Previously unseen letters to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, along with photographs from inside his seven-story Manhattan mansion, were published by the New York Times on Tuesday.
The tranche of pictures and letters from well-known artists and politicians offers a glimpse into the New York financier’s life and relationships in the years leading up to his arrest for sex trafficking in 2019.
They include messages for his 63rd birthday in 2016 from director Woody Allen, former prime minister of Israel Ehud Barak, real estate billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman, along with linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky.
“Being neighbors, my wife Soon-Yi and I have been invited for dinner many times. Always accept, always interesting. Wide variety of interesting people at every dinner just about Politicians, scientists, teachers, magicians, comedians, intellectuals, journalists…” Allen’s letter reportedly says. He then likens the dinners to those at the castle to the 1931 movie adaptation of Dracula Dracula, where “where Lugosi has three young female vampires who service the place.”
Read More: A Timeline of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’s Relationship as It Draws Renewed Attention
Another letter from Barak and his wife reportedly describes Epstein as a “collector of people.” The Times did not publish a scan of this letter as it did with Allen’s, but reports that it concludes with a refrain that Epstein’s friends may “enjoy your table for many more years to come.”
TIME attempted to reach Barak, Chomsky, Zuckerman, and Allen for comment.
The New York Times also published photographs from inside Epstein’s mansion showing him with powerful global and financial figures Pope John Paul II, Mick Jagger, Elon Musk, Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro. They photograph a framed dollar bill signed by billionaire Bill Gates, with the caption “I was wrong!” written on it. Also framed is the now-infamous photo of Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Epstein and Maxwell, taken in 2000, but with Maxwell not in frame.
Epstein’s relationship with the rich and powerful has been the subject of intense speculation in the years since his arrest and death by suicide in 2019.
Read more: Is Donald Trump Named in the Epstein Files—and Why Won’t the Questions Go Away?
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump had sent his own letter to Epstein in a book for his 50th birthday in 2003—long before his crimes became public knowledge. Trump has denied writing the letter and accompanying “bawdy” drawing that the Journal reports is in the book, and the President sued the newspaper’s parent firms Dow Jones and News Corp, its owner Rupert Murdoch, and two reporters over the report.
The President has sought to play down his connection to Epstein over the years. He has said consistently that he broke off his friendship long before any allegations of his crimes came to light. He recently gave more details about the split when he said he fell out with the financier after Epstein “stole” Virginia Giuffre, who later became a victim of Epstein, from the President’s spa at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where she worked as a 16-year-old in 2000.
The Trump Administration has faced criticism for its refusal to release the so-called “Epstein files,” after many within Trump’s inner circle claimed for years that their contents would expose serious crimes by powerful people.
The case has consumed both Republicans and Democrats as both parties search for answers.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee, led by Republicans, subpoenaed the Justice Department on files related to Epstein, calling for the DOJ to turn over all investigative materials related to his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking operation. Just last week, Maxwell was quietly moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas, soon after she met with the DOJ’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, prompting anger from Democrats.
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