A first tranche of documents released by a New York court on Wednesday provided a fresh glimpse into the lurid world of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his dealings with a cast of powerful men, from Wall Street figures to former president Bill Clinton.
The documents’ publication — ordered by a judge last month after spending years under seal or redacted — had been hotly anticipated by a public still eager to understand the enigma of Epstein and the extent of his crimes.
The first pages are drawn from sworn depositions of women who said he had abused them and offer a wealth of details and first-person accounts. Yet they did not appear to shift the established narrative surrounding Epstein, who was found hanged to death in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving dozens of underage women. He had previously been convicted in Florida of soliciting sex with a minor.