Who’s who in the Epstein files

Who’s who in the Epstein files

The latest batch of Epstein files to be released includes an enormous amount of information - and many famous names… For the people mentioned in them, it’s prompted backlash resulting in everything from denials to resignations to political scandals. With so many names involved, the saga can be tricky to follow…… So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll take a look at:

• Some of the names that have come up in the latest release

• Who they are

• And what the reaction has been....

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Let’s back it up a bit… What are the Epstein files?
They’re a collection of millions of documents that formed part of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his partner/accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell - they’re things like travel logs, emails, other recordings and images. Epstein died in 2019 aged 66yo before he could face trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors (Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for her involvement) but he had by that point already been convicted of a similar charge in 2008…

What was that offence?
He pleaded guilty to soliciting a person under 18 for prostitution in Florida and served 13 months in prison. Reports say the girl involved was 16yo.

Will there be many more document releases?
The Department of Justice - who has control of the files - says this latest stack will be the last released. 

So, who is named in them?
We’ve already done Squiz Shortcuts on some of the people mentioned in them - like the ex-Prince Andrew and US President Donald Trump. The latter has been dealing with this as a political issue for months, but he’s not the only US President who gets a mention…

Who else is in there?
Another big name in the files is former US President Bill Clinton… He was in office between 1993 and 2001 - his wife Hillary is not only a former First Lady, but also a Secretary of State, and the Presidential candidate in the 2016 election that was won by Donald Trump. 

What is Bill Clinton’s link to Epstein?
His relationship with the disgraced financier has been well-known for a while. There are heaps of photos of the 2 together that came out of the first release of documents. Hillary’s name appears much less often and only in peripheral ways, but they’re both dealing with the fallout. After being threatened with contempt charges, they’ve agreed to testify about their relationship with him before Congress later this month - so the headlines from the saga are far from over…

Got it… Are there any other household names in the documents?
Yep… The new batch includes plenty of emails between tech billionaire Elon Musk and Epstein. In one of them, Musk emails Epstein to ask when the “wildest parties” on his island will be happening. But for his part, Musk has denied that he was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes, and he also says he never visited Epstein’s private island. 

And who are the lesser-known identities named?
Someone we’ve mentioned a few times on the Squiz Today podcast is Peter Mandelson. He’s a former UK Labour cabinet minister and the former UK ambassador to the US.

How is he implicated?
Emails in the files suggested that Mandelson gave market-sensitive information to Epstein during the 2008 financial crisis. It was at the time when Epstein was serving a sentence for soliciting prostitution for a minor. But Mandelson kept the relationship going after that, and bank statements in the files also show he received payments from Epstein…

What does he say about it?
Mandelson says he has no record of those payments and he’s since apologised for continuing to associate with Epstein, but denies having anything to do with his crimes. Still, he was sacked from his role as ambassador last year and then resigned from the House of Lords when UK police opened an investigation into him. The fallout’s even wider than that, though - it’s caused huge problems for UK PM Keir Starmer…

How is it impacting Starmer?
Starmer’s Labour government appointed Mandelson to his ambassador post in late 2024… So these new revelations have had the UK leader on the defence - he says he was lied to by Mandelson about the extent of his relationship with Epstein. Starmer has also apologised to victims of Epstein’s crimes and ordered an urgent review of Mandelson’s contact with Epstein while he was in government. Starmer’s chief of staff has recently resigned over the scandal. 

Is he likely to survive it politically?
Good question… Starmer’s government was already facing a drop in public confidence before the new Mandelson and Epstein stories broke - and analysts say it’s adding to the pressure on him to resign. 

Who else is named in the files?
A man we’ve mentioned a few times in the Squiz Today podcast and newsletter is Howard Lutnick. He’s a billionaire businessman and President Trump’s Secretary of Commerce. Emails show that his wife was planning a visit to Epstein’s island with Lutnick and their family. Whether that trip took place is unclear - Lutnick said that he had “limited interactions with Mr Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing”.

Any other powerful people in the mix?
Another name that some people might’ve come across (possibly in their uni days) is that of 97yo linguist Noam Chomsky. He’s in the documents because he corresponded with Epstein via email on how to handle the media coverage around his sex trafficking allegations in 2019. 

What does the email say?
If it’s legitimate, Chomsky wrote that Epstein had been treated in a ‘horrible’ way and that a ‘hysteria’ had developed around the abuse of women. He told Epstein to ignore the media coverage of his allegations. Chomsky’s wife says he was manipulated by Epstein. Staying with the literary world, the self-help guru Deepak Chopra has also appeared in the files…

Remind me who Deepak Chopra is…
He’s an Indian-American author and is a big name in alternative medicine. In an email from 2017, Chopra wrote to Epstein and said “God is a construct. Cute girls are real.” There were plenty more emails along those lines, and Chopra has responded by saying he was “never involved in any criminal or exploitative conduct” but the emails that have come out reveal “poor judgement in tone”. He’s apologised - but it’s another in a long line of influential people who regularly corresponded with Epstein. 

What exactly has the fallout been for these people?
The latest tranche of documents has led to the question of consequences  - specifically, whether any have been faced by the people who had a relationship with Epstein, despite his conviction on sex offences being a matter of public record.

And…?
And the answer is not really… Lots of the people who corresponded with Epstein are in highly influential positions across the fields of government, business, and law. But besides the embarrassment of having their names revealed in the Epstein files, they’ve all denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of his crimes, and the repercussions for them have been relatively light. At least so far… 

Onto our Recommendations

Reading: This BBC article pulls out the big names in the latest Epstein document dump and the context they’re named in, including some of the people we didn’t have space for… And this piece in The Guardian gives the key takeaways.

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