Epstein files: What you may have missed since the war began

On the webpage that contains the 3.5 million pages of files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, you are invited to “search the full Epstein library” by entering a term in a text box.

The scale of material retrieved by such a simple request is staggering.

On 30 January, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) published more than three million pages as part of its online Epstein Library, adding to its existing trove of documents. It includes more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

But there are no categories to filter content, nor can you easily flip through the millions of pages of material. You must first type in a search term, which could bring up no results, dozens, hundreds or thousands of links that you must then individually click.

Many documents appear to be the mundane transactions of an ordinary life — internet orders for mugs and plates — others are opaque lists of financial transactions, or printouts of Wikipedia entries and behind-the-scenes reports of celebrity events such as the Oscars.

The documents in the so-called Epstein files were collected from the Florida and New York cases against Epstein; the New York case against Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell; the New York cases investigating Epstein’s death; the Florida case investigating a former butler of Epstein; multiple FBI investigations; and the Office of Inspector General investigation into Epstein’s death.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges, although he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.

Despite being a convicted sex offender, the files show Epstein was able to maintain connections with high-profile figures across the world. They encompass academics, business and political figures, writers, those in the arts industry, and royalty.

His powerful connections and mysterious death have made the late financier ripe fodder for online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and others, suspicious of a government cover-up.

It has been two months since the DOJ released what it says was the final tranche of the files. United States Studies Centre senior fellow Bruce Wolpe says they reveal a vast network hidden from public view.

“And what is surprising about the network is that it was a hidden network — outside of public or media visibility when Epstein was alive, even after his conviction on prostitution charges.”

Coverage of the files in the past month has largely been overshadowed by the war in the Middle East, which began with US strikes on Iran on 28 February.

This is what you may have missed.

What has been released?

US President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November, which compelled his administration to release the files, under mounting political pressure from his own party.

Months earlier, on 5 August, the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — a Republican-controlled body instructed to look into the circumstances around Epstein’s death and mismanagement of the investigation into his activities — issued a subpoena to the DOJ for records related to Epstein.

It also issued deposition subpoenas to former US president Bill Clinton; his wife and Trump’s former presidential rival Hillary Clinton; former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) directors James Comey and Robert Mueller; and former attorneys-general Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales, for testimony about Epstein’s crimes.

In announcing the release of the Epstein files on 30 January, the DOJ warned: “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.

“To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponised against President Trump already.”

Claims of a ‘cover-up’

Two days before the US strikes on Iran, Democrats accused Trump and his officials of a cover-up in the handling of the Epstein files.

“The way [attorney-general] Pam Bondi and the Justice Department have handled the release of the Epstein files has all the stench of a cover-up,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

His comments came after several news organisations reported that documents involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against Trump were not among those released to the public. The DOJ eventually released these files on 5 March, saying they had been “incorrectly coded as duplicative”.

Democrats also criticised errors in the use of redactions in the files. Some victims had their names and nude photographs published, while the names of several men were blacked out, including that of American billionaire Leslie Wexner, who appears to have been labelled a co-conspirator by the FBI in 2019.

Bondi has since been subpoenaed to answer questions about the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files after five Republicans supported the Democrats in compelling her.

But the attorney-general has defended the department, saying staff had done their “very best” in the time frame allotted by the legislation mandating the release of the files. Some documents were also taken down after the department was informed victims’ information had been included.

Allegations against Trump

The additional records released on 5 March include allegations from a woman who contacted the FBI shortly after Epstein’s 2019 arrest, who said a man named “Jeff” living in Hilton Head, South Carolina, had raped her there in the 1980s when she was around 13 years old.

The woman told the agents she didn’t know the man’s identity at the time but, decades later, concluded it was Epstein when a friend texted her his photo from a news story.

In a follow-up interview a month later, the woman shared a host of other claims, including that Epstein had schemed to have her mother sent to prison, beaten her, arranged sexual encounters with other men and once flew her to either New Jersey or New York, where she claimed to have bitten Trump after he allegedly tried to sexually assault her.

Agents spoke with the woman two more times, at one point asking her to provide more detail on her alleged interactions with Trump, but reported that she declined to answer additional questions and broke off contact.

There’s no indication Epstein ever lived in South Carolina and it is unclear whether Trump and Epstein knew each other during the time period in question.

Worldwide impacts

The release of the massive cache of Epstein files has created worldwide ripple effects, leading to the resignation of several high-profile figures and the launch of investigations across several jurisdictions.

In France, national financial prosecutors this week revealed that searches had been carried out at several locations, including the Paris arm of Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild, as part of an investigation into former French diplomat Fabrice Aidan, who is suspected of complicity in bribery involving a foreign public official.

It comes after French digital newspaper Mediapart reported the files suggested Aidan provided confidential United Nations material to Epstein. Aidan has denied wrongdoing.

Former French culture minister Jack Lang also resigned as head of the Arab World Institute in February, when a preliminary tax fraud investigation into his activities was opened, following the release of the Epstein files. He denies any wrongdoing.

Model recruiters accused of rape

French investigators questioned model recruiter Daniel Siad — a French citizen based in the US — last week, according to Agence Franece-Presse, after former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson accused him of raping her when she was 20 and then sexually exploiting her by introducing her to model agency boss Gérald Marie, whom she accuses of raping her too.

Both men have denied the claims.

Karlsson said she did not know who Siad was until his photo surfaced in connection with the Epstein files.

“I just wanted to throw up,” she said.

Karlsson is one of 15 models who this week urged France to investigate Marie, the former European head of modelling agency Elite, for possible links to Epstein.

Polish prosecutors announced on 11 March they are also investigating human trafficking tied to Epstein, and whether women and some minors were recruited to Poland using misleading promises of overseas work.

It comes after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last month that officials were looking into possible links between Epstein and Russian intelligence, as well as any ties the disgraced financier had to Poland.

Pressure grows on former prince and his wife

This week, the BBC aired interviews with several former survivors who say they were assaulted by Epstein, including former fashion model Lisa Phillips, who alleged her friend was directed to have sex with the former prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles last year.

The former British prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

But pressure on him has increased with the latest release of documents.

UK police are investigating allegations of misconduct in public office after documents in the Epstein files suggested Mountbatten-Windsor had forwarded reports to Epstein in 2010 about Vietnam, Singapore and other places he had visited on official trips as the government’s special representative for trade and investment.

He was arrested on 19 February for a short time before being released. Photos of him leaving the police station in the back seat of a car were splashed across newspaper front pages around the world. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, claimed she was trafficked three times to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor, starting in 2001 and twice when she was 17.

Mountbatten-Windsor settled a US civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Giuffre while not admitting liability.

Politicians in the US have repeatedly called for Mountbatten-Windsor to answer questions about his links to Epstein. His former wife Sarah Ferguson is also facing renewed pressure to testify.

However, there is no legal mechanism to force the pair to appear in the US.

Britain’s former ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, who appears in a photo dressed in a bathrobe with Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein, is also being investigated over allegations he leaked sensitive documents to Epstein when he was a government minister, including during the 2008 financial crash.

He has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with or accused of sexual misconduct.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired Mandelson from his ambassador role in September after documents showed he maintained contact with Epstein after his 2008 conviction for sexual offences involving a minor.

Starmer is facing heat over his appointment of Mandelson despite being warned about his links to Epstein.

Norway’s crown princess says she was manipulated by Epstein

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon — the heir to the throne — appeared last week in an interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK to speak about her relationship with Epstein, after her intimate correspondence surfaced.

“Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr?” she wrote in an email to the financier. In another, she said: “would be great to catch up over tea one day so you can tickle my brain.”

In the interview, Mette-Marit acknowledged she had a friendly relationship with Epstein — after being introduced through mutual acquaintances — but now believes she was manipulated by him and describes herself as “gullible”.

Their relationship has raised questions over her judgement but she is not accused of any wrongdoing. The interview took place on the final day of a criminal trial involving her son, Marius Borg Høiby, who is facing 39 offences, including four for alleged rape.

Ties to Epstein revealed in the files triggered charges and resignations among several high-profile figures in Norway last month.

Norway’s former ambassador to Jordan and Iraq, Mona Juul, resigned in February amid the launch of an investigation into their relationship. It was earlier revealed that her children were due to receive $10 million from Epstein’s will.

The president and chief executive officer of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende, also resigned after a review into his Epstein links.

According to the BBC, Norway’s former prime minister, Thorbjørn Jagland, was charged for “aggravated corruption” after a police investigation into his ties. He reportedly denies criminal liability.

Clintons grilled over Epstein connection

The same day the US and Israel attacked Iran and launched Operation Epic Fury — which some sceptics have dubbed Operation Epstein Fury — former US president Bill Clinton appeared before members of the House Oversight Committee as part of its Epstein investigation.

Clinton appears in several photos with Epstein and is mentioned in the files, but he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” the former Democratic president said in an opening statement he shared on social media.

During the closed-door deposition, footage of which was later released by the DOJ, Clinton denies having sex with a woman he was photographed with while relaxing in a jacuzzi.

The day before, Clinton’s wife and former presidential rival to Trump, Hillary Clinton, also fronted the committee, saying she had no knowledge of how Epstein had sexually abused underage girls and had no recollection of meeting him.

During an interview on BBC Newsnight this week, massage therapist Chauntae Davies, who says she was raped by Epstein, said she gave Bill Clinton a neck and back massage. She says she wrote in her journal that the former president was humble, kind and charismatic.

Justice, revelation and prosecution

Despite it being two months since the files were released, and the world’s attention having been diverted to the war in the Middle East, Wolpe says he believes interest in the Epstein files is “very much alive with the public”, particularly among Republicans.

“Much of the MAGA base is highly agitated by these scandalous activities and want justice done; revelation and prosecution.”

But he says so far, the files don’t appear to reveal anything more about whatever activity Trump was involved in with Epstein.

“Beyond their being in touch from time to time, there are no such revelations, sexual or financial. Does more exist or not?”

Wolpe does not expect further ramifications for Trump unless more records are found and released.

“As Trump’s most loyal appointees are in full charge of the Department of Justice, from the attorney-general on down, and through the FBI, I do not expect the surfacing of any truly dangerous revelations about Trump and Epstein.”

But Wolpe notes there has so far been no justice for the young girls and women who were horrifically abused.

“The attorney-general should be directing the prosecution of the rapists and paedophiles involved — or naming them as being accused of these crimes if, with the victims’ approval, they can be named — even if some of them cannot be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired. But that has not happened.”

— With additional reporting by the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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