However, mere hours before his death a vast collection of court documents - including sworn depositions, police incident reports, photographs, receipts, flight logs and more – was unsealed, which goes some way to exposing the extent of Epstein’s crimes.
The bulk of the material relates to the case of Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was recruited by Epstein’s longtime companion, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, at the age of 16 to work as the hedge-fund manager’s masseuse – the job being a cover for sexual abuse by Epstein, Maxwell and an entire retinue of the pair’s elite contacts and friends. Here are some of the most striking take-outs.
Speaking in Code
Giuffre was recruited while working as an attendant at the spa at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where her father was a maintenance worker. She claims she was sitting outside the locker room, reading a book on massage therapy, when Maxwell approached her and said she knew someone looking for a traveling masseuse.
“If the guy likes you, then, you know, it will work out for you. You’ll travel. You’ll make good money. You’ll be educated,” Maxwell allegedly said.
— Ayla Ataman (@AtamanAyla) August 13, 2019
Giuffre took the job, and was quickly trained by Maxwell on how to give erotic massages – before long she was providing them to Epstein at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. He then began flying her around on his private Gulfstream jet to perform sexual services on his friends and acquaintances.
Included in the files’ evidence interary is Epstein’s ‘black book’, which is said to contain several sections titled ‘Massage’, alongside a geographical designation with names of females and corresponding telephone numbers, some which belonged to underage girls with no training in massage therapy.
This incongruity results from the word ‘massage’ being code for ‘sex’, Giuffre alleges.
“My whole life revolved around just pleasing these men…[Epstein and Maxwell’s] whole entire lives revolved around sex. They call massages sex. They call modeling sex,” she said in a 2016 deposition.
Juan Alessi, the manager of Epstein’s Palm Beach home 1990 – 2001, says he occasionally found sex toys – including strap-on dildos - in Maxwell’s bathroom in the mansion after alleged massage sessions. He would put gloves on, rinse the instruments and place them in a closet.
— Legal Leaks (@LeaksLegal) August 11, 2019
Alfredo Rodriguez, Epstein’s butler in the mid-2000s, told a Palm Beach police detective in a sworn statement in 2006 that after girls gave massages to Epstein, he’d go into his bedroom to wipe down vibrators and sex toys, then store them in a wooden armoire near Epstein’s bed.
Number Crunching
In all, Alessi calculates that over a decade-long period “over 100” different female ‘massage therapists’ visited the financier and Maxwell. For his part, Rodriguez describes himself as a “human ATM machine” tasked with paying out Epstein’s alleged victims. Young girls would arrive via cab and he was “told to pay them cash” after they finished servicing Epstein and his friends, then call for cabs to collect them. On some occasions, the girls received ‘tips’ in the form of iPods and jewelry.
These accounts are partially corroborated by other documents included in the tranche, such as the testimony of Rinaldo Rizzo, the house manager for Eva Dubin, one of Maxwell’s close friends, who states a 15-year-old Swedish girl who’d visited Epstein’s private island told him – while weeping and “shaking uncontrollably” - Maxwell had taken her passport and "asked [her] for sex," and she’d been threatened by Epstein and Maxwell.
— Lulu Ramadan (@luluramadan) August 9, 2019
Another girl described being approached by Maxwell on the campus of her university, Palm Beach Atlantic College, and offered a job as an assistant to Epstein, which she accepted. She answered phones at Epstein’s home during her first day on the job, but on the second was instructed to massage Epstein in a sexual way. He explained to her he “needed to have three orgasms a day…It was biological, like eating.”
British Connection
Those Giuffre alleges she was forced to have sex with at Epstein’s demand include “a well-known businessman”, a “world-renowned scientist”, a “respected liberal politician”, a “foreign head of state” and Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II’s third child.
His name appears 56 times in the documents – Giuffre claims Maxwell acted as the Prince’s ‘madame’, forcing her to have sex with him in the bathtub at Maxwell’s London apartment.
Andrew is just one of several hundred elite Britons named in Epstein’s aforementioned ‘black book’ however – in fact, the register is effectively a who’s who of British society, with contacts including former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, broadcaster David Frost, celebrity chef Lloyd Grossman, supermodel Naomi Campbell and numerous Lords and Ladies. There is no suggestion any of these luminaries availed themselves of Epstein’s alleged ‘massage’ services, however.
— Dave (@Roy2Dave) August 10, 2019
However, Epstein was evidently close with Andrew, given the book is said to contained 16 separate numbers for the royal, including a mobile number, one marked “Palace ex-directory”, and details for royal Scottish retreats Balmoral and Sandringham.
Disturbing Library
Another potentially damning item recorded in evidence is an Amazon receipt for several books related to sexual slavery, including SM 101: A Realistic Introduction, SlaveCraft: Roadmaps for Erotic Servitude – Principles, Skills and Tools, and Training with Miss Abernathy: A Workbook for Erotic Slaves and Their Owners.
It was recovered in 2005 during a search of Epstein’s residence by Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey uncovered.
All three works are popular and highly-rated on Amazon, their review sections brimming with praise from consenting adults - but the respective blurbs take on an extremely disturbing dimension in the context of the allegations against Maxwell and Epstein. For instance, the write-up for SM 101 states the book “surveys the entire spectrum of consensual sadomasochistic practices from from bondage to spanking, erotic role-playing, and more”, and includes a chapter on “starting and running sadomasochistic organizations and events”.
Likewise, Training with Miss Abernathy is described as “a course of study” to help those in sexual servitude “become a better, more desirable and happier slave” via a series of tests, exercises and more.
Giuffre’s legal team argue the “disturbing” purchases corroborate their client’s allegations that Maxwell and Epstein kept her and “dozens of underage girls” in sexual servitude – and while Maxwell testified she was not with Epstein when the books were ordered, record evidence is said to contradict her denials.
