Jeffrey Epstein List—What Happens Next for People Listed?

The release of hundreds of pages of court documents, detailing dozens of former associates of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Wednesday is unlikely to lead to any fresh prosecutions, according to a prominent civil rights attorney.

The papers come from a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's alleged victims, against his girlfriend and collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite. In December 2021 Maxwell was convicted of helping Epstein groom victims for sexual abuse and later sentenced to 20 years in prison. Epstein was found dead in his cell in August 2019 whilst awaiting trial for the alleged sex trafficking of minors, with a medical examiner concluding his death was a suicide by hanging.

In total nearly 90 names of Epstein's former friends, employees, associates and victims were included in the documents released on Wednesday, though four were redacted. Prominent figures referenced include former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, along with actors Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, though there is no suggestion any of these were involved in any illegal activity.

Speaking to Newsweek, trial and civil rights attorney V. James DeSimone, founder of a law firm that bears his name, said the publication is unlikely to lead to fresh prosecutions though it could impact on public opinion.

He commented: "It is unlikely that additional criminal prosecutions will ensue based on the public releasing of these documents. Prosecutors have known about these documents for years and the public revelation of these names and additional details is unlikely to move the needle on the decision to prosecute others.

"Jeffrey Epstein is dead so he won't be offering testimony against his wealthy and powerful aiders and abettors and Ghislaine Maxwell has already accepted and is serving her 20-year sentence.

"The impact the document release will have will be in the court of public opinion especially if there is evidence linking prominent individuals with coerced sexual conduct as Virginia Giuffre alleged in her defamation lawsuit. And those named in the documents will also have to navigate the wrath of loved ones who were betrayed by this illicit conduct," DeSimone concluded.

Also listed in the filings is Prince Andrew, with one document describing a visit by the British royal to Epstein's private island. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's alleged victims who also features in the documents released on Wednesday, claims she was forced by the financier to have sex with the Duke of York aged just 17. She sued Andrew who settled out of court in 2022, agreeing to pay her an undisclosed sum widely believed to be in the millions, though without admitting any liability.

Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort features 13 times in the court documents, including an interview in which Maxwell denies ever having been a member, though admits she did visit the resort and is "pretty sure" she was there at some point during the year 2000. In the same year Giuffre is recorded as working at the club "as a locker room attendant for the spa area."