Β Jeffrey Epstein
The fallout from Jeffrey Epstein's transgressions spans oceans and continents, from the vulnerable girls he exploited to the privileged people and institutions that chose to associate with him, cover up his activities or look away.
No one paid a higher cost than Epstein's victims, who number more than 1,000, according to the Justice Department.
The world will soon have more information.
President Donald Trump, friends with Epstein for years before he says they had a falling out in the early to mid-2000s, signed a law late Wednesday forcing the Justice Department to make public many of its files on Epstein within 30 days. The signing came after Trump's efforts to quash the files failed andΒ the Republican-led Congress overwhelmingly passed the legislation, which also will shield some case files from view.
In 2019, during Trumpβs first term, Manhattan federal prosecutors charged Epstein with sex trafficking, alleging he sexually abused dozens of girls. He reportedly killed himself in jail a month after his arrest.
Yet even in death, Epstein continues to bedevil not only the president but academics, government leaders, royalty, journalists and banks, across borders and parties. Public trust suffered, too.
Jess Michaels, a survivor of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, says the past few days have felt like a victory. She feels a sense of relief in no longer being alone, but also exhaustion that it has taken so many years to get here. 'I'm hopeful we will see the files,' she says.
A pillar of academia
Newly released emails show economist Lawrence Summers stayed in touch with Epstein years after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The letters reveal that Summers appeared to ask Epstein for advice about women β and Epstein dubbed himself Summers' "wing man" β as late as 2019. That cost the economist his positions with OpenAI, the think tank Center for American Progress and the Budget Lab at Yale University. At first, Summers pledged to keep teaching classes at Harvard, captured in an eyebrow-raising video Wednesday in which he opened a class by noting his shame about the relationship with Epstein. Then he stepped away from that job, too, the university said.
Summers, 70, a former treasury secretary and onetime contender to lead the Federal Reserve, had to give up responsibilities at Harvard before. In 2006, he stepped down as president of the elite school after a speech in which he suggested that women were less represented in math and science fields because of "intrinsic aptitude."
In 2020, Harvard reported that Epstein visited its Cambridge, Mass., campus more than 40 times after his 2008 plea deal. It said he was given his own office and unfettered access to a research center he helped establish. It also found Harvard accepted more than $9 million from Epstein during the decade leading up to his conviction but barred him from making further donations after that point.
A former prince
Britain's Prince Andrew speaks April 11, 2021, during a television interview at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
A well-documented connection with Epstein has cost Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor his home on castle grounds and his princely title.
Revelations about the king's brother trickled forth for years and left little doubt that Mountbatten-Windsor, as Prince Andrew is now known, not only was involved in Epstein's sex crimes against minors but stayed in touch with the disgraced financier after his conviction.
Mountbatten-Windsor gave a disastrous interview to the BBC in 2019, in which he was widely panned for failing to show empathy for Epstein's victims and for offering unbelievable explanations for the friendship.
Virginia Giuffre speaks Aug. 27, 2019, during a news conference outside a Manhattan court in New York.
In her posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre said she was only 17 when she was trafficked to Andrew and that Epstein took a photograph that showed the then-prince with his hand around her waist.
Andrew denied meeting Giuffre, did not recall the photo being taken and said he committed no crimes, but he reached a settlement with her. Giuffre died by suicide in April.
In recent days, King Charles III stripped Andrew of his title and forced him to move out of Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion near Windsor Castle where the king's brother lived for more than 20 years. He was banished to Sandringham, the king's remote private estate in east England.
Danielle Bensky talks to reporters Nov. 17 as a World Without Exploitation projectionΒ calling on Congress to vote yes on the Epstein Files Transparency Act is seen on the wall of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Trump's image
Trump insisted he did nothing wrong and did not know of Epstein's activities.Β Yet, Epstein's friendship with Trump continues to chip away at the president's time, attention and support.
Trump increasingly began paying those costs in July, when the Justice Department abruptly reversed course and announced no "further disclosure" of the Epstein files would be forthcoming. MAGA supporters, expecting Trump to make good on his campaign promise to release the files, edged toward rebellion.
Trump claimed he no longer wanted the support of such "stupid people" and "weaklings," but that didn't quiet them. He lashed out at reporters, but they kept asking about Epstein. A White House effort to lean on key Republicans supporting the files' release didn't work.
Democrats released their choice Epstein emails Nov. 12, the same day Congress and Trump ended a record 43-day government shutdown.
The president thundered on social media that Epstein's email claiming Trump "knew about the girls" was a "hoax."
At another point, the president was forced to respond to a Wall Street Journal report that he'd written and signed a bawdy birthday note to Epstein that referred to secrets. Trump denied writing the note and filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the news outlet.
This month, the president directed the Justice Department to investigate Democrats linked to Epstein.
Then, faced with the fact that all but one Republican in Congress would vote to release the FBI files, Trump abruptly backtracked.
"I DON'T CARE!" he wrote in a social media post. "All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT."
Lawmakers, Epstein survivors push for release of files before vote on bill
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., second from right, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., right, react Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025,Β during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
A woman wears a pin Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Protesters hold signs Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a folder Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., attends a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, on the Epstein Files Transparency Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to each other Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks to reporters Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, following a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., attends a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Posters hang on the doors of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's, R-Ga., office Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Reporters attempt to film Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.,Β Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, following a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
