Jeffrey Epstein’s legal saga and political fallout

Jeffrey Epstein, the abuser at the centre of a conspiracy theory creating political headwinds for President Donald Trump, was facing federal charges of sex trafficking underage girls when he was found dead in his New York prison cell.

Six years later, the death of the wealthy and well-connected financier continues to reverberate, leaving major questions unanswered.

Here is a breakdown of the legal cases and recent developments surrounding Epstein:

Florida case

Epstein’s first serious trouble with the law came in 2006 after the parents of a 14-year-old told police he had molested their daughter at his Florida estate.

Epstein avoided federal charges — which could have seen him face life in prison — through a controversial plea deal with prosecutors.

In June 2008, he pleaded guilty to state felony charges of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.

He was jailed for just under 13 months and required to register as a sex offender.

New York sex trafficking

A federal grand jury in New York charged Epstein on July 2, 2019 with two felony counts: conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minor girls and sex trafficking of minor girls.

He was arrested four days later but was found dead in his prison cell on August 10, before the case came to trial. His death was ruled a suicide.

The grand jury indictment accused Epstein of having “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls,” some as young as 14, at his Manhattan mansion and Palm Beach estate.

Epstein and employees and associates recruited girls “to engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash,” it said.

Epstein also paid his victims to provide him with other girls, the indictment said, creating a “vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit.”

The indictment did not name the employees or associates who recruited girls for Epstein.

But British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s one-time girlfriend and assistant, was convicted in 2021 in New York with sex trafficking of minors on his behalf.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The memo

Mr. Trump’s conspiracy-minded supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years, and Mr. Trump, during his latest presidential campaign, said he would “probably” release what have come to be known as the “Epstein files.”

They were outraged when the Justice Department and FBI announced on July 7 that Epstein had indeed committed suicide, did not blackmail any prominent figures and did not keep a “client list.”

The “exhaustive review” also did not reveal any illegal wrongdoing by “third-parties,” the joint memo said, adding that there would be no further disclosure of information about the case.

The memo sparked a fierce backlash from Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement — which has long held as an article of faith that “deep state” elites were protecting powerful associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.

Right-wing supporters typically did not include former Epstein friend Mr. Trump in their conspiracy theories.

Trump and Epstein

The 79-year-old Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, has been seeking — unsuccessfully so far — to tamp down the uproar caused by the FBI memo putting a lid on the case.

No evidence has emerged of any wrongdoing by Mr. Trump, but The Wall Street Journal published details Thursday (July 17, 2025) of a raunchy letter he purportedly sent Epstein in 2003 to mark his 50th birthday.

The President on Friday (July 18, 2025) sued Dow Jones, News Corp, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the newspaper’s owner Rupert Murdoch, for libel and slander in relation to the article.

He is seeking at least $10 billion in damages in a defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami.

Mr. Trump also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the grand jury testimony in Epstein’s New York case.

In a filing in New York, Bondi cited “extensive public interest” for the unusual request to release what is typically secret testimony.

Published – July 19, 2025 08:32 am IST