A federal judge has begun unsealing court records related to as many as 153 people whose names appear in documents in a lawsuit over the sex-trafficking ring orchestrated by Jeffrey Epstein. It's a much-anticipated development in a case where speculation long focused on the late financier's "black book" of friends and contacts.
The fact that names are mentioned in the court documents does not imply a link to the criminal activities that prompted sweeping federal charges against Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. Many of the names come up only in passing, or in settings that are "not salacious," as Senior U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska recently said.
