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From Elon Musk to the former Prince Andrew, a who’s who of powerful men are named in Epstein files

Published: 01 Feb. 2026, 12:36

Elon Musk attends the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington on Nov. 19, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

From tech titans to Wall Street power brokers and British royalty, a who’s who of powerful men make appearances in the huge trove of documents released Friday by the U.S. Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein.

Many have denied having close ties to the late financier, or at least having anything to do with his alleged sexual abuse of girls and young women that led to his arrest on sex trafficking charges.

None have been charged with a crime connected to the investigation. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. Yet some of them maintained friendships with Epstein, or developed them anew, even after he became known as a predator of young girls and a registered sex offender.

Here’s a primer on some of the notable names in the Epstein files: The man formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew has long been dogged by questions about his relationship with Epstein, including allegations from the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked by Epstein and instructed to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

The former prince has repeatedly denied that it happened, but his brother, King Charles III, still stripped him of his royal titles late last year, including the right to be called a prince and the Duke of York.

A document showing an email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, and who Epstein referred to as ″The Duke,″ that was in a U.S. Department of Justice release, is photographed on Jan. 31. [AP/YONHAP]

Mountbatten-Windsor’s name appears at least several hundred times in Friday’s document release, including in Epstein’s private emails.

Among the correspondence is an invitation for Epstein to dine at Buckingham Palace, Epstein’s offer to introduce Mountbatten-Windsor to a 26-year-old Russian woman, and photos that appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor.

Elon Musk

The billionaire Tesla founder turns up at least a few times in Friday’s document release, notably in email exchanges in 2012 and 2013 in which he discussed visiting Epstein’s infamous Caribbean island compound.

But it’s not immediately clear if the island visits took place. Spokespersons for Musk’s companies, Tesla and X, didn’t respond to emails seeking comment Friday or Saturday.

Musk has maintained that he repeatedly turned down the disgraced financier’s overtures. “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED,” he posted on X in 2025.

Richard Branson

The billionaire founder of Virgin Group Limited exchanged numerous emails with Epstein in the years after he pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor and agreed to register as a sex offender in Florida in 2008.

In a 2013 exchange, Branson invited Epstein to his own private Caribbean island.

“Any time you’re in the area would love to see you,” he wrote. “As long as you bring your harem!”

In another message that year, he suggested Epstein rehabilitate his image by convincing Microsoft founder Bill Gates to tell the public how Epstein had “been a brilliant adviser to him” and had “more than learnt your lesson and have done nothing that’s against the law since.”

A Branson spokesperson suggested the “harem” comment referred to adult members of Epstein’s staff. The spokesperson also said Branson eventually severed ties with Epstein after learning more about the “serious allegations” against him.

“Had they had the full picture and information, there would have been no contact whatsoever,” the spokesperson said.

Steven Tisch

The New York Giants co-owner is mentioned more than 400 times in the files released Friday. Correspondence between the two shows Epstein offered to connect Tisch to numerous women over the years.

In one 2013 email exchange with the subject line “Ukrainian girl,” Epstein encouraged Tisch to contact a particular woman, whose physical beauty he praised in crude terms.

A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is photographed on Jan. 30 and shows an asset summary for Epstein as of Aug. 31, 2014. [AP/YONHAP]

“Pro or civilian?” Tisch asked in reply.

Tisch, a scion of a powerful New York family that founded the Loews Corporation, has acknowledged knowing Epstein but denied ever going to his infamous Caribbean island.

“We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and investments,” said Tisch, who also won an Academy Award in 1994 for producing “Forrest Gump.” “As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.”

Howard Lutnick

U.S. President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island with his family on at least one occasion, records released Friday show.

That appears to contradict prior statements he’s made claiming he cut ties with the disgraced financier, whom he’s called “gross,” decades ago.

But emails show Lutnick and his wife accepted an invitation to Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December 2012 and planned to arrive by yacht with their children.

The former chairman of Newmark, a major commercial real estate firm, also had drinks on another occasion in 2011 with Epstein and corresponded with him about the construction of a building across the street from both of their homes.

The Commerce Department, in a statement, said Lutnick had “limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”

Sergey Brin

The billionaire Google co-founder made plans to meet with Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell at his townhouse in New York years before he was publicly accused of sexually abusing underage girls, emails show.

In one exchange in 2003, Maxwell invited him to join her at a screening of the Renee Zellweger film “Down with Love” in New York.

A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is photographed on Jan. 30 and shows an asset summary for Epstein as of June 30, 2019. [AP/YONHAP]

She followed up a few weeks later to invite him to a “happily casual and relaxed” dinner at Epstein’s house. Brin offered to bring along Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt.

Spokespersons for Google didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.

Steve Bannon

The one-time adviser to Trump exchanged hundreds of friendly texts with Epstein, some sent months before his 2019 arrest and jailhouse suicide.

The two discussed politics, travel and a documentary Bannon was said to be planning that would help salvage Epstein’s reputation.

One 2018 exchange, for example, focused on Trump’s threats at the time to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In a 2019 message, Bannon asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick him up in Rome.

Bannon hasn’t responded to emails seeking comment.

Miroslav Lajcak

A national security adviser to the Slovakian prime minister, Lajcak resigned Saturday after his past communications with Epstein appeared in Friday’s document release.

Opposition parties and a nationalist partner in Fico’s governing coalition had called for him to step down.

Lajcak, a former Slovak foreign minister and a onetime president of the U.N. General Assembly, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but was photographed meeting with Epstein in the years between his initial release from jail and his subsequent indictment in 2019 on sex trafficking charges.

He said his correspondence with Epstein was part of his diplomatic duties.

AP