The full extent of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual depravity, including a predilection for girls as young as 14, has been laid bare in a series of phone messages published by the US government this weekend.
The handwritten notes, taken by staff at Epstein’s Florida mansion, include phrases such as “I have a female for him” and “[caller] has girl for tonight”.
Among the messages is a reference to Donald Trump attempting to call Epstein at his Palm Beach home. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the US president.
The messages were presented by an FBI special agent to a federal “grand jury” in New York in June 2019, less than two months before the paedophile financier was found dead, aged 66, in a prison cell as he waited to go on trial for child sex trafficking offences.
The previously sealed documents were made public for the first time on Friday night by the US Department of Justice under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
In other developments:
• A photograph showing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sprawled across the laps of five women while Ghislaine Maxwell looks on was taken at the Sandringham royal estate.
Details from the photograph match the saloon room at Sandringham, right
• The files reveal how Epstein pulled Maxwell out of “dark depression” after he first met the British socialite following the death of her father, Robert Maxwell, the newspaper tycoon.
• Victims of the couple and US Democrats expressed anger after only a fraction of the Epstein files were released on time, with many documents heavily redacted.
• Trump, who opposed publication of files for many years, left the White House for a 16-day Christmas break in Florida without commenting. Democrats said on Saturday night that a photograph — “File 468” — from the file release that featured Trump and was shared on Friday had since been removed.
Reacting to claims Trump had been removed from some Epstein files, Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic minority in the US Senate, said: “This could be one of the biggest cover-ups in American history.”
On Saturday night, the US department of justice said the documents would be “reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information”.
Testimony from a FBI agent disclosed in New York includes the evidence of a 14-year-old girl who visited Epstein at his Manhattan home “dozens” of times after another teen told her “she could make money if she massaged this rich guy”.
The special agent said the girl had dropped out of school and was struggling to make ends meet.
“Things progressed each time she went,” the agent said. “She would have to massage him while she was in her panties or without underwear or without any clothes on. And then eventually he would touch her.”
Epstein then committed a graphic sex act on the girl. She told the FBI that she was paid $300 in cash for each visit and that Epstein knew that she was only 14. The girl described how the library in Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, where Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has previously stayed, “looked like it was something out of Beauty and the Beast”, the animated Disney film.
Jurors were also shown evidence of phone messages taken by an assistant at Epstein’s Florida home in 2004 and 2005.
The first, from an unidentified caller, reads: “She had female for Mr JE.” Another states: “Wondering if you would want her to work tomorrow and at what time.”
The FBI agent indicated that the reference to “work” was a euphemism for sex.
A third message refers to a girl having to cancel an appointment: “She would like to speak to you. I believe about college,” it adds.
The identities of most callers have been redacted from the files. However, Trump’s name is visible in one note from 2004, although without any message written down. Naomi Campbell, the British supermodel, also appears in the new files. An email message logged by Epstein’s staff on November 4, 2005, reads: “Hello, Naomi here. Would like to know when I can speak to Jeffery [sic], regarding my swimsuit line … I have pics and some of the suits with me. Hope all is well.”
Naomi Campbell and Ghislaine Maxwell in a 2002 photograph that was not part of the Epstein files
MARK MAINZ/GETTY IMAGES
Campbell has previously described Epstein’s behaviour as “indefensible”. She has said: “When I heard what he had done, it sickened me to my stomach … I stand with the victims.”
Trump and Epstein were friends who moved in similar social circles before they fell out. The US president had resisted the release of the Epstein files held by government agencies for many years. However, last month he endorsed a Congressional vote demanding that the documents be made public.
Other new evidence of Epstein’s sexual proclivities include an invoice for an Amazon book order delivered to the Florida home he once shared with Maxwell. Top of the list was SM101: A Realistic Introduction. Costing $16.47, it is described on Amazon as “a comprehensive introduction to consensual sadomasochism, bondage, giving and receiving pain, and role playing”. The book also includes a section on knife-play.
Another title received by Epstein was Training With Miss Abernathy: A Workbook for Erotic Slaves and Their Owners.
The Epstein files also piled further pressure on the former Duke of York and the royal family.
Other images released by the US Justice Department show Epstein and Maxwell joining Mountbatten-Windsor, 65, in the royal box at Ascot in 2000. Andrew has denied wrongdoing. The couple are also seen on a shoot in the Highlands and staying at the Balmoral estate.
Andrew, Epstein and Maxwell shooting at Balmoral
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, appears in at least three separate images, including two photographs that seem to have been taken in New York. Ferguson has always denied any wrongdoing and has said she regrets her association with Epstein.
She is known to have visited Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and described him as her “supreme friend” despite his conviction in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The extent of Epstein and Maxwell’s high-profile networking was showcased in the files released this weekend. They include images of Bill Clinton, the former US president, in a hot tub; a dinner at a London restaurant attended by Sir Mick Jagger; and photos with the pop star Michael Jackson. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the individuals in the images.
The decision to stagger the release of the files over several weeks — rather than release them all by Friday, as the conditions of the Epstein Files Transparency Act stipulated — has angered critics and victims.
Elizabeth Stein, one of Epstein’s accusers who now advocates for victims, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that by not releasing all of the information today they are really brazenly going against the Epstein Files Transparency Act. What we are worried about is a slow rollout of information; incomplete information without any context of what we are looking at.”