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Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton are among those who have been named as associates of Jeffrey Epstein in court papers unsealed by a US court.

In December, New York district judge Loretta Preska ruled the papers should no longer remain secret as many of the individuals mentioned have already given media interviews.

Some of the 250 documents have now been released, with around 170 names expected in total.

Read more:
Names mentioned in the unsealed documents so far

Although former US president BiIll Clinton and Prince Andrew have already been linked to Epstein, the tranche of hundreds of files reveal new allegations about their dealings with the late paedophile.

Celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bruce Willis are also mentioned, but none have been accused of any wrongdoing.

The documents mainly consist of previously unseen legal arguments from the defamation case Virginia Giuffre, Epstein's main accuser, made against his former lover Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.

Files were sealed or heavily redacted to protect the identities of "alleged victims, people not accused of wrongdoing…and absent third parties" that could have been implicated in the case.

Here we look at what you need to know.

Which case is it?

The documents were all part of a 2015 civil lawsuit lodged by Virginia Giuffre, who says she was one of Epstein's principal victims of underage sex trafficking.

She sued Ghislaine Maxwell, 62, for defamation after her spokesperson issued a statement describing Ms Giuffre's allegations against her and Epstein as "obvious lies".

At the time Maxwell tried to have the case thrown out but district court judge Robert Sweet rejected her motion to dismiss it.

He ruled Ms Giuffre was the victim of "sustained underage sexual abuse between 1999 and 2002".

The ruling paved the way for Ms Giuffre, now 40 and living in Australia, to pursue various other lawsuits, including the one against Prince Andrew for "sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress", which was settled for a rumoured $12m (£9.45m) in February 2022. The duke has always denied her claims.

It also helped facilitate the criminal case against Maxwell, who was found guilty of five out of six charges of grooming four girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in a US prison in December 2021 and has since launched an appeal.

What are the documents about?

Documents relating to the case were subjected to court orders sealing or redacting them to protect the privacy of some of the people named.

They include people who worked for Epstein, flew on his planes, or visited his homes, as well as alleged victims and witnesses. Some have been accused of wrongdoing and others have not.

The Miami Herald first intervened to get the documents unsealed on public interest grounds in 2018 - and this is the eighth set to be released.

The day after the first round was published in 2019, Epstein was found dead, aged 66, in his Manhattan prison cell where he was awaiting trial for child sex trafficking offences.

In December, Judge Preska published her findings that there was no legal justification for keeping the names redacted.

She gave each of the people listed the chance to individually appeal her decision - with a deadline of midnight on 1 January.

What has been alleged about Prince Andrew?

Evidence given by a woman called Johanna Sjoberg was included in the first round of unsealed documents.

Part of the reason Judge Preska ruled in favour of publishing names like hers last year is because Ms Sjoberg has already given interviews to the media - including The Times.

Ms Sjoberg previously claimed Prince Andrew touched her breast on a sofa at Epstein's Manhattan apartment in 2001.

She said in court that when she was 17 she visited the New York mansion while he, Maxwell and the Duke of York were there.

Separate evidence, provided by Ms Giuffre, claimed she was "sex-trafficked to PA [Prince Andrew] and other men including two of the world's most respected politicians" - with the other names redacted.

The duke denies both claims and Buckingham Palace has described them as "categorically untrue".

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'Spitting image puppet placed on breast'

Ms Sjoberg's evidence says that a puppet was placed on Ms Giuffre's breast at the same time - believed to be the puppet of the duke used for the BBC satire Spitting Image.

The evidence reads: "It looked like him. And she [Maxwell] brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.

"And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch.

"They put the puppet on Virginia's lap, and I sat on Andrew's lap, and they put the puppet's hand on Virginia's breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo."

Claims Andrew visited Epstein's island

Among the other pieces of evidence is a video transcript of an interview with Juan Alessi, who worked at Epstein's Palm Beach home in Florida.

In the interview, taped in 2009, he says Andrew "spent weeks with us". Asked if he would "frequently have massages", he replied: "I would say, daily massages."

Separate evidence given by Maxwell sees her claim she could only recall Prince Andrew visiting Epstein's private Caribbean island Little St James once.

Asked whether any girls under the age of 18 were present on that one occasion, she replies: "There were no girls on the island at all. No girls, no women, other than the staff who work at the house.

"Girls meaning, I assume you are asking underage, but there was nobody female outside of the cooks and the cleaners."

In other documents, Maxwell can be seen sending an email in January 2015, shortly after the civil claim was filed against her, in which she described herself as "out of my depth".

"I have already suffered such a terrible and painful loss over the last few days that I can't even see what life after press hell even looks like - statements that don't address all just lead to more questions... what is my relationship to Clinton? Andrew on and on," she writes.

How is Bill Clinton involved?

ABC News previously reported that President Bill Clinton is "Doe 36", mentioned in more than 50 of the documents. There are no accusations of any wrongdoing by Mr Clinton.

"I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton," Ms Sjoberg's deposition reads. "I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together."

Asked if Epstein had ever talked about the former president, Ms Sjoberg added: "He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls."

Separate evidence, an email exchange between Ms Giuffre and journalist Sharon Churcher in May 2011, sees Ms Giuffre claim Mr Clinton warned Vanity Fair bosses not to publish negative articles about Epstein.

He "threatened them not to write sex-trafficking articles", she writes.

In 2019, a Clinton spokesperson said he knew "nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to" and that the pair had not spoken "in over a decade".

He was photographed with Epstein and admitted being associated with him in a philanthropic capacity, but his representatives say he cut off all contact with him in 2005 - before he faced criminal allegations.

Mr Clinton's legal team has not lodged an appeal against his naming in the case. Sky News has contacted his foundation for further comment.

Read more:
Intimate pictures of Epstein and Maxwell revealed
Prison negligence to blame for Epstein's death - report

Reward to counter claims of 'Clinton dinner' and 'underage orgy'

Another newly published email, from Epstein to Maxwell, showed he was happy for her to "issue a reward" to any of Ms Giuffre's friends who could help prove allegations in her 2015 lawsuit were false.

The email mentions Mr Clinton and the late Stephen Hawking, who was photographed on Epstein's island in March 2006, as part of a trip to a science conference on the neighbouring island of St Thomas.

The conference was paid for by Epstein and saw 20 other scientists attend. Mr Hawking is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The email reads: "You can issue a reward to any of Virginia's friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false.

"The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy."

Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome also claimed in released emails to a reporter in 2016 that sex tapes were filmed of Mr Clinton, Prince Andrew and others.

"When my friend had sexual intercourse with Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson, sex tapes were in fact filmed on each separate occasion by Jeffrey," the emails say.

"Thank God she managed to get a hold of some footage of the filmed sex tapes, which clearly identify the faces of Clinton, Prince Andrew and Branson having sexual intercourse with her. Frustratingly enough Epstein was not seen in any of the footage but he was clever like that!"

A New Yorker article, released in 2019, then reported Ms Ransome admitted "she had invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein's behaviour, and to make him believe that she had 'evidence that would come out if he harmed me'".

Spokespeople for Sir Richard Branson and Epstein's estate both reiterate the "admission" by Ms Ransome and deny the claims.

Documents yet to be unsealed are also reported to include a claim that Ms Giuffre met the former president on Epstein's private Caribbean island Little St James.

In 2019, Clinton's spokesperson said he had "never been to Little St James Island, Epstein's ranch in New Mexico or his residence in Florida".

Flight logs kept by one of Epstein's private pilots have confirmed Mr Clinton flew on Epstein's plane several times between 2002 and 2003 - as part of humanitarian projects in Africa - as well as to Paris, Bangkok and Brunei - but not to the Caribbean.

He previously said in media reports Epstein was a "highly successful financier and committed philanthropist" and that he "appreciated his insights and generosity during… a trip to Africa to work on democratisation, empowering the poor, citizen service and combating HIV/AIDS".

But Ms Giuffre's claim could formally contradict that statement.