Allegations in Epstein documents: entrepreneur Richard Branson defends himself

Sir Richard Branson (73) has rejected through a spokesman the “baseless and unfounded” claims that he was secretly recorded having sex by Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019). One of the witnesses in the Epstein scandal is said to have stated that he had kept “sex videos” with prominent people. That’s apparently what’s coming out of a new set of court documents that have now been released. According to the witness’ claims, Prince Andrew (63) and Bill Clinton (77) were allegedly among those filmed.

The woman allegedly testified in the trial against Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell (62) in 2021. She is said to have sent the allegations about the tapes to a journalist in 2016: “I would like to retract everything I said to you and refrain from doing so.”

Lawyers for the opposing side are also said to have used the woman’s statements to question the witness’s credibility because there was no evidence of the existence of the tapes and she later retracted what she said.

“Baseless and unfounded”

According to media reports, a spokesman for Branson’s Virgin Group said: “In a New York report published in 2019,” the woman admitted “that she had ‘made up’ the tapes.” It goes on to say that it can be confirmed that the allegations are “baseless and unfounded.”

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal prison in New York in August 2019. There he was awaiting trial on charges including human trafficking. He is said to have committed suicide. Epstein’s long-time partner and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020. In June 2022 she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.