Jeffrey Epstein tried to bribe victim’s pals to ‘disprove’ claim Stephen Hawking had ‘underage orgy’ on ‘Paedo Island’

JEFFREY Epstein urged Ghislaine Maxwell to offer bribes to those who could “disprove” an allegation Stephen Hawking took part in an “underage orgy”, bombshell documents claim.

The convicted paedophile emailed his warped accomplice in 2015 telling her to “issue a reward” to any of Virginia Giuffre‘s friends if they were able to assist.

Stephen Hawking at a barbecue on Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island in March 2006

Jeffrey Epstein pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex traffickingPA

U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

The email Epstein sent Maxwell in 2015[/caption]

In the message, Epstein suggested Prince Andrew accuser Giuffre had made claims about the British scientist and former US President Bill Clinton.

The email read: “You can issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false.

“The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.”

In 2015, photos emerged showing Hawking, who died in 2018 aged 76, being hosted on Epstein’s private Caribbean island before he was first charged in 2006.

The internationally renowned physicist was pictured at a barbecue on Little St James, often referred to as Epstein’s “Paedo Island”.

He was part of a group of 21 scientists attending a conference in March 2006, which Epstein had funded.

Hawking was one of a number of celebrities and politicians named in the unsealed documents.

Johanna Sjoberg, who alleges Prince Andrew once groped her with a puppet, claimed in a deposition she met Michael Jackson at Epstein’s Palm Beach home.

Ms Sjoberg was questioned about where she met the Billie Jean singer and told lawyers: “At his house in Palm Beach. At Jeffrey’s house in Palm Beach.”

Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while he awaited trial, used his Palm Beach mansion and several other sites to sexually abuse young girls.

Lawyers asked whether Ms Sjoberg had given Jackson a massage, but she replied: “I did not.”

No further details on the encounter or when it took place were given in the newly released documents.

The order for the bombshell files to be released was given by New York judge Loretta Preska in relation to the 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.

Other A-Listers mentioned in the papers, which include previous testimony by Maxwell, include Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump.

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It comes as…

• More than 900 new pages of Epstein documents were revealed by a US judge
• Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Stephen Hawking and Michael Jackson were among 90 people named in the documents
• More docs are expected to be released in the coming days – with another 80 or so names set to be unveiled
• Other names featured in the documents include Leonardo Dicaprio, Cate Blanchett and Bruce Willis – but they are not accused of wrongdoing
• Jackon is alleged to have visited Epstein at his mansion in New York
• Epstein is claimed to have offered a reward to disprove claims Hawking took part in an ‘underage orgy’
• And the paedophile trafficker is alleged to have told a victim that Clinton “likes them young”
• Another ‘mystery prince’ is mentioned – but not named in the docs
• Ghislaine Maxwell claimed that Andrew had visited Epstein’s infamous ‘Paedo Island’
• She also whinged questions about Prince Andrew go “on and on” in an email

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Of more than 100 names in the new files, which will include emails, legal documents, depositions and more, there is no suggestion that many of those named are accused of any wrongdoing.

All of the unsealed legal information comes from the 2015 civil lawsuit filed by Ms Giuffre against Maxwell for defamation.

Names of Epstein and Maxwell’s victims, associates and alleged co-conspirators, along with other A-listers mentioned in passing, will continue to be made public as part of the document dump, according to Preska’s order.

The list is expected to include names of people with close ties to Epstein such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former Israeli PM Ehud Barak.

Only Epstein and Maxwell have been charged over the alleged sexual abuse of dozens of young girls in his Upper East Side townhouse and his waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

Ms Giuffre filed a defamation lawsuit in 2015 which was settled – but some of those involved in the trial were identified in the ruling through links to interviews they had previously given.

Judge Preska cited this as a reason for why their identities should not remain sealed.

She ruled there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal the names of more than 150 “John and Jane Does” mentioned in the court filings relating to Epstein.

Media sued to have the documents made public and they have been released on a rolling basis since 2019.

Wednesday’s unsealing was the eighth release from the 2015 defamation case.

Of the dozens of documents being released, 67 concern Johanna Sjoberg and relate to the defamation case brought by Ms Giuffre – who claims Andrew had sex with her when she was 17.

Ms Sjoberg also claims that in March 2001, when she was 21, Andrew groped her breast at Epstein’s New York mansion while playing with a Spitting Image puppet of himself.

Epstein killed himself in 2019 while he awaited trial.

Maxwell, 62, is serving 20 years for sex trafficking.

Getty - Contributor

Hawking died in 2018 at the age of 76[/caption]