(BBC News) A second batch of court papers linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows how dozens of girls were recruited at his beachfront mansion.
A Florida detective says in testimony that 30 women had spoken to him about “performing massage and work” there. Some were paid to bring their friends.
The court filings have been made public under order by a judge.
They are part of a lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend.
She was jailed in 2022 for trafficking girls for Epstein, and much of the material in this batch and the 900 pages unsealed on Wednesday had already come to light during her trial.
In a 2016 deposition, Joseph Recarey, a police detective in Palm Beach, Florida, said that approximately 30 women had spoken to him about “performing massage and work at Epstein’s home” in the beachfront community.
He said Maxwell was involved in recruiting the girls.
Recarey testified that only two of the girls had any massage experience, and the majority of them were under the age of 18.
When asked how Epstein was able to gain access to so many underage girls, the detective said: “Each of the victims that went to the home were asked to bring their friends to the home.”
Some were paid to recruit, he said, adding: “When they went to perform a massage, it was for [Epstein’s] sexual gratification.”
Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month there was no longer any legal justification to withhold the names of more than 150 people mentioned in the defamation case filed by Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein accuser, against Maxwell.
People are mentioned in passing as part of various legal proceedings, and their inclusion does not necessarily suggest wrongdoing related to Epstein.
The court records unsealed on Wednesday and Thursday both contain references to the UK’s Prince Andrew and former US President Bill Clinton.
Among the previously detailed claims against Prince Andrew is that he sexually abused a minor in London, New York, and on Epstein’s island in the Virgin Islands, after the teenager was told to do it by Maxwell.
The Duke of York has denied these allegations.
The new documents include a suggestion from a lawyer for Giuffre that former President Clinton “may have information” on Maxwell and Epstein’s activities because he had travelled with them.
Clinton has acknowledged being a former associate of Epstein and taking flights on the financier’s private jet on humanitarian trips, but has denied wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
There is no suggestion of illegality by Clinton in any of the documents.
In another court filing released on Wednesday an accuser identified as Jane Doe #3 alleges she was trafficked by Epstein “for sexual purposes to many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67879225
