The third round of documents from a lawsuit connected to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile who died in jail before he could face trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, was publicly released Friday.
Friday’s release included over one thousand pages as of mid-afternoon, and it follows hundreds of pages of documents already unsealed on Wednesday and Thursday, with more expected.
The unsealed documents are part of a 2015 civil defamation suit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an American woman who claimed Epstein sexually abused her as a minor and that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, aided in the abuse. The unsealing this week stems from a December 18 court order from the judge overseeing the lawsuit, a response to media’s legal efforts to publicly release the documents.
The documents in total, including material yet to be unsealed, are expected to include nearly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, prominent businesspeople, politicians and potentially more.
CNN is reviewing the documents.
Previous document releases included information about Epstein’s associates and accusers, though much of the information had previously been reported on by various media outlets or released through other court proceedings.
Giuffre and Maxwell settled their civil suit in 2017, but some court documents remained sealed until now.
Most of the documents from the suit were unsealed in 2019 – one day before Epstein died by suicide in jail.
Epstein was indicted in 2019 on federal charges of operating a sex trafficking ring in which he allegedly sexually abused dozens of underage girls.
Epstein died in jail while awaiting trial. Prosecutors in New York indicted Maxwell on sex trafficking charges involving multiple victims. She was convicted in 2021.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
Contributing: CNN’s Riley Gutiérrez McDermid, Kara Scannell and Curt Devine.
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