about Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for assisting Epstein in the abuse and trafficking of minor girls.
The unsealing of the Epstein file documents has made it to global headlines for several reasons. The documents identified over 100 prominent individuals, including former US Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio.
The presence of a name in this list does not imply that the individual mentioned has been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein, a convicted paedophile. However, while some names are only referenced incidentally in legal proceedings, their mere inclusion garnered widespread attention.
This renewed attention has been “retraumatising to survivors”, Elizabeth Stein, a victim of Epstein's crimes has shared. Explaining the harrowing effect of the release of “intimate details” of the survivors, Law & Crime quoted Stein as saying: “I think that one of the things we need to consider is that this document release is a release of all of the intimate details of these survivors' experiences. So while people might know that these women are survivors, they might not know the minutiae of what their experience was. I think it's important to remember that this is retraumatizing to survivors.”
A month after his arrest in 2019, Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell.
