Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton are mentioned in court papers about Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender who has passed away.
The new documents are part of a case against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in jail for helping Epstein abuse girls.
However, the papers released up to now do not reveal any big new accusations about Epstein or new information about the people he knew.
Prince Andrew is being accused of touching a woman in a way that made her uncomfortable, but he says he didn’t do it.
Other people mentioned in the papers are singer Michael Jackson and magician David Copperfield. But they are not accused of doing anything wrong.
Mr Clinton is mentioned in many of the papers. The past president of the United States admitted he knew Epstein in the past, but he said he didn’t know about any of Epstein’s crimes.
The first set of files, which cover about 900 pages, were released on Wednesday after a judge in New York named Loretta Preska ordered it. Many of the people mentioned in the files were already known from the media or from Maxwell’s trial.
Judge Preska said that many people did not object to the release of the documents. However, she decided that some names should be blacked out because they would reveal the identities of people who were abused.
Some of the over 100 people on the list say things about others or might have seen something, and more papers will be shared soon.
Epstein admitted to paying a young person for sex in 2009 and died by suicide in 2019 while waiting for his trial on charges of selling people for sex.
Prince Andrew’s alleged groping
The new files mention Johanna Sjoberg, who said that Prince Andrew touched her breast while they were sitting on a couch in Epstein’s apartment in 2001.
Buckingham Palace has said that her claims are completely false. They have chosen not to say anything about the new documents, because they don’t speak for the Duke of York anymore, as he is no longer doing royal duties. The BBC has asked Prince Andrew to share his thoughts.
During a statement, Ms. Sjoberg said that Prince Andrew touched her breast while posing for a picture with another accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and a puppet with his name on it.
In 2022, the British prince gave lots of money to Ms Giuffre to end a case she made saying he did something bad to her when she was 17.
Prince Andrew said he never met Ms Giuffre and he said her accusations were not true.
Bill Clinton’s trips around the world.
The court documents also mention former US President Clinton, but there is no suggestion that he did anything illegal. When asked for a response, the people who speak for him pointed to a statement he made in 2019 where he said he doesn’t know anything about what Epstein did.
Based on the information, Ms. Sjoberg said that Epstein told her that Mr. Clinton “likes young girls. ”
The files have statements from Maxwell saying that Mr. Clinton went on Epstein’s plane, but she doesn’t know how many times.
Mr Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane for trips to Africa in the early 2000s. He thought Epstein was good at helping people, but then stopped being friends with him.
The ex-president of the United States said in 2019 that he traveled on Epstein’s plane with people who worked for and supported his charity, the Clinton Foundation.
“His bodyguards went with him on every part of every journey,” he said.
The court papers have a part where Maxwell’s lawyer tries to prove that a media story about Mr. Clinton going to Epstein’s island right after he left his job in January 2001 is not true.
Maxwell’s lawyer said the former US president did not go to or be on Little St James Island from January 1, 2001 to January 1, 2003.
The lawyer said that if the claim was true, Secret Service agents would have had to show records of their travel for the trip.
More update on this story soon