The Epstein Files    Latest Release    Powerful Men in Files    Relationships With Leaders    References to Trump    Epstein’s Inner Circle    Victims’ Names Disclosed
    

  
                                                            

                                                            Everyone seems to have questions about the sprawling scandal, so we
                                                            talked to a reporter who’s been following the case for years.

                                                            The case of Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy sex offender with links 
                                                            to President Trump and a vast number of other rich and powerful 
                                                            figures in the U.S. and beyond, has made headlines for years. 
                                                            Everyone knows about it.

                                                            But the case presents such a sprawling scandal that it feels hard 
                                                            to wrap your arms around. Who was involved — and what does “involved” 
                                                            mean anyway? These are some of the questions I’m hearing at the 
                                                            school gates and at dinner parties.

                                                            So I called up my colleague Matthew Goldstein, who has been covering 
                                                            the story since 2019, when Epstein was indicted and arrested in New 
                                                            York on federal charges of sex trafficking and died by suicide. 
                                                            You can read our conversation below.

                                                            
                                                                                Jon Elswick/Associated Press

                                                            What we know about the Epstein files

                                                            So, Matt: Last November, Congress passed a law obliging the Trump
                                                            administration to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein. What 
                                                            exactly are these Epstein files? Are there more? Where does this end?

                                                            The Epstein files, broadly speaking, are everything that prosecutors 
                                                            have accumulated since Epstein first came into their sights in 
                                                            2005 on allegations of abusing underage girls in Florida. Since 
                                                            November, some three million-odd pages’ worth of documents have 
                                                            been released. The final batch came last week,
                                                            and we’re still going through it.

                                                            These documents come from two criminal investigations between 
                                                            2006 and 2019. Epstein has been on the sex offender registry since
                                                            2008. But it’s not all information related to sex trafficking. 
                                                            There are also his clients’ financial documents in there. There
                                                            are personal email and text message exchanges and videos and photos.

                                                            What new information has come out of these files?
                                                            
                                                            So far, it doesn’t fundamentally change our understanding of 
                                                            the story. It does give us more color and a better understanding 
                                                            of people’s attitudes and willingness to hang out with a known sex 
                                                            offender.