The Department of Justice on Friday released the largest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files to date, a giant tranche including three million more pages of documents and thousands of videos and images.
The documents shed new light on the disgraced financier’s relationships with several prominent figures, including Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. They also contain a significant number of uncorroborated tips to law enforcement.
Here are what the files showed about several of those men:
President Trump
The files appeared to contain at least 4,500 documents that mentioned Mr. Trump. One was a summary that officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation assembled last summer of more than a dozen tips from the public involving Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein, according to emails released by the Department of Justice on Friday.
It is unclear why the investigators put together the summary, which includes accusations of sexual abuse by Mr. Epstein and Mr. Trump. The emails did not include any corroborating evidence, and The New York Times is not describing the details of the unverified claims.
Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Mr. Epstein. In response to a request for comment, the White House referred to a public statement from the Justice Department, which said that Friday’s documents “may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos.”
Many of the other documents were news articles or emails that referenced Mr. Trump.
Bill Gates
According to released emails, Mr. Epstein drafted notes to and about Mr. Gates in 2013, suggesting that he engaged in extramarital sex. A representative of Mr. Gates’s called the accusations “absolutely absurd and completely false.”
In one email, Mr. Epstein wrote that he had helped Mr. Gates acquire drugs “in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls,” and that he had facilitated rendezvous for Mr. Gates with married women.
It was not clear if Mr. Epstein ever sent the emails to Mr. Gates. Mr. Epstein wrote the messages about Mr. Gates not long after his attempt to broker a venture between Mr. Gates’s foundation and JPMorgan Chase fizzled out — depriving Mr. Epstein of what he had hoped would be a gusher of income.
Howard Lutnick
The files revealed that Mr. Lutnick, now the commerce secretary, planned a visit to Mr. Epstein’s island in 2012, though he previously said he severed ties with Mr. Epstein around 2005.
Reached by phone on Friday, Mr. Lutnick said he could not comment about the island visit because he had not seen the latest Epstein documents.
“I spent zero time with him,” Mr. Lutnick said. He then hung up.
The documents suggest the visit did occur. The gathering was set for Dec. 23, 2012. A day later, an assistant to Mr. Epstein forwarded Mr. Lutnick a message from Mr. Epstein: “Nice seeing you,” it said.
Richard Branson
A 2013 email exchange between Mr. Branson, the British billionaire, and Mr. Epstein suggests that the two had a warm, familiar relationship, built at least in part around their interest in women.
In an email on Sept. 11, 2013, Mr. Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, wrote to Mr. Epstein, “It was really nice seeing you yesterday.” He added: “Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”
A representative for Virgin group said that Mr. Branson had sent the email shortly after hosting Mr. Epstein at a group business meeting on the private island Mr. Branson owns in the British Virgin Islands. Mr. Epstein arrived at the meeting with three adult women, whom he referred to as his “harem,” who did not attend the meeting, the representative said.
“Any contact Richard and Joan Branson had with Epstein took place on only a few occasions more than 12 years ago, and was limited to group or business settings,” the representative said in a statement. “Richard believes that Epstein’s actions were abhorrent and supports the right to justice for his many victims.”
Elon Musk
Mr. Epstein and Mr. Musk exchanged multiple messages between 2012 and 2014, comparing their schedules to find time to meet in Florida or in the Caribbean, according to the documents.
“If you find some time, come visit me on my island” in the Caribbean, Mr. Epstein wrote to Mr. Musk on Sept. 25, 2012, urging the billionaire to “bring your friend or friends.”
“Sounds good, will try to make it,” Mr. Musk replied.
Over the years, the technology entrepreneur has denied visiting the disgraced financier’s island. In a social media post in September Mr. Musk wrote that Mr. Epstein “tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED.”
But several emails show that Mr. Musk backed out of plans that the two men had made.
Mr. Musk wrote Saturday in a post on X, the social media site he owns: “I had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island or fly on his ‘Lolita Express,’ but was well aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.”
Steve Tisch
Mr. Epstein exchanged multiple messages throughout 2013 with Mr. Tisch, a co-owner of the New York Giants football team.
In some of the exchanges, Mr. Epstein appeared to be connecting Mr. Tisch with women of specific ethnicities and described their bodies in vulgar terms.
On more than one occasion, Mr. Tisch used slang terms to ask Mr. Epstein if a woman he was describing was a sex worker. In one of those exchanges, in April 2013, Mr. Epstein asked Mr. Tisch to send him his phone number because he did not want a record of the conversations.
In a statement, Mr. Tisch said: “We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and investments. I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.”
Prince Andrew
“I have a friend I think you might enjoy having dinner with,” Mr. Epstein wrote to Prince Andrew of Britain in 2010. In a later email, Mr. Epstein added that the “friend” was 26 years old, Russian, clever, beautiful and trustworthy. The prince replied that he would be “delighted” to meet the woman.
A few hours later, he wrote Mr. Epstein again, asking, “What have you told her about me and have you given her my email as well?”
The email exchange adds new details to what has been publicly known about the long friendship between Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now known. In October, the prince was stripped of his royal titles after other new disclosures showed the extent of his closeness with Mr. Epstein.
Around 2001, Mr. Epstein trafficked a teenage girl to Prince Andrew, who had sex with her multiple times, according to legal filings later made by the woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied Ms. Giuffre’s accusations and any wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Mr. Epstein.
Sergey Brin
Mr. Brin, the co-founder of Google and one of the richest men in the world, visited Mr. Epstein’s private island near St. Thomas, made plans to dine at Mr. Epstein’s Upper East Side home and corresponded with Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime companion and convicted co-conspirator, according to the documents released on Friday.
“Dinners at Jeffrey’s are always happily casual and relaxed,” Ms. Maxwell wrote to Mr. Brin in April 2003. “Look forward to seeing you.”
It has long been known that Mr. Epstein introduced executives at JPMorgan to Mr. Brin, whose net worth exceeds $250 billion, helping the bank land him as a client.
Sarah Ransome, one of Mr. Epstein’s accusers, claimed in court documents in 2024 that she had met Mr. Brin and his then-fiancée, Anne Wojcicki, on Mr. Epstein’s island, which was the center of his sex-trafficking operation for many years. One of Mr. Epstein’s former boat captains told The New York Times earlier this year that he had seen Mr. Brin on the island more than once.
Mr. Brin and Ms. Wojcicki did not respond to requests for comment.
Reporting was contributed by Ashley Ahn, Mike Baker, Michael C. Bender, Coral Davenport, Debra Kamin, Sharon LaFraniere, Ryan Mac, Michael Rothfeld, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Jenny Vrentas.
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