Does Jeffrey Epstein have 'blackmail tapes'?

Jeffrey Epstein's residence.
(Image credit: Kevin Hagen/Getty Images)

Is Jeffrey Epstein a blackmailer?

Back in 2015, a woman named Virginia Roberts alleged that U.S. authorities had footage of her having underage sex with powerful friends of billionaire Epstein, who was charged by federal prosecutors on Monday with sex trafficking, including trafficking minors. Roberts said Epstein "debriefed her" after she had sex with these "associates" so that he would possess "intimate and potentially embarrassing information" that could be used for blackmail. Epstein's allies dismissed Roberts as "a liar and a fantasist."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.