Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invoked the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution about 600 times in 2016 while testifying for a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by one of his victims, Virginia Giuffre, according to a court filing.
Epstein's reluctance to testify against his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwel, was revealed during Friday's filing in Manhattan federal court involving a new batch of unsealed documents related to the billionaire financier's sexual abuse of teenage girls.
According to the court filing, Epstein routinely answered "Fifth" to about 500 substantive questions posed by Giuffre's attorneys during a September 2016 deposition.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution. The 66-year-old billionaire financier was later released under a plea deal, only to be charged with sex trafficking in July 2019.
In August of that year, he was found dead in his New York City jail cell, with officials declaring his death a suicide. The cause of his death remains controversial, however, as conspiracy theorists continue to wonder if Epstein was murdered to prevent him from testifying against his high-profile friends, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew.