Epstein victim recants denial of alleged sex tapes involving prominent figures (Image: Getty)
Jeffrey Epstein victim Sarah Ransome has claimed she was forced to retract allegations that the paedophile made sex tapes of Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson.
Ms Ransome, described as Epstein’s ‘sex slave’, yesterday alleged that threats were made towards her family prompting her to take back the claims about the supposedly explosive tapes.
Ms Ransome first made claims about the alleged tapes back in 2016, but these allegations have only now been amplified in newly released documents. They outline how the three famous men – including Prince Andrew – were allegedly filmed by the paedophile financier using hidden cameras throughout his various properties.
Ms Ransome retracted the allegations in the same year, reportedly saying that she had invented the tapes to shine a light on what Epstein was doing.
But appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, she reiterated the claims and said she had been forced to retract them originally after she and her family were threatened ‘with harm’ by Epstein and his now jailed girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ms Ransome added that it was ‘no secret that everything was recorded’ and claimed that ‘multiple victims have come forward’ confirming her account.
“I’ve also seen recordings in his office,” she said.
A spokesperson for Mr Branson described the claims as ‘baseless and unfounded’.
Mr Clinton and Prince Andrew have not publicly commented on the alleged tapes but have both in the past denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
More details of the late tycoon Epstein’s affairs have been revealed after a US judge ordered hundreds of documents be unsealed as part of victim Virginia Giuffre’s legal claim against British socialite Ms Maxwell, which was filed in 2015.
The sex tapes claim was made in a letter Miss Ransome sent a journalist in 2016 talking about her experiences. It was made public in a tranche of court documents released on Monday.
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In the letter, Miss Ransome wrote: “When my friend had sexual intercourse with Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson, sex tapes were in fact filmed on each separate occasion by Jeffrey.
“Thank God she managed to get a hold of some footage of the filmed sex tapes, which clearly identify the faces of Clinton, Prince Andrew and Branson having sexual intercourse with her. “Frustratingly enough Epstein was not seen in any of the footage but he was clever like that!
“When my friend eventually had the courage to speak out and went to the police in 2008 to report what had happened, nothing was done and she was utterly humiliated by the police department where she went to report what had happened with Epstein, Clinton, Branson and Prince Andrew.”
READ MORE Ghislaine Maxwell’s PR guru accused Epstein’s victim of ‘crying rape’
Miss Ransome also claimed: “I have backed up the footage on several USB sticks and have securely sent them to various different locations throughout Europe.”
Dismissing the renewed claims, Mr Branson’s spokesman highlighted a 2019 article in the New Yorker magazine which said Miss Ransome had ‘invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein’s behaviour and make him believe she had ‘evidence that would come out if he harmed me’.
Miss Ransome, 38, whose father is Lord Macpherson, the second baron of Drumochter, has previously told how she was raped up to three times a day by Epstein, having been tricked by Ms Maxwell into his sordid web of abuse when she was a 22-year-old would-be model.
She was was one of 11 women allowed to give statements to Ms Maxwell’s New York sentencing hearing in 2022 about how the British socialite had wrecked their lives.
But this is the first time her claims about Epstein sex taping Andrew, Sir Richard and former US President Clinton have been spelt out in court documents. Allegations about sex tapes have long swirled around the Epstein case.
Two of his victims, Maria Farmer and Ms Giuffre, claim that they saw a room full of CCTV monitors at Epstein’s $65million mansion in New York, including some showing cameras in the toilets.
And Ms Maxwell herself appeared to have admitted the tapes existed after being tricked by a journalist for the TV show 60 Minutes, telling him: ‘I don’t know where they are’.
But if the FBI does have any sex tapes of famous people, they have never emerged publicly.
Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell on August 10 2019.
