New York, Jan 10 (IANS): The fifth and final batch of court documents from a lawsuit connected to the late disgraced American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released, a week after thousands of pages of files were made public which contained the names of former US President Bill Clinton, Britain's Prince Andrew, late theoretical physicist Steven Hawking, among other noted celebrities.
Tuesday's batch of 1,400 pages of records contained depositions with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term for crimes she committed with the disgraced financier, the BBC reported
The files also revealed that during these depositions, Epstein refused to answer lawyers' questions over 500 times, including about the alleged blackmail of famous men.
The documents are part of a 2015 civil defamation suit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an American woman who claimed Epstein sexually abused her as a minor and that Maxwell had aided in the abuse.
The suit was was settled in 2017.
Tuesday's files revealed that while under questioning, a lawyer for Giuffre asked Epstein whether she had been told to provide a "detailed report" about her alleged sexual encounters with powerful men such as Prince Andrew, reports the BBC.
The attorney asked whether this was intended to be used as "blackmail material".
Epstein refused to answer any of the questions, repeatedly responding by saying just the word "fifth" over 500 times.
"Fifth" referes to the Fifth Amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination.
He refused even to say whether he knew Maxwell.
In her 2016 deposition released on Tuesday, Giuffre said she was paid between $10,000 to $15,000 for one sexual encounter with the Prince.
Prince Andrew has previously denied knowing Giuffre and also any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Other men she claimed to forcefully have sex with include Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Victoria's Secret boss Les Wexner, billionaire hedge fund investor Glenn Dubin and former US peace envoy George Mitchell.
All of these men have previously denied her claims.
Giuffre also said she was trafficked to American computer scientist Marvin Minsky and French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
While Minsky died in 2016, Brunel killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022 while awaiting rape and sex-trafficking charges.
The unsealing of the fifth batch of files follows thousands of pages of documents that were made public on January 10, 11, 12 and Monday.
The other big names that have surfaced in the previous unsealed files include jailed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, late pop icon Michael Jackson, famed magician and illusionist David Copperfield; Hollywood actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Cameron Diaz, Bruce Willis and Kevin Spacey.
Epstein was indicted in 2019 on federal charges of operating a sex trafficking ring in which he allegedly sexually abused dozens of underage girls.
He pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008 and died in jail by suicide in 2019 as he awaited federal sex-trafficking charges