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Third batch of Epstein documents unsealed

(NewsNation) — A third group of records related to former billionaire and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has been released, totaling more than 1,700 pages.

The records are being unsealed on a rolling basis and include names of Epstein’s associates, including high-profile politicians and celebrities. Those named in the documents also include workers, those who only had tangential ties to Epstein and witnesses and victims. Being named in the records is not an indication that someone is guilty of wrongdoing.

The latest batch of documents includes a reference to magician David Copperfield and a reference to a “Tom Ford,” possibly meaning the fashion designer. Former President Bill Clinton is named as well as former Vice President Al Gore.

The documents mostly comprise transcripts of depositions and other legal motions.

Some records provide more detail about the money Epstein allegedly offered Anthony Figueroa, Virginia Giuffre’s boyfriend, to recruit young girls to act as “masseuses.” Records show Epstein would pay Figueroa $200 as soon as Figueroa brought the girl to him.

The documents come from a settled civil lawsuit that Giuffre, who alleges she was a victim of sex trafficking, filed against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.

The Miami Herald has been fighting to unseal documents filed as part of that lawsuit since 2018. The legal battle came to a head in December when U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered the names could be unsealed beginning Jan. 1.

Maxwell was found guilty on numerous charges, including sex trafficking, in a criminal trial. Epstein died by suicide before he could be tried on similar charges.

Many of the names belong to people who had already been publicly connected to Epstein as his longtime associates or friends, including his former lawyer Alan Dershowitz who was mentioned in the documents 137 times. Dershowitz pushed hard for all of the court documents to be released to clear his name.

Maxwell’s attorneys, Arthur L. Aidala and Diana Fabi Samson, said Thursday that Maxwell “took no position” on the decision to unseal documents in the Giuffre v. Maxwell case.

“These disclosures have no bearing on her or her pending appeal. Ghislaine’s focus is on the upcoming appellate argument asking for her entire case to be dismissed. She is confident that she will obtain justice in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. She has consistently and vehemently maintained her innocence,” the attorneys said in a statement.  

NewsNation’s Katie Smith and The Associated Press contributed to this report.