The United States Department of Justice released a portion of Jeffrey Epstein’s files on Friday (US local time) under the provisions of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Although the U.S. Congress said in an act that the full Epstein files must be released by December 19, the Justice Department has only partially released the files.
Here’s a look at some of the most shocking revelations in the Epstein files released so far:
1. Prominent personalities
A number of prominent personalities and their close proximity to the convicted sex trafficker came to light. Prominent names include public intellectual Noam Chomsky, former US President Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, filmmaker Woody Allen, pop music icon Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and current US President Donald Trump.
Read also | Understanding Jeffrey Epstein’s fixation on Nabokov’s novel
3. Trump ‘knew about the girls’
A series of emails released by the US House Oversight Committee revealed that in January 2019, Epstein wrote to commentator Michael Wolff regarding Trump, saying: “Of course he knew about the girls when he asked Ghislaine to stop.
3. Prince Andrew has been involved with Epstein for longer than previously thought
In late 2010, Prince Andrew claimed to have ended his relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, but just four months later, in March 2011, he sent Maxwell an email saying, “I can’t take it anymore,” in reference to the allegations against him.
In 2019, Andrew also indicated that he had “absolutely no recollection” of a photo of him with Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims.
Giuffre claimed in her posthumous memoir that she was forced to have sex with the former prince on three separate occasions.
Read also | How many times is Trump’s name mentioned in the Epstein Files
4. Trump’s condoms
Among the many images recently released from Epstein’s files was one of a current US president with six women whose faces were redacted by members of a House committee. Another image shows a bowl full of condoms with a cartoon of Donald Trump on the wrappers and the text “I’m HUUUUGE!” The bowl that contained the condoms was marked with a sign that read “Trump Condom $4.50”.
5. References to “Lolita”.
Among the photos released on Friday, some show a close-up of a person’s neck and foot with inscriptions from Vladimir Nabokov’s infamous novel Lolita. The book, banned in many countries, depicts a relationship between a man and an underage girl.
6. Passports, SMS messages
Other items include a number of passports of unidentified people from several countries, including Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Russia.
A screenshot of the text message also went viral. “I’ll send you the girls now”, while another said: “Maybe someone would be good for J?”. The text message also includes the name, age and body measurements of the identified person.
