Nearly six years after Jeffrey Epstein's death in federal custody, speculation abounds over what information might be in transcripts and other documents related to investigations of the wealthy financier who was a convicted sex offender and accused of sex trafficking young women and girls as young as 14.
The Trump administration is under increasing pressure to release "the Epstein files" — a call that President Trump has sometimes joined, even as his own ties to Epstein come under renewed scrutiny.
In a process spanning decades, criminal cases against Epstein culminated in charges that he operated a sex-trafficking ring preying on young women and underage girls. Prosecutors say he was aided by Ghislaine Maxwell, his long-time associate who is currently in prison.
But while thousands of pages of depositions and other legal documents have been filed — and some have been released — public calls have grown for a release of all the files.
Interest in the case has persisted along with the perception that Epstein used his wealth and elite status — hosting powerful people on private jets and socializing in Palm Beach, Fla., New York, London and a Caribbean island — not only to commit heinous crimes, but to avoid responsibility for them.
Here's a brief timeline of the legal cases against Epstein:
2005
March: Police open a criminal investigation into Epstein in Palm Beach, Fla., after a 14-year-old girl's parents say he paid her for a massage.
Police gather more allegations from underage girls who say he sexually abused them at his mansion, in encounters that often began as massages. Federal prosecutors later say the abuse began as early as 2002.
2006
July 19: A Palm Beach County grand jury indicts Epstein on one state felony charge of solicitation of prostitution. But the Palm Beach Police Department's chief and lead detective then refer the case to a nearby FBI office, saying the charge doesn't reflect "the totality of Epstein's conduct," according to the Justice Department's review of the case.
2007
May: An assistant U.S. attorney — who has been working with two FBI agents to find more victims — submits a draft indictment outlining 60 criminal counts against Epstein, along with a memo summarizing the evidence assembled against him.
July: Epstein's attorneys meet with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. The top prosecutor was then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta (who in 2017 would become President Trump's Labor Secretary). The U.S. Attorney's Office offers to end its investigation if Epstein pleads guilty to two state charges and agrees to accept a prison term, register as a sexual offender, and set up a way for his victims to obtain monetary damages.
The much-criticized deal includes a controversial nonprosecution agreement, or NPA, in which the federal prosecutor's office grants immunity to Epstein, four co-conspirators, and "any potential co-conspirators," the Justice Department says. Prosecutors agree not to tell Epstein's victims about the NPA, which is filed under seal.
2008
June 30: Epstein pleads guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18 — and is sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security facility.
But the wealthy businessman is allowed to leave for 12 hours a day to work at a foundation that he had recently incorporated, according to the Justice Department.
July 7: A victim identified as "Jane Doe" files a federal lawsuit under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, saying she and other victims were not informed that the Epstein case was being resolved with a plea deal. In 2019, a judge ruled in their favor.
2009
July 22: Epstein is released after serving less than 13 months.
September: Two years after the nonprosecution deal was signed, a Florida judge orders that the document giving Epstein federal immunity should be made public, in response to lawsuits from Epstein's victims and news outlets.
2010
Epstein has settled multiple civil lawsuits brought against him by his victims.
2015
Sept. 21: Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre sues longtime Epstein confidante and associate Ghislaine Maxwell for defamation, after Maxwell called her a liar for claiming to be a victim of a sexual conspiracy run by Maxwell and Epstein. (In 2021, Maxwell was found guilty of helping Epstein operate a sex-trafficking ring that preyed on teens and young women and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.)
2017
May: Maxwell settles Giuffre's lawsuit, a matter in which Epstein had repeatedly sought to avoid testifying. But journalist Julie K. Brown and the Miami Herald later file motions to unseal records from the case, citing the public right of access and its coverage of the abuse of "dozens of underage minors."
2018
Nov. 28: The Miami Herald publishes a series of investigative reports into Epstein and the role of then-U.S. Attorney Acosta in Epstein's plea deal. The reports spark intense interest in Epstein's actions, including the notion that powerful people might have known about or been involved in his illegal actions.
Dec. 4: A week after the Herald report, Epstein reaches a last-minute settlement in a defamation case with attorney Bradley Edwards, who represented women alleging that Epstein abused them when they were minors. The settlement puts an end to a case that had been anticipated to bring court testimony from Epstein's victims for the first time.
2019
July 6: Federal agents arrest Epstein. He is charged in the Southern District Court of New York with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
July 12: Acosta resigns as labor secretary, saying the Epstein matter is a distraction from his agency's work.
Aug. 10: Epstein is found dead in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal detention facility where he was being held in Manhattan. The New York City chief medical examiner later concludes that Epstein died by suicide.
Aug. 27: U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman holds a hearing on a motion to dismiss the indictment against Epstein. In a remarkable move, he also says the court will hear "the testimony of victims here today" — an offer taken up by many women that day, under their own names or as "Jane Doe."
Courtney Wild, who had helped start the first proceedings against Epstein in Florida more than 10 years earlier, is among those who step forward.
"Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused me for years, robbing me of my innocence and mental health," she said. "Jeffrey Epstein has done nothing but manipulate our justice system, where he has never been held accountable for his actions, even to this day."
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