The newly-released legal documents linked to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein name several film stars, including Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.
However, denials of any personal involvement with the billionaire financier, who socialised with royalty and celebrities, have been issued by all three actors. Their names are only mentioned once in the expansive documents so far released, spanning hundreds of pages, during a segment in which a witness denies ever meeting the stars.
While the disclosure of the first batch of court files, published following a judge’s order in December, include the names of victims, friends and associates of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, many on the list share no direct link to the sex offender.
For example, Blanchett and DiCaprio’s names were mentioned in a witness statement citing a false press report claiming the witness had met them. Other Hollywood stars to be mentioned in this section include Kevin Spacey, Bruce Willis and Star Wars director George Lucas.
The naming of individuals does not indicate any wrongdoing or any involvement in Epstein’s crimes Neither Blanchett, DiCaprio, Diaz, Spacey, Willis or Lucas have been accused of any crime or involvement in Epstein’s abuse.
As noted in the documents, a lawyer asked Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg: “I saw one press report that said you had met Cate Blanchett or Leonardo DiCaprio?”
Sjoberg replied: “I did not meet them, no. When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging him [Epstein], and he would get off – he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said: ‘Oh, that was Leonardo,’ or, ‘That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis.’ That kind of thing.”
When the lawyer asked Sjoberg if Epstein was “name-dropping”, she replied: “Yes,” and she confirmed that she “has not” met either Blanchett, DiCaprio, Diaz or the other actors named.
On X/Twitter, any posts claiming a link between these names and Epstein comes alongside the contextual statement: “They are not suspects. They are only passively mentioned once and the witness denies ever seeing them on the 109th page of this document.”
The Independent has contacted all for comment, with a representative of Diaz telling The Guardian: “Cameron never met Jeffrey Epstein, nor was she ever in the same place as him or had any association with him whatsoever, regardless of the fact he may or may not have mentioned her name or implied that he knew her.”
Reps for DiCaprio and Blanchett have also denied any involvement with the paedophile.
Epstein was a billionaire known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars. He was initially arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Dozens of underage girls described similar abuse, but prosecutors allowed the financier to plead guilty in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program. He died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting new sex-trafficking charges.
