The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case is spreading around the world.
Politicians, diplomats, business leaders and royals have seen reputations tarnished, investigations launched and jobs lost after a trove of more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Justice Department revealed their ties to the American financier and convicted sex offender who died behind bars in 2019.
Apart from the former Prince Andrew, none of them face claims of sexual wrongdoing. They have been toppled for maintaining friendly relationships with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.
Here's a look at some of those caught up in the scandal:
Logistics giant replaces leader
One of the world's largest logistics companies has replaced its chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, after newly released emails showed his yearslong friendship with Epstein.
DP World has long been a pillar of the economy of Dubai. It runs the Jebel Ali port in the Middle Eastern city and operates terminals in other ports around the world.
The cache of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Justice Department include emails between Epstein and bin Sulayem referencing pornography, sexual massages and escorts.
In one email from 2013, Epstein wrote to bin Sulayem that “you are one of my most trusted friends in very sense of the word, you have never let me down.” Some emails — like others in the Epstein files — contain typographical errors.
In response, bin Sulayem said, “Thank you my friend I am off the sample a fresh 100% female Russian at my yacht.”
Goldman Sachs' top lawyer to resign
Kathy Ruemmler, the chief legal officer at storied investment bank Goldman Sachs, said Thursday she will resign after the release of emails in which she described Epstein as an “older brother” and downplayed his sex crimes.
While Ruemmler has called Epstein a “monster” in recent statements, she had a much different relationship with Epstein before he was arrested a second time for sex crimes in 2019. She received several expensive gifts from him, including luxury handbags and a fur coat.
“So lovely and thoughtful! Thank you to Uncle Jeffrey!!!” Ruemmler wrote to Epstein in 2018.
Before joining Goldman in 2020, Ruemmler was White House counsel for President Barack Obama. She will step down from Goldman Sachs on June 30.
Prestigious law firm loses chairman
Brad Karp resigned as chairman of one of the most prestigious U.S. law firms on Feb. 4, saying news coverage of his exchanges with Epstein has “created a distraction.”
Karp had served as chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison since 2008. The New York firm has advanced the cause of civil rights, handled the legal affairs of corporate power brokers and grown into a multibillion-dollar global enterprise.
Among the newly released documents was a July 22, 2015, email in which Karp thanked Epstein for hosting an evening the lawyer said was “once in a lifetime” and one he would “never forget.” Epstein responded that Karp was “always welcome,” adding, “there are many many nights of unique talents. you will be invited often.”
U.K. royal family
The former Prince Andrew, one of King Charles III’s two brothers, is one of the most prominent names linked to Epstein.
Headlines about the scandal forced the king last year to strip Andrew of his royal titles, including that of prince. He is now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The recent document dump exposed the depth of ties between Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein, revealing more unsavory details that have jolted the royal family, including an allegation that the former prince sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010.
Mountbatten-Windsor has been forced to move out of the royal estate that he occupied for more than two decades. Buckingham Palace says the king is ready to support police in the event of an inquiry into whether Mountbatten-Windsor gave confidential information to Epstein.
British politics
The U.K. government has been shaken by new revelations about Peter Mandelson, a longtime Labour party stalwart whom Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought out of the political wilderness as U.K. ambassador in Washington.
Mandelson was stripped of that plum post in September, after Epstein emails showed they had had closer ties than the ambassador had initially acknowledged.
While Starmer himself isn't implicated in the files, his position has come under threat over appointing Mandelson. He has faced calls from his opponents and from within his own Labour party to resign — which he has so far refused to do.
Mandelson is now facing a criminal investigation, after the new files suggested that he may have shared market-sensitive information with Epstein a decade and a half ago.
Mandelson has not commented on the investigation. He has previously apologized for his association with Epstein but said he was ignorant of the financier’s crimes.
Norway's crown princess
The new documents showed, among other things, that Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, borrowed an Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days in 2013.
And in an email exchange between Epstein and Mette-Marit in 2012, he noted how he was in Paris “on my wife hunt,” but “i prefer Scandinavians.”
She replied that the French capital was “good for adultery,” but “Scandis” were “better wife material.”
Mette-Marit apologized this month for “the situation I have put the royal family in,” and said: “Some of the content of the messages between Epstein and me does not represent the person I want to be."
Norway's ex-prime minister
The head of the economic crime unit of Norwegian police said Thursday that former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been charged with “aggravated corruption” in connection with an investigation linked to the release of the Epstein files.
Jagland’s attorneys at the Elden law firm in Norway said he denies the charges and that he was questioned by the police unit Thursday.
Økokrim, as the police unit is known, said last week it would investigate whether gifts, travel and loans were received in connection with Jagland's position.
On Thursday, unit chief Pål K. Lønseth also said its teams conducted a search of Jagland's residence in Oslo, along with searches at two other properties in Risør, a coastal town to the south of the capital, and in Rauland to the west.
The searches were carried out after the Council of Europe, a human rights body that Jagland once led, said it was honoring a request from Norwegian authorities to waive the immunity from legal processes that he had enjoyed.
The council lifted the immunity, saying it was intended to protect activities linked to official duties, not “personal benefit.” Jagland is also a former head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Norwegian former ambassador
Mona Juul, Norway’s ex-ambassador to Jordan, who was involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the 1990s, resigned over the weekend, after reports said Epstein left $10 million to Juul’s children in a will drawn up shortly before he died.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said a ministry investigation into her knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, and Juul will continue discussions with Norwegian officials to clarify the situation.
French ex-culture minister
Jack Lang, 86, stepped down as head of the Arab World Institute in Paris over alleged past financial links to Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.
Lang was summoned to appear Sunday at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the institute, but submitted his resignation.
The former culture minister under President Francois Mitterrand is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the U.S. Justice Department's release of files on Jan. 30.
Slovakian ex-foreign minister
Prime Minister Robert Fico's national security adviser, Miroslav Lajčák, resigned over past communications with Epstein — including text messages in which they discussed “gorgeous” girls.
“When I’m reading the messages today, I feel like an idiot,” Lajčák told Slovak public radio.
Lajčák, a former foreign minister and former president of the U.N. General Assembly, has denied any wrongdoing. He said he considered Epstein a valuable contact who was accepted by the rich and powerful in the U.S.
“Those messages are nothing more than stupid male egos in action,” Lajčák said. "Nothing more than words ever came of it.”
The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from CBS, NBC, MS NOW and CNBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.
