The Washington Examiner reports that court documents are about to be unsealed that will name eight associates of Jeffrey Epstein.
The documents were ordered to be unsealed by Judge Loretta Preska on Friday. In doing so, Loretta overruled the objections of many of the associates to be named.
What’s going on?
This all stems from the defamation case that Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, brought against Ghislaine Maxwell.
After the conclusion of the case, media outlets requested that case documents be unsealed. And, that is what has been happening. Since 2019, the documents have been released, bit by bit, in batches.
Originally, there were 16 “non-party Does” – individuals not involved in the lawsuit but who have a connection to Epstein and/or Maxwell – whom the documents identified. As the documents have been released, half of those Does have been dealt with in one way or another.
Now, eight are remaining: Does 12, 28, 97, 107, 144, 147, 171, and 183.
These eight Does have been pleading with the court not to release the documents in which they are named and connected to Epstein. But, the court has overruled most of their objections.
It’s happening
Judge Loretta Preska, on Friday, ordered the unsealing of most of the remaining documents, meaning that the identities of most of these Does and their association with Epstein will be exposed.
Preska, in general, found that the Does’ “generalized concerns” about privacy are not enough to overcome the public’s right to see the information.
There are, however, some exceptions. Preska, for example, is going to allow the documents related to Doe 12 to remain sealed because, according to Preska, Doe 12 is “peripheral to the events at issue” and “not associated with Epstein or Maxwell.” But, for the most part, the remaining documents will be unsealed.
Now, the questions are who are these documents going to identify? And, what are the documents going to say about these individuals’ relation to Epstein? Doe 183, for example, is said to have been the “subject of intense media coverage.”
At the moment, it is unclear exactly when the documents will be released: a date has yet to be set. Outlets are reporting that it could be weeks.