Live updates: Epstein files released with heavy redactions as thousands more documents expected
Richard Branson pictured with Epsteinpublished at 10:58 GMT
The second batch of files released on Friday includes a photo of Epstein with British entrepreneur Richard Branson. Two women are pictured behind them, but their faces have been redacted.
The location is unclear, but appears to be a tropical destination. Branson is wearing a t-shirt and swimming shorts, and there are straw-roofed buildings in the background.
The BBC has reached out to representatives for Branson for comment on the photo. As a reminder, being depicted in the documents does not imply wrongdoing.
Epstein was known for jet-setting with the rich and famous, and hosted many at his private island home in the US Virgin Islands.
Branson has come up previously in released documents. In an undated email, one accuser, Sarah Ransome, claimed to have seen sex tapes in Epstein’s possession showing high-profile figures – including Branson.
The New Yorker magazine reported, external in 2019 that Ransome had admitted fabricating the claim but, in an interview in 2024, she said she only walked back on her claims because of threats to her family.
Referring to Ransome’s 2024 claims, a spokesperson for Branson’s Virgin
Group tells the BBC: “We categorically reject all
allegations made by Sarah Ransome. In 2019 she admitted to The New Yorker that
the ‘tapes’ had been ‘invented’.
“Any suggestion that Sir Richard Branson was
involved in a “sex tape” is entirely false. The allegations are baseless and
unfounded.
“The actions of Jeffrey Epstein were abhorrent
and we support the right to justice for the many victims impacted by his
abuse.”
Image source, Department of Justice
