Jeffrey Epstein’s defence team sought to undermine the reliability of one of the witnesses against him by revealing she had claimed the billionaire had kept “sex tapes” involving prominent people, a new batch of unsealed documents has disclosed.
Those who were filmed were alleged to have included Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson, according to the allegations made by Sarah Ransome.
Her claims were flagged by a firm representing Epstein’s lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, to demonstrate Ransome “manifestly lacks credibility”. The court was not given any proof of the existence of any tapes, and the allegations were retracted by Ransome soon after they were initially made.
Ransome gave a victim impact statement before the sentencing of the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for sex trafficking. The court was provided with emails in which she claimed the three were filmed by the child sex offender.
She also makes serious accusations against the former US president Donald Trump.
Prince Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.
He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. The duke has denied any wrongdoing.
A US judge ordered hundreds of documents to be unsealed as part of Giuffre’s previously settled civil claim against Maxwell, which was filed in 2015. Images were also released as part of the latest tranche of documents, including a resurfaced photo of the former Labour minister Peter Mandelson with Epstein on his private island, Little St James.
Other pictures, all taken on the island in 2006, included one of Maxwell with the disgraced French model scout Jean Luc-Brunel and various girls posing for photos.
Addressing the claims about Andrew, the former US president Clinton and Branson, the British billionaire businessman, in the document released on Monday, Ransome wrote in the emails: “When my friend had sexual intercourse with Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson, sex tapes were in fact filmed on each separate occasion by Jeffrey.
“Thank God she managed to get a hold of some footage of the filmed sex tapes, which clearly identify the faces of Clinton, Prince Andrew and Branson having sexual intercourse with her.
“Frustratingly enough Epstein was not seen in any of the footage but he was clever like that.
“When my friend eventually had the courage to speak out and went to the police in 2008 to report what had happened, nothing was done and she was utterly humiliated by the police department where she went to report what had happened with Epstein, Clinton, Branson and Prince Andrew.”
Trump, who hopes to stand for US president later this year, is also accused in the email extracts from Ransome, who alleges he “had sexual relations with [her friend] at Jeffrey’s NY mansion on regular occasions”.
In the letter from Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP to the court, the firm said allegations against Dershowitz were categorically false, adding: “[Ransome’s] testimony was fabricated from whole cloth. Ms Ransome’s testimony also contains a slew of other incendiary claims concerning the sexual proclivities of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and other prominent individuals.
“The emails are a necessary antidote to Ms Ransome’s deposition misstatements because they demonstrate she manifestly lacks credibility.”
Ransome soon withdrew her claims, saying: “I want to walk away from this … I shouldn’t have contacted you and I’m sorry I wasted your time. It’s not worth coming forward and I will never be heard anyhow and only bad things will happen as a consequence of me going public.”
A Virgin Group spokesperson said: “In a New Yorker report published in 2019, Ransome admitted that she had ‘invented’ the tapes. We can confirm that Sarah Ransome’s claims are baseless and unfounded.”
In the email extracts from Ransome she also took aim at Hillary Clinton, with one saying: “I will make sure that neither that evil bitch Hillary or that paedophile Trump gets elected.
“I will also make sure that everyone on the God damn planet sees that footage and photos and will release them to WikiLeaks by Sunday.”
Ransome also appeared to say she had “reached out to the Russians for help” after claiming her emails had been hacked.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide. Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020 despite attempts by her defence counsel to have her released on bail.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June 2022. Her appeal is scheduled to be heard in November next year.
