A host of celebrities have been included in the list of former associates, employees, friends and victims of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which was unveiled on Wednesday following years of speculation.
The names were unsealed from a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged trafficking victim, against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend. Maxwell, 62, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in December 2021 of helping Epstein recruit and sexually abuse underage girls.
Many of those whose names appear in the documents released on Wednesday aren’t accused of wrongdoing or have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings or news accounts. Despite persistent assertions across social media, the documents released on Wednesday are not an Epstein “client list.”
In December, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska found no legal justification for continuing to withhold the names of as many as 175 individuals allegedly connected with Epstein, ordering the unsealing to begin from January 1.
Clockwise from top left: Naomi Campbell is pictured on December 2, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Leonardo DiCaprio is pictured on December 3, 2023 in Los Angeles, California; Cate Blanchett is pictured on November 7, 2023 in Singapore; Michael Jackson is pictured on March 16, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. The stars have been named in the recently unsealed Jeffrey Epstein files.
Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images;/Frazer Harrison/Getty Images;/Chris Jackson/Getty Images;/Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
Some portions of the records will remain confidential, including those identifying people who were children when they were sexually abused by Epstein, who died by suicide in August 2019 in a federal prison in Manhattan as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.
As had been expected, a host of political figures have been named in the list of dozens of people, including former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. Both have denied any wrongdoing in their past dealings with Epstein.
Along with those figures have been the names of several celebrities, whose inclusion, in some cases, is based merely on conversations relayed by an Epstein accuser as she recounted his ties to the rich and famous.
List of Celebrities Named in Epstein List
- Cate Blanchett
- Naomi Campbell
- David Copperfield
- Cameron Diaz
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Stephen Hawking
- Michael Jackson
- Kevin Spacey
- Bruce Willis
Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bruce Willis are among the celebrities whose names were mentioned in the testimony of Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg, who said the late financier bragged about them while name-dropping, although no evidence was provided that the stars even knew him. The alleged victim was asked if she had met Cameron Diaz, to which she responded “no.”
In late pop star Michael Jackson’s case, Sjoberg claimed that she once met the musician at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida. Sjoberg said that she did not massage Jackson, as she was tasked with doing for Epstein.
Lawyer Brad Edwards, who has litigated against Epstein and his associates, wrote about Jackson’s visit in his 2020 book, Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
“For a young woman like Johanna, the fact that there were stars who were friends with Jeffrey and Ghislaine was an attractive bonus of the job,” Edwards wrote. “Even the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, had been enough of an Epstein acquaintance to pay him a visit in Palm Beach while Johanna was working there.”
Read more about Jeffrey Epstein
It was also stated in Edwards’ book that magician David Copperfield regularly visited Epstein’s Palm Beach abode. Edwards subpoenaed the illusionist back in 2009 in relation to Epstein’s alleged crimes, although he was never deposed.
When questioned in 2016 by Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Giuffre, Sjoberg said that she had met Copperfield at Epstein’s house. Sjoberg said that after dinner at the mansion, Copperfield “did some magic tricks.”
According to the unsealed documents, Sjoberg said Copperfield asked her if she knew that “girls were getting paid to find other girls.” Sjoberg added that Copperfield did not elaborate, including on the ages of the “girls.”
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Copperfield via email for comment.
Giuffre has alleged that Maxwell arranged for the then 17-year-old to have sex with Epstein and other prominent men, including Prince Andrew. The British royal has denied the allegations and settled with Giuffre out of court in February 2022.
In a 2019 YouTube interview, supermodel Naomi Campbell addressed her first meeting with Epstein in 2001, stating: “Yes I knew him. I was introduced to him on my 31st birthday by my ex-boyfriend Flavio [Briatore]. He was always front and center at Victoria’s Secret shows.”
Denying any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, she went on: “What he’s done is indefensible. And when I had heard what he had done, it sickened me to my stomach just like everybody else because I’ve had my fair share of sexual predators, and thank God I had people around me that protected me from this. Right now I stand with the victims. They’re scarred for life.”
“I find it extraordinary that of all the hundreds of thousands of people that I’ve stood next to to take a picture at a public event, they’ve only chosen these few,” she continued.
Pointing out how any association with Epstein has led to an assumption of guilt by much of the public, Campbell said: “The frightening conclusion here, is that if the negative action of your neighbor, colleague, or even an associate can somehow make you guilty too, simply by association, then we indeed live in very worrying times. This affects us all. It’s wrong, it’s unfair and it must be stopped.”
In recent years, a faction of social media users have pushed the theory that several celebrities and public figures—often known to be Democrats—flew to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St. James.
Jeffrey Epstein is pictured in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 8, 2004. The late financier died by suicide in 2019, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images
Epstein’s private jet, which was used to transport guests to the island, was derisively called the “Lolita Express” by certain media outlets following allegations that it was used to fly underage girls to some of the late financier’s properties.
Following Epstein’s death, lists have been shared on social media purporting to show the high-profile people who had visited the island, which is located east of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A number of stars were erroneously added to the mix of Epstein’s guests by some social media users who have falsely targeted a number of celebrities as part of an apparent campaign to link them to Epstein’s crimes.
Comedians Jimmy Kimmel, Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler have spoken out to deny any involvement with Epstein, despite unfounded assertions to the contrary.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
