The names of dozens of people connected to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public in a release of court documents on Wednesday.
Public figures including Prince Andrew and former US President Bill Clinton are among the associates, friends and alleged victims named in the 900 pages unsealed on the order of a judge in New York.
Both the former US president and the British royal deny any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Many names in the documents are mentioned in passing as part of various legal proceedings, and their inclusion does not suggest wrongdoing related to Epstein
Epstein took his own life in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. His friend and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for child sex trafficking.
Why are these names being made public?
The identities are being revealed under a settled lawsuit against Maxwell, the daughter of a British media tycoon.
The defamation lawsuit was brought by Virginia Giuffre, one of Maxwell’s accusers, and at the time the names were kept secret under a court-ordered seal.
But last month a judge in New York ruled these could now come to light.
What did the judge say about the names?
Judge Loretta Preska noted that many of the individuals named in the lawsuit had already been publicly identified by the media or in Maxwell’s criminal trial.
She added that many others “did not raise an objection” to the release of the documents.
Some of the names on the list will remain sealed, including those belonging to child victims, the judge said in her ruling.
And some individuals may have appeared more than once under different Doe numbers, so the exact number of names to emerge is unknown.
Whose names are on the Epstein list?
So far, the names are a mix of people accused of wrongdoing, people making these accusations and others who were potential witnesses to crimes.
Prince Andrew is on the list – the court filings include 40 documents of evidence from a woman who has made accusations against him.
Johanna Sjoberg claimed Prince Andrew groped her breast while sitting on a couch inside Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
Buckingham Palace has previously said the allegations are “categorically untrue”.
Last year, the prince paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a lawsuit she filed claiming that he sexually abused her when she was 17 years old.
Ms Giuffre says Epstein brought her to London and introduced her to Prince Andrew. A now famous photograph that she says was taken on that night shows the prince with his arm around Ms Giuffre, as Maxwell smiles in the background.
Prince Andrew said he had no recollection of ever meeting Ms Giuffre and denied her allegations.
What does it say about Bill Clinton?
The former US president is mentioned dozens of times in the court documents, but there is no implication of any illegality.
Mr Clinton travelled on Epstein’s plane on humanitarian trips to Africa in the early 2000s, and at the time praised Epstein as a committed philanthropist.
Mr Clinton’s team have previously said that he cut ties with Epstein before the financier came under investigation. They have in the past said he knows nothing about Epstein’s crimes.
Many of his mentions in these court filings relate to Ms Giuffre’s unsuccessful attempts to make the former president testify about his relationship with Epstein.
Who was Jeffrey Epstein?
Epstein was a millionaire known to mix with high-profile figures like Prince Andrew.
At the time of his death in jail in 2019, he was accused of running a “vast network” of underage girls for sex. He pleaded not guilty.
A decade earlier he had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
