On Wednesday and Thursday, a judge opened new files from a court case related to Jeffrey Epstein, files that have been referred to in the media as "the list."
Financier Jeffrey Epstein was accused of pedophilia, molestation and sex trafficking. He was a millionaire famous for his friendship with famous people, politicians, actors and VIPs of various professions. Epstein's death in 2019, which was ruled a suicide by federal authorities, occurred in prison while he was awaiting trial.
Epstein's list isn't really a list. At least, it's not a list of clients, nor of people who have traveled to his island. Although several names are mentioned, they are mentioned in a variety of contexts.
Along with people who had sex with some of the victims, there are others whose names appear only because someone asked about them, or because they were victims themselves, or worked for Epstein as employees.
In the vast majority of cases, there is no evidence of criminal actions by the characters mentioned. For example, one of the accusers, Johanna Sjoberg, says that she met Michael Jackson at Epstein's residence in Palm Beach, but did not give him a massage (ie, did not have sex).
Virginia Giuffre, another Epstein victim, says she was sent to have sex with modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel during Naomi Campbell 's birthday party .
In the documents, a lawyer asked Sjoberg: "I saw a report in the press that said you had met Cate Blanchett or Leonardo DiCaprio?"
Sjoberg replied: "I haven't met them, no. When I talked about them, it was when I was massaging him [Epstein] – and he was on the phone a lot at the time, and one time he said, 'Oh, that was Leonardo,' or, 'That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis . " She confirmed that she "hasn't met" Blanchett , DiCaprio , Cameron Diaz or the other actors mentioned either.
Like these, there are other names of well-known personalities who are not necessarily involved in Epstein's criminal activities.
However, the list has sparked debate, because surely some of the names were aware of the sexual exploitation of the victims.