What it means if celebrities are mentioned in Epstein files as full list finally released
A number of famous faces and high-profile individuals appear on the list - here's what it means
An official list of celebrities who have been named in the Epstein files has been released - and people have been questioning exactly what this means.
For those who missed it, on 14 February, US Attorney General Pam Bondi responded to the growing pressure over the files and sent a six-page letter to Congress.
She outlined that in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Department of Justice released all ‘records, documents, communications, and investigative materials' in their possession that relate to Epstein.
Bondi also compiled a list of 'all government officials and politically exposed persons names or referenced in the released materials'.
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The list in question features 305 names of high-profile individuals, politicians, musicians, and actors, dead and alive, who were named at least once in the documents relating to Epstein.
Huge names like Beyonce, Cher, Jay Z, George Clooney, and Bruce Springsteen are on the list, as are Robert De Niro, Diana Ross, Melinda Gates, Tucker Carlson, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry.
Not to mention political figures like US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
But what does it actually mean to be named on this list?
First of all, it's important to note that it doesn't automatically imply wrongdoing, and many of the people on the list may never have had any correspondence or interaction with Epstein.
The files are a vast collection of millions of documents, images, videos, and emails relating to Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting his sex trafficking trial in 2019.
So, because there are so many random snippets of information, many of which are completely unrelated to the actual crimes committed by Epstein, some names may be mentioned in passing or appear in news reports.
The letter from Bondi explained that the names appear in a 'wide variety of contexts', including some people who had 'extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell' and others who, as we say, were merely referenced in documents.
As outlined by Factually, even for those named in a civil filing or an investigatory document, this is not the same as being charged with a crime.
Also emphasising the DOJ's prior statements about a 'wide variety of contexts', the website added: "Many names appear in neutral or ancillary roles—e.g., travel companions, recipients of invitations, journalists, or counsel—not necessarily as perpetrators."
They went on to say that for any criminal liability to be considered, it would require 'prosecutorial charging decisions supported by evidence meeting the criminal standard', describing the unsealed papers as 'evidence sources and leads—not verdicts'.
Factually add that it would 'require corroboration, context and prosecutorial assessment before they become criminal charges, and multiple reputable sources and court orders explicitly warn against treating mere mention as guilt'.
Here is the full list of names, as released by the Department of Justice:
- Alexander Acosta
- Gloria Allred
- Julian Assange
- Vincent Babino
- Steve Bannon
- Xavier Becerra
- Beyonce
- Hunter Biden
- Laura Birger
- Leon Black
- Antony Blinken
- Pam Bondi
- Lauren Book
- Stephen E. Boyd
- John Brennan
- Sean Buckley
- George W. Bush
- Stephen Calk
- Tom Carper
- Cher
- Bill Clinton
- George Clooney
- Brian Colleran
- Maureen Comey
- Bill Cosby
- Alan Dershowitz
- Barry Diller
- Kathleen Dupont
- John Eisenberg
- Rahm Emmanuel
- Stephen Feinberg
- Michael Flynn
- Edward Friedland
- Bill Gates
- Rudy Giuliani
- Nikki Haley
- Orin Hatch
- Tony Higgins
- Eric Holder
- Mark Hosenball
- Sarah Huckabee
- Clare Iveagh
- Henry Jarecki
- Miriam Adelson
- Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
- Strauss Audrey
- Alec Baldwin
- Ehud Barak
- Lanna Belohlavek
- Jeff Bezos
- Jill Biden
- David Bistricer
- Tony Blair
- David Boies
- Dan Bongino
- Cory Booker
- Ric Bradshaw
- John Brockman
- Gerald Bull
- Jeb Bush
- Russell Capone
- Fidel Castro
- Noam Chomsky
- Chelsea Clinton
- Kurt Cobain
- Linda Collins
- George Conway
- Omar Daza
- Ron Desantis
- Phil Donahue
- George Economou
- Elizabeth II
- Jeffrey Epstein
- Sarah Ferguson
- Mark Foley
- Phillip Frost
- Melinda Gates
- Dan Goldman
- Kamala Harris
- Rony Hawk
- Stanley Ho
- Andreesen Horowitz
- Steny Hoyer
- Florence Hutner
- Michael Jackson
- Jay Z
- Woody Allen
- Arthur Edward Rory Guinness
- Stephanie Avakian
- Doug Band
- William Barr
- Geoffrey Berman
- Ashley Biden
- Joe Biden
- Marc Bistricer
- Todd Blanche
- John Bolton
- Bono
- David Bowdich
- Richard Branson
- Jean Luc Brunel
- George Bush Jr.
- Patrick Byrne
- Tucker Carlson
- Dick Cheney
- Jay Clayton
- Hillary Clinton
- Michael Cohen
- James Comey
- David Copperfield
- Robert De Niro
- Diana, Princess of Wales
- Rebekah Donaleski
- Michael Egauger
- Keith Ellison
- Germann Erben
- Mark Filip
- Marius Fortelni
- Merrick Garland
- Timothy Geithner
- Lindsey Graham
- Joshua Harrish
- Howard Heiss
- Reid Hoffman
- Michael Horowitz
- Mike Huckabee
- Kjell Inge Rokke
- Mick Jagger
- Pramila Jayapal
- Hakeem Jeffries
- Janis Joplin
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Carl Kline
- Jared Kushner
- Jay Lefkowitz
- Jack Lew
- Zoe Lofgren
- Lord Robert May
- Nancy Mace
- James Margolin
- Thomas Massie
- Theresa May
- Mark Meadows
- Nathan Milikowski
- Alison Moe
- William Mook
- Mick Mulvaney
- Jerry Nadler
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Michelle Obama
- Mehmet Oz
- Kash Patel
- Nancy Pelosi
- John Phelan
- Tony Podesta
- Pope John Paul II
- Elvis Presley
- Prince Philip
- Dan Quayle
- Brett Ratner
- Joseph Recarey
- Tom Reynolds
- Terje Rod-Larsen
- Mitt Romney
- Rod Rosenstein
- John Roth
- Marc Rowan
- Kathy Ruemmler
- Ben Sasse
- Janis Schenberg
- Amy Schumer
- Tim Scott
- Jeff Sessions
- Gretchen Shappert
- Edward Snowden
- Kevin Spacey
- Debbie Stabenow
- Kenneth Starr
- Petter Stordalen
- Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem
- Hank Johnson
- John Kasich
- John Kerry
- Barry Krisher
- Jon Kyl
- Jeremy Lefroy
- Monica Lewinsky
- Jessica Lonergan
- Howard Lutnick
- Peter Mandelson
- Ed Markey
- Ghislaine Maxwell
- John McCain
- Robert Menendez
- Michael Milken
- Lisa Monaco
- Jared Moskowitz
- Rupert Murdoch
- Janet Napolitano
- Gavin Newsom
- Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
- Sophia Pappatreu
- Ron Paul
- Mike Pence
- Stacey Plaskett
- Lara Pomerantz
- Susan Pope
- Lisa Marie Presley
- JB Pritzker
- Jamie Raskin
- Chad Reader
- Michael Reiter
- Susan Rice
- Matthew Rogers
- Nicolas Roos
- Diana Ross
- Timothy Routch
- Howard Rubenstein
- Paul Ryan
- Mary Gay Scanlon
- Adam Schiff
- Chuck Schumer
- Jay Sekulow
- Yitzhak Shamir
- Timothy Shea
- Alex Soros
- Eliot Spitzer
- Jes Staley
- Jens Stoltenberg
- Glenn Straub
- Larry Summers
- Alex Jones
- John Kendall Rowlands
- Ro Khanna
- Larry Kudlow
- Lady Victoria Hervey
- Leonard Leo
- Ted Lieu
- Howard Lorber
- Loretta Lynch
- Coreen Mao
- Meghan Markle
- Robert Maxwell
- Nicole McFarland
- Alyssa Milano
- Steve Mnuchin
- Marilyn Monroe
- Robert S. Mueller III
- Elon Musk
- Larry Nassar
- Barack Obama
- Rosie O'Donnell
- Daniel Parker
- Joseph Pecorino
- Diego Pestana
- Lee Plourde
- Mike Pompeo
- Samantha Power
- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
- Thomas Pritzker
- John Ratcliffe
- Ronald Reagan
- Janet Reno
- Bill Richardson
- Andrew Rohrbach
- Jeffrey Rosen
- Alexander Rossmiller
- Karl Rove
- Marco Rubio
- Pierre Salinger
- John Scarola
- Martin Schlaff
- Stephen Schwarzman
- Adrienne Senatore
- Ben Shapiro
- Daniel Siad
- George Soros
- Bruce Springsteen
- Keir Starmer
- Gunhild Stordalen
- Barbara Streisand
- Eric Swalwell
- William Sweeney Jr.
- Peter Thiel
- Ivanka Trump
- JD Vance
- Kevin Warsh
- Damian Williams
- Ron Wyden
- Jeff Zucker
- Marjorie Taylor Green
- Carol Thomas-Jacobs
- Melania Trump
- Marie Villafana
- Abigail Wexner
- Michael Wolff
- Mark Yung
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Margaret Thatcher
- Donald Trump
- Chris Tucker
- Richard Walker
- Les Wexner
- Stanley Woodward
- Paolo Zampolli
Tyla has previously contacted the White House and the DOJ for comment.
Madison Burgess