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A fifth and final set of court documents related to sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein has been released.
Among the 1,400 pages of records between Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell have been filed. The latest documents show that Epstein refused hundreds of times to answer questions from lawyers, including the alleged blackmail of famous people. The documents were released as part of a lawsuit filed by sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.
The lawsuit, filed in 2015, was settled in 2017. Maxwell has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping Epstein abuse young girls. She is appealing against her conviction. Court records contain a transcript of Epstein's 2016 sworn deposition, in which he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination.
A lawyer for Ms Giuffre asked Epstein if she had been told to provide a "detailed report" about her alleged sexual encounters with powerful men such as Prince Andrew. The lawyer asked if this was intended to be used as "blackmail material". Epstein refused to answer questions, repeatedly responding by saying only the word "fifth" over 500 times. He also refused to say whether he knew Maxwell.
The Duke of York previously told the BBC he could not remember ever meeting Ms Giuffre, who claimed she was told to have sex with him on several occasions. In 2022, he paid her an undisclosed amount to drop her sexual assault lawsuit against him. In her 2016 deposition released on Tuesday, Ms Giuffre said she was paid between $10,000 and $15,000 (£7,900 to £11,800) for a sexual encounter with the prince. She testified that she was paid $160,000 by a media organization for two articles and a photo showing her with Prince Andrew.
Ms Giuffre also denied ever being sexually trafficked to any "president", but claimed she was forced to have sex with "a well-known prime minister". She refused to name this person, adding: I personally know that this is not a good person to talk to and I will not, without words, I will not say his name.
Ms Giuffre also said there was another individual who had been introduced to her as a prince - apart from Prince Andrew - who had been trafficked to the south of France.
At times in the interview, Ms. Giuffre said she was unable to recall details, including the time and location of specific alleged sexual encounters. She said she had used Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, as well as ecstasy, cannabis and alcohol. Other men she has said she was forced to have sex with include Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Victoria's Secret chief Les Wexner, billionaire hedge fund investor Glenn Dubin and former US peace envoy, George Mitchell, all of whom have previously denied her claims.
In 2022, Ms. Giuffre dropped a lawsuit against Dershowitz and admitted in a statement that she "may have made a mistake in identifying" him. On Tuesday, a spokesman for Wexner referred the BBC to an earlier statement by his lawyers in which he denied ever meeting Ms Giuffre. A spokesman for Mr Dubin told US media last week that he "vehemently" denies Ms Giuffre's allegations. On Tuesday, Mitchell repeated his earlier denial of the allegation.
He told the BBC in a statement: The allegations contained in the published documents are false. I have never met, spoken to or had any contact with Ms. Giuffre. Ms Giuffre also said she was trafficked to American computer scientist Marvin Minsky and French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel. Minsky died in 2016. Brunel killed himself in a Paris prison in 2022 while awaiting charges of rape and sex trafficking.
The five sets of Epstein's long-sealed court files released last week contain some previously unknown details. Epstein pleaded guilty to raping a minor in 2008. He killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
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