Jeffrey Epstein list release: when is the client list unsealed, names including Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton

Documents relating to more than 170 people who were either associates, friends or victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein will be made public in the near future, after a judge ordered hundreds of files from a defamation case be released.

On Monday 18 December, US Judge Loretta Preska ruled that the files - part of a 2015 US defamation case by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who supplied Epstein with underage girls - be made public.

Giuffre settled her civil claim against Maxwell, but representatives of the media have since argued that documents that were sealed as part of the case should be made public.

Judge Preska ordered some individuals should be named because they had already given interviews to the media – including Johanna Sjoberg, who has claimed Prince Andrew touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside the US billionaire’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.

With nearly 200 names - previously only known as John and Jane Does - set to be made public, the release of the 'Epstein list' could cause headaches for some high profile figures. But just when are those names set to become public? Here is everything you need to know.

When is the 'Epstein list' released?

Though the exact date and time of the documents' unsealing is not known, the individuals who are set to be named in the documents had 14 days to appeal against the Judge Preska’s decision – meaning they are likely to be released in early January.

The deadline for objections to the names' unsealing passed at midnight on Monday 1 January.

Will there be more criminal charges?

It's likely exaggerated to assume that the names from the defamation lawsuit being made public and could lead to criminal proceedings.

2019 saw Epstein take his own life while awaiting trial, and following Maxwell's conviction, federal prosecutors have made it apparent that they consider their work in pursuing criminal charges to be over.

But many prominent people will undoubtedly be seriously embarrassed by their names being released in connection to Epstein.

Who is on the 'Epstein list'?

Of course, until the names are actually released, we won't know for sure which high profile figures are included among them.

Many of the names will already be well-known to the public as colleagues, workers for Epstein and Maxwell, or pilots on his aircraft. The unsealing might also list the names of Epstein's purported victims.

The names of the until now anonymous John Does will be the focus of much scrutiny, and are expected to include a former US president, actors, professors, and the now-reclusive Prince Andrew.

ABC News reported on Monday (1 January) that "Jane Doe 162" is a witness who testified she was 17 years old when she was in Epstein's home in New York with Andrew, Maxwell and Giuffre.

ABC also reported “Doe 36” as former US president Bill Clinton, who is reportedly referenced in more than 50 of the redacted filings.

Although Giuffre did not accuse Clinton of any misconduct, she insists that she met him on Epstein's infamous private island, which Clinton has denied ever visiting.

Other names expected to be made public include those first revealed by Epstein's scheduling diaries, leaked to the Wall Street Journal in 2023 amid Epstein-related lawsuits between the US Virgin Islands and two US banks.

CIA director William Burns, and Kathryn Ruemmler - White House counsel under Barack Obama - were among the prominent names that surfaced.

Lesser-known individuals included activist and professor Noam Chomsky, billionaire venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, and former Harvard president and Obama's National Economic Council director, Lawrence Summers.

Other names included Woody Allen, Bill Gates, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland, and former head of Barclays, Jes Staley.

It should be noted that the release of these names, and any further names that become public as part of the unsealing, do not suggest any criminality.