From Elon Musk to former Prince Andrew, who's who of powerful people named in Epstein files

Elon Musk --------------- The billionaire Tesla founder turns up at least a few times in Fridays document release, notably in email exchanges in 2012 and 2013 in which he discussed visiting Epsteins infamous Caribbean island compound.


PTI | Newyork | Updated: 02-02-2026 09:08 IST | Created: 02-02-2026 09:08 IST
From Elon Musk to former Prince Andrew, who's who of powerful people named in Epstein files

From tech titans to Wall Street power brokers and foreign dignitaries, a who's who of powerful men make appearances in the huge trove of documents released by the Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein. All have denied having anything to do with his sexual abuse of girls and young women. Yet some of them maintained friendships with Epstein, or developed them anew, even after news stories made him widely known as an alleged abuser of young girls. None has been charged with a crime connected to the investigation. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. Here's a primer on some of the notable names in the Epstein files: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor ------------------------------------ The man formerly known as Britain's Prince Andrew has long been dogged by questions about his relationship with Epstein, including allegations from the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked by Epstein and instructed to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17. The former prince has repeatedly denied that it happened, but his brother, King Charles III, still stripped him of his royal titles late last year, including the right to be called a prince and the Duke of York. Mountbatten-Windsor's name appears at least several hundred times in Friday's document release, including in Epstein's private emails. Sarah Ferguson --------------------- In March of 2011, Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York, made a public apology for letting Jeffrey Epstein pay off some of her debts. Both she and her ex-husband, the former Prince Andrew, had come under tremendous public scrutiny for continuing a friendly relationship with Epstein after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. She told London's Evening Standard newspaper she would have ''nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.'' But just two months later, she emailed Epstein to say she was going on Oprah Winfrey's TV show and wanted his advice on how she should answer questions about their relationship. Elon Musk --------------- The billionaire Tesla founder turns up at least a few times in Friday's document release, notably in email exchanges in 2012 and 2013 in which he discussed visiting Epstein's infamous Caribbean island compound. But it's not immediately clear if the island visits took place. Spokespersons for Musk's companies, Tesla and X, didn't respond to emails seeking comment Friday or Saturday. Musk has maintained that he repeatedly turned down the disgraced financier's overtures. ''Epstein tried to get me to go to his island, and I REFUSED,'' he posted on X in 2025. Richard Branson ---------------------- The billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, a global conglomerate, exchanged numerous emails with Epstein. In a 2013 exchange, Branson invited Epstein to his own private Caribbean island, which regularly hosts large conferences, charity events and business meetings. ''Any time you're in the area, we'd love to see you,'' he wrote. ''As long as you bring your harem!'' In another message that year, he suggested Epstein rehabilitate his image by convincing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to tell the public how Epstein had ''been a brilliant adviser to him'' and had ''more than learnt your lesson and have done nothing that's against the law since.'' The company stressed in a statement Saturday that there was no wrongdoing on Branson's part and that any dealings with Epstein were ''limited to group or business settings'' more than a decade ago. Donald Trump -------------------- It's long been known that Epstein was friends with Trump before the two had a falling out. The new trove of documents contains thousands of references to Trump, much of which sheds little additional light on the men's relationship. They included emails in which Epstein and others shared news articles about Trump, commented on his policies or his politics, or gossiped about him and his family. The Justice Department also disclosed a spreadsheet created last August that summarised calls made to law enforcement tip lines from people claiming to have some knowledge of wrongdoing by Trump. Bill Clinton ---------------- Like Trump, Clinton spent time with Epstein more than two decades ago, including flying occasionally on his private jet and seeing him at the White House. Clinton also denied any knowledge of Epstein's wrongdoing. Clinton's representatives say the former president broke off relations with Epstein after the first round of criminal charges in 2006. Steven Tisch ------------------ The New York Giants co-owner is mentioned more than 400 times in the files released on Friday. Correspondence between the two shows Epstein offered to connect Tisch to numerous women over the years. Brett Ratner ----------------- The film director who made the recently released Melania Trump documentary appears in several photographs included in the government's files. One, first released in December, shows him with his arms wrapped around the shirtless torso of Jean Luc Brunel, a French modelling agent who killed himself in jail in 2022 while awaiting trial on rape charges. Casey Wasserman ------------------------ The president of the committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles exchanged flirty emails with Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, Friday's document release shows. In a 2003 exchange, Wasserman wrote to Maxwell: ''I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?'' Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. Ehud Barak ---------------- The former Israeli prime minister and his wife turn up frequently in the documents released Friday, showing they stayed in regular contact with Epstein for years, including well after his 2008 guilty plea for sex crimes in Florida. Among the correspondence are plans for a 2017 stay at Epstein's New York residence. Other missives discuss mundane logistics for other visits, meetings and phone calls with Epstein. Larry Summers -------------------- Clinton's former Secretary of the Treasury and the onetime president of Harvard University is another of Epstein's well-known longtime acquaintances. The new documents are full of references to meetings and dinners between the two men. A previously-released trove of documents shows Summers emailing Epstein in 2019, after the financier had been charged with sexual abuse of minors, to discuss his interactions with a woman, writing he'd told her ''awfully coy u are.'' Epstein replied: ''You reacted well.'' Summers has called his interactions with Epstein ''a major error of judgment.'' Howard Lutnick --------------------- President Donald Trump's commerce secretary visited Epstein's private Caribbean island with his family on at least one occasion, records released Friday show. That appears to contradict prior statements he's made claiming he cut ties with the disgraced financier, whom he's called ''gross,'' decades ago. But emails show Lutnick and his wife accepted an invitation to Little St. James in the US Virgin Islands in December 2012 and planned to arrive by yacht with their children. Sergey Brin ----------------- The billionaire Google co-founder made plans to meet with Epstein and Maxwell at his townhouse in New York years before he was publicly accused of sexually abusing underage girls, emails show. Spokespersons for Google didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Saturday. Steve Bannon ------------------- The one-time adviser to Trump exchanged hundreds of friendly texts with Epstein, some sent months before the financier's 2019 arrest and jailhouse suicide. The two discussed politics, travel and a documentary Bannon was said to be planning that would help salvage Epstein's reputation. One 2018 exchange, for example, focused on Trump's threats at the time to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In a 2019 message, Bannon asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick him up in Rome. Miroslav Lajcak -------------------- A national security adviser to the Slovakian prime minister, Lajcak, resigned Saturday after his past communications with Epstein appeared in Friday's document release. Opposition parties and a nationalist partner in Fico's governing coalition had called for him to step down. Lajcak, a former Slovak foreign minister and a onetime president of the UN General Assembly, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but was photographed meeting with Epstein in the years between his initial release from jail and his subsequent indictment in 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He said his correspondence with Epstein was part of his diplomatic duties.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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