13:30 GMT
Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist
As BBC Verify continues to trawl through the latest batch of Epstein files, we found a short video which appears to show Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell being interviewed by authorities.
In the video dated 22 April 2016, Maxwell is asked whether she was unaware of female minors coming to Epstein’s home to perform massages.
“When I was there… at the time I was present the people that gave Jeffrey – men and women – who gave Jeffrey massages were adult, so over the age of 18,” she replied.
She is then asked whether she was ever present when a female under the age of 18 was giving Epstein a massage.
Maxwell refuses to provide a yes or no answer, saying instead: “It’s entirely possible that I could have been in a room or in the vicinity of Palm Beach when somebody came but I would not know, how would I know if somebody was in the house?”
Image source, US Department of JusticeParts of the video are redacted. Reverse image searches indicate the clip was not in the public domain before Friday’s release.
The video likely comes from a deposition Maxwell gave as part of legal action taken by Epstein victim Virginia Guiffre.
We found a transcript from that deposition – with the same date and remarks as the video – published by this legal website in 2020, external.
In 2022 Maxwell was sentenced in the US to 20 years in prison for recruiting and trafficking minors for sexual abuse by Epstein.