By Max Matza for the BBC
This undated trial evidence image obtained 8 December, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: Handout / US District Court for the Southern District of New York / AFP
A fifth and final batch of court documents relating to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been released.
Among the 1400 pages of records are depositions with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
This last trove shows Epstein refused hundreds of times to answer lawyers' questions, including about alleged blackmail of famous men.
The documents have been released as part of a lawsuit brought by sex-trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.
The legal action, filed in 2015, was settled in 2017. Maxwell has since been jailed for 20 years for helping Epstein abuse young girls. She is appealing against her conviction.
The court records contain a transcript of Epstein's 2016 sworn deposition in which he repeatedly invoked his fifth amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Under questioning, a lawyer for Giuffre asked Epstein whether she had been told to provide a "detailed report" about her alleged sexual encounters with powerful men such as Prince Andrew.
The attorney asked whether this was intended to be used as "blackmail material".
Epstein refused to answer any of the questions, repeatedly responding by saying just the word "fifth" over 500 times.
He refused even to say whether he knew Maxwell.
The Duke of York has previously told the BBC he had no memory of ever meeting Giuffre, who alleged she was told to have sex with him on several occasions.
In 2022, he paid her an undisclosed sum to settle her sex-assault lawsuit against him, but did so with no admission of wrongdoing or liability.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, told the BBC he has no memory of meeting Giuffre. Photo: AFP
In her 2016 deposition released on Tuesday, Giuffre said she was paid between US$10,000 to US$15,000 (NZ$16,00 to NZ$24,000) for one sexual encounter with the prince.
She testified she had been paid US$160,000 (NZ$256,000) by a media organisation for two articles and a photo showing her with Prince Andrew.
Giuffre also denied ever having been sex-trafficked to any "presidents", but maintained she was made to have sex with "a well-known prime minister".
She refused to name this person, adding: "If I can just say, I personally know that this is not a good person to talk about and I'm not going to, point blank, I'm not going to say his name."
Giuffre also said there was another individual who was introduced to her as a prince - besides Prince Andrew - to whom she was trafficked in the south of France.
At times in the interview, Giuffre said she was unable to recall details, including the time and location of specific alleged sexual encounters.
She said she had been using Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, as well as ecstasy, cannabis and alcohol.
Other men she has said she was forced to have sex with include Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Victoria's Secret boss Les Wexner, billionaire hedge fund investor Glenn Dubin, and former US peace envoy George Mitchell, all of whom have previously denied her claims.
In 2022, Giuffre dropped a lawsuit against Dershowitz and acknowledged in a statement that she "may have made a mistake in identifying" him.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Wexner referred the BBC to a previous statement from his lawyers in which he denied having ever met Giuffre.
A spokesperson for Dubin told US media last week he "strongly" denies the allegations by Giuffre.
On Tuesday, Mitchell repeated his previous denial of the claim.
He told the BBC in a statement: "The allegation contained in the released documents is false. I have never met, spoken with or had any contact with Ms Giuffre."
Giuffre also said she was trafficked to American computer scientist Marvin Minsky and French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Minsky died in 2016. Brunel killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022 while awaiting rape and sex-trafficking charges.
The five batches of long-sealed Epstein court files released over the past week have contained few details that weren't previously known.
Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. He took his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial over sex-trafficking charges.
- This story was first published by the BBC
