What we learned from the Epstein document drop

Nearly one week after a trove of court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes began to be unsealed last week, the last cache of photos, files and depositions was released on Tuesday.

Nearly 5,000 pages later, the scope of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, the network of powerful men he associated with and his methods for luring female victims to prey on have come into sharper focus than ever before.

A number of high-profile names — ranging from ex-Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton to Prince Andrew and a host of Hollywood stars — were scattered throughout the transcripts, legal memos, emails and other records tied to the case.

About 215 documents in total were released, all stemming from a long-settled defamation lawsuit that Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre brought against his madam Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.

Also included were terrifying accounts from numerous female accusers, who described in disturbing detail how Epstein and Maxwell ensnared them in their world and then trafficked their bodies out for the pleasure of the rich and powerful.

Here is what we learned.

Epstein’s network of powerful men was far-reaching, ranging from world leaders, royalty and business magnates to movie stars and entertainers and even some of the greatest minds in the world of science.

All told, at least 60 A-list names appeared across the files with varying degrees of association with Epstein.

Prominent among them was Clinton, who has long been known to have been friends with Epstein dating back at least to 1993 during his first term in the White House.

Clinton’s name appeared many times throughout the files, perhaps most incriminatingly in deposition from accuser Johanna Sjoberg who described what Epstein told her about the ex-president’s sexual predilections.

“[Epstein] said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls,” Sjoberg testified, according to the files.

Clinton was not implicated in any wrongdoing anywhere in the files and never has been in connection to Epstein. He has continued to categorically deny having participated in or known about Epstein’s crimes.

Nevertheless, the depth of Clinton’s friendship and place in Epstein’s social circle was given new light throughout the documents.

Photos from his daughter Chelsea Clinton’s wedding showed that Maxwell attended the 2010 ceremony — and documents revealed she went so far as to skip a deposition she was subpoenaed to give over Giuffre’s accusations against Epstein to attend the lavish nuptials.

Clinton also appeared to be a touching point for some in Epstein’s direct orbit. Model-turned-pilot and alleged Epstein accomplice, Nadia Marcinkova, repeatedly refused to answer questions by pleading the Fifth Amendment when questioned during a 2010 deposition over the ex-president’s relationship to the sex offender.

The documents showed how another Epstein accuser, Sarah Ransome, claimed in 2016 to have tapes Epstein covertly filmed showing Clinton, Trump, Prince Andrew and British business magnate Richard Branson having sex with women.

The tapes were to be used as blackmail against the men, Ransome said, before retracting her claims. She later admitted to making them up in a 2019 New Yorker article.

Prince Andrew, also well known to be a friend of Epstein, reportedly received “daily massages” — the code name for sexual services in Epstein’s lairs — from women during weeks-long stays at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, according to testimony from the house’s manager during the 1990s, Juan Alessi.

The British royal — eighth in line to the crown — was previously accused by Giuffre of participating in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. He denied the claims, and the pair settled out of court in 2022.

Other notable names to turn up in the documents included pop icon Michael Jackson, who Sjoberg claimed to have met at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, but denied ever having sexual contact with.

Magician David Copperfield performed at one of Epstein’s homes, Sjoberg said in a deposition, noting that he appeared to intimate suspicion that “girls were getting paid to find other girls.”

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking even made an appearance. In 2006 he attended a science conference Epstein hosted at his private Caribbean island, Little St. James, at which Giuffre alleged the genius partook in an “underage orgy.”

A 2015 email released in the documents showed Epstein telling Maxwell about a reward he offered to anybody who could disprove Giuffre’s claims about Hawking.

Hawking died in 2018 at the age of 76, but colleagues vehemently told The Post the accusations against him were outrageous and false.

The lewd activity that frequently occurred at the enclave dubbed “Pedophile Island” was brought back to the fore in new ways through the document release — with a trove of new photos showing young women frolicking on the island alongside Epstein, Maxwell and male friends.

Girls were handed Victoria’s Secret lingerie and bikinis supplied by Maxwell when they arrived on the island, Ransome said in a deposition, and were forced to take turns pleasuring Epstein throughout the day.

“We were called on, like, a rotation visit for Jeffrey throughout the day and evening,” Ransome testified. “I was finished, another girl was called by Ghislaine. And when they had finished, another girl was called.”

“‘Jeffrey wants to see you in his bedroom,’ which meant it’s your turn to be abused. That kind of thing,” she said.

Another accuser described herself as being made into Epstein’s “sex slave,” and claimed to have been forced into sex with many “powerful men,” including “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister, and other world leaders.”

Epstein then “required” the girl — who was first approached by Maxwell when he was just 15 — “to describe the events that she had with these men so that he could potentially blackmail them.”

Others described the fear they felt about coming forward against a man as powerful as Epstein.

One girl, who said she met Epstein when she was “16 or 17” years old, recalled in a 2016 deposition how she overheard the financier threatening people and reported it to Palm Beach police in 2005.

“You’re going to die; you’re going to break your legs,” the woman confirmed overhearing Epstein say, among other threats.

Even with the release of the latest trove of Epstein documents, the man — who died in prison from an apparent suicide in 2019 — and the truth of his methods and motivations remain as resilient to scrutiny as they did when he was alive.

The last cache of documents released Tuesday included a 2016 deposition in which Epstein was questioned about his sex-trafficking ring.

After responding that his name was “Jeffrey Edward Epstein” when asked to state his name, he refused to answer any further questions by pleading the Fifth, declining even to say where he lived, what his phone number was or whether he knew Maxwell.

“Fifth,” he simply said, repeating the word over 500 times.