From Elon Musk to the former Prince Andrew, a who’s who of powerful
people named in Epstein files
[February 02, 2026]
By PHILIP MARCELO and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
NEW YORK (AP) — From tech titans to Wall Street power brokers and
foreign dignitaries, a who’s who of powerful men make appearances in the
huge trove of documents released by the Justice Department in connection
with its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein.
All have denied having anything to do with his sexual abuse of girls and
young women. Yet some of them maintained friendships with Epstein, or
developed them anew, even after news stories made him widely known as an
alleged abuser of young girls.
None have been charged with a crime connected to the investigation.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
Here’s a primer on some of the notable names in the Epstein files:
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
The man formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew has long been dogged
by questions about his relationship with Epstein, including allegations
from the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked by
Epstein and instructed to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was
17.
The former prince has repeatedly denied that it happened, but his
brother, King Charles III, still stripped him of his royal titles late
last year, including the right to be called a prince and the Duke of
York.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name appears at least several hundred times in
Friday’s document release, including in Epstein’s private emails.
Among the correspondence is an invitation for Epstein to dine at
Buckingham Palace, Epstein’s offer to introduce Mountbatten-Windsor to a
26-year-old Russian woman, and photos that appear to show
Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the
floor.
Sarah Ferguson
In March of 2011, Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York, made a
public apology for letting Jeffrey Epstein pay off some of her debts.
Both she and her ex-husband, the former Prince Andrew, had come under
tremendous public scrutiny for continuing a friendly relationship with
Epstein after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an
underage girl.
She told London’s Evening Standard newspaper she would have "nothing
ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.” But just two months later,
she emailed Epstein to say she was going on Oprah Winfrey’s TV show and
wanted his advice on how she should answer questions about their
relationship.
“I just want to make sure you are aware of this and seek your advice on
how you would like me to answer,” Ferguson wrote.
Epstein replied, “Jeffrey was unfairly characterized as a pedophile by
the tabloid press. Many years ago jeffrey pleaded guilty to soliciting
underage prostitutes. He paid his debt to society and has sought
forgiveness. I have nothing more to say.”
Elon Musk
The billionaire Tesla founder turns up at least a few times in Friday’s
document release, notably in email exchanges in 2012 and 2013 in which
he discussed visiting Epstein’s infamous Caribbean island compound.
But it’s not immediately clear if the island visits took place.
Spokespersons for Musk’s companies, Tesla and X, didn’t respond to
emails seeking comment Friday or Saturday.
Musk has maintained that he repeatedly turned down the disgraced
financier’s overtures. “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and
I REFUSED,” he posted on X in 2025.
Richard Branson
The billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, a global conglomerate,
exchanged numerous emails with Epstein.
In a 2013 exchange, Branson invited Epstein to his own private Caribbean
island, which regularly hosts large conferences, charity events and
business meetings.
“Any time you’re in the area would love to see you,” he wrote. “As long
as you bring your harem!”
In another message that year, he suggested Epstein rehabilitate his
image by convincing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to tell the public
how Epstein had “been a brilliant adviser to him” and had “more than
learnt your lesson and have done nothing that’s against the law since.”
The company stressed in a statement Saturday that there was no
wrongdoing on Branson's part and that any dealings with Epstein were
“limited to group or business settings” more than a decade ago.
Branson also declined a charitable donation and decided not to meet or
speak with him again after his team “uncovered serious allegations," the
company said.
“Had they had the full picture and information, there would have been no
contact whatsoever," the statement reads. "Richard believes that
Epstein’s actions were abhorrent and supports the right to justice for
his many victims.”
Donald Trump
It's long been known that Epstein was friends with Trump before the two
had a falling out.
The new trove of documents contain thousands of references to Trump,
much of which sheds little additional light on the men’s relationship.
They included emails in which Epstein and others shared news articles
about Trump, commented on his policies or his politics, or gossiped
about him and his family.
The Justice Department also disclosed a spreadsheet created last August
that summarized calls made to law enforcement tip lines from people
claiming to have some knowledge of wrongdoing by Trump.
That document included a range of uncorroborated stories involving many
different celebrities, and somewhat fantastical scenarios, occasionally
with notations indicating what follow-up, if any, was done by agents.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that the FBI fielded
“hundreds of calls” about prominent individuals that were “quickly
determined to not be credible.”
Bill Clinton
Like Trump, Clinton spent time with Epstein more than two decades ago,
including flying occasionally on his private jet and seeing him at the
White House. Clinton also denied any knowledge of Epstein's wrongdoing.
Clinton's representatives say the former president broke off relations
with Epstein after the first round of criminal charges in 2006.
The investigative file includes snapshots of Clinton and other famous
people that Epstein kept in his home in New York. It also contains
messages investigators received from members of the general public,
demanding to know why Clinton wasn't being investigated. None of
Epstein's victims have publicly accused Clinton of being involved in
Epstein's crimes.
Steven Tisch
The New York Giants co-owner is mentioned more than 400 times in the
files released Friday. Correspondence between the two shows Epstein
offered to connect Tisch to numerous women over the years.
In one 2013 email exchange with the subject line “Ukrainian girl,”
Epstein encouraged Tisch to contact a particular woman, whose physical
beauty he praised in crude terms.
“Pro or civilian?” Tisch asked in reply.
Tisch, a scion of a powerful New York family that founded the Loews
Corporation, has acknowledged knowing Epstein but denied ever going to
his infamous Caribbean island.
[to top of second column]
|
New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch arrives for NFL owners
meetings, in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard
Drew, File)
“We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult
women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and
investments,” said Tisch, who also won an Academy Award in 1994 for
producing “Forrest Gump.” “As we all know now, he was a terrible
person and someone I deeply regret associating with.”
Brett Ratner
The film director who made the recently released Melania Trump
documentary appears in several photographs included in the
government’s files.
One, first released in December, shows him with his arms wrapped
around the shirtless torso of Jean Luc Brunel, a French modeling
agent who killed himself in jail in 2022 while awaiting trial on
rape charges.
The more recent document release has a sequence of other photos
apparently taken around the same time. Some show Ratner sitting on a
couch with Epstein, Brunel and at least two young women. In the
photos, Rattner has his arms wrapped around one of the women, whose
faces are blacked out.
Ratner and a spokesperson for his film company didn’t immediately
respond to an email seeking comment.
Casey Wasserman
The president of the committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los
Angeles exchanged flirty emails with Epstein confidant Ghislaine
Maxwell, Friday's document release shows.
In a 2003 exchange, Wasserman wrote to Maxwell: “I think of you all
the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather
outfit?”
In another, Maxwell asks whether it will be foggy enough during an
upcoming visit “so that you can float naked down the beach and no
one can see you unless they are close up?”
Wasserman released a statement Saturday saying he never had a
personal or business relationship with Epstein and that he regretted
the correspondence with Maxwell, which he said came “long before her
horrific crimes came to light.”
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex
trafficking.
Ehud Barak
The former Israeli prime minister and his wife turn up frequently in
the documents released Friday, showing they stayed in regular
contact with Epstein for years, including well after his 2008 guilty
plea for sex crimes in Florida.
Among the correspondence are plans for a 2017 stay at Epstein’s New
York residence. Other missives discuss mundane logistics for other
visits, meetings and phone calls with Epstein.
Barak has acknowledged regularly visiting Epstein on his trips to
New York and flying on his private plane, but maintains he never
observed any inappropriate behavior or parties.
Barak served as Israel’s prime minister from 1999 to 2001 and later
served as its defense minister.
Larry Summers
Clinton's former Secretary of the Treasury and the onetime president
of Harvard University is another of Epstein's well-known longtime
acquaintances. The new documents are full of references to meetings
and dinners between the two men.
A previously-released trove of documents show Summers emailing
Epstein in 2019, after the financier had been charged with sexual
abuse of minors, to discuss his interactions with a woman, writing
he'd told her “awfully coy u are.” Epstein replied: “you reacted
well.”
Summers has called his interactions with Epstein “a major error of
judgment.”
Howard Lutnick
President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary visited Epstein’s
private Caribbean island with his family on at least one occasion,
records released Friday show.
That appears to contradict prior statements he’s made claiming he
cut ties with the disgraced financier, who he’s called “gross,”
decades ago.
But emails show Lutnick and his wife accepted an invitation to
Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December 2012 and
planned to arrive by yacht with their children.
The former chairman of Newmark, a major commercial real estate firm,
also had drinks on another occasion in 2011 with Epstein and
corresponded with him about the construction of a building across
the street from both of their homes.
The Commerce Department, in a statement, said Lutnick had “limited
interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has
never been accused of wrongdoing.”
Sergey Brin
The billionaire Google co-founder made plans to meet with Epstein
and Maxwell at his townhouse in New York years before he was
publicly accused of sexually abusing underage girls, emails show.
In one exchange in 2003, Maxwell invited him to join her at a
screening of the Renee Zellweger film “Down with Love” in New York.
She followed up a few weeks later to invite him to a “happily casual
and relaxed” dinner at Epstein’s house. Brin offered to bring along
Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt.
Spokespersons for Google didn’t immediately respond to an email
seeking comment Saturday.
Steve Bannon
The one-time adviser to Trump exchanged hundreds of friendly texts
with Epstein, some sent months before the financier's 2019 arrest
and jailhouse suicide.
The two discussed politics, travel and a documentary Bannon was said
to be planning that would help salvage Epstein’s reputation.
One 2018 exchange, for example, focused on Trump’s threats at the
time to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In a 2019
message, Bannon asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick
him up in Rome.
Epstein and Bannon also exchanged gossipy messages about Trump and
his politics.
Bannon hasn’t responded to emails seeking comment.
Miroslav Lajcak
A national security adviser to the Slovakian prime minister, Lajcak
resigned Saturday after his past communications with Epstein
appeared in Friday’s document release.
Opposition parties and a nationalist partner in Fico’s governing
coalition had called for him to step down.
Lajcak, a former Slovak foreign minister and a onetime president of
the U.N. General Assembly, has not been accused of any wrongdoing,
but was photographed meeting with Epstein in the years between his
initial release from jail and his subsequent indictment in 2019 on
sex trafficking charges.
He said his correspondence with Epstein were part of his diplomatic
duties.
___
Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to
this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
