Court documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein are expected to be released soon with many names that were previously redacted, and prominent figures on the right are holding up the impending disclosures as evidence of wrongdoing by Democrats despite a lack of concrete information about what they will show.
Most of the names being made public – currently cited as John Does – have previously been identified in other court documents or in news reports as having been associated with Epstein.
A longtime friend of powerful people, Epstein was accused of preying on girls as young as 14, bringing them to his homes and paying them for sex acts. He died at 66 by suicide in jail in 2019 before he could stand trial,but his associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of conspiring with him and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Epstein’s estate has since paid out about $150 million in settlements to more than 125 women. It is in connection with a defamation case against Maxwell that the documents are being released.
Multiple news reports have said that former President Bill Clinton will be among those named, though there is no indication that it will be in connection with allegations of wrongdoing. His office said in 2019 that he had flown on Epstein’s private plane but had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, and a spokesperson pointed to that statement Tuesday.
Being named in the documents does not necessarily indicate that a person participated in or was aware of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s actions.