Which celebrities and business leaders are listed in Epstein's flight manifests?
Executive summary
Flight manifests and Epstein’s “little black book” contain hundreds of names — including public figures from politics, business and entertainment — but inclusion on those lists does not by itself prove wrongdoing. The House Oversight Committee and DOJ releases have shown names such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Woody Allen on flight logs or in related schedules; investigators and reporters stress that the documents are partial, heavily redacted, and do not equal a single “client list” of criminals [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the flight manifests actually show
The documents released by Congress and the Justice Department consist of flight logs and manifests, calendars and redacted contact books that list passengers and contacts for Epstein’s aircraft across years; they were entered into evidence in court proceedings such as the Maxwell trial and released in batches by oversight investigators [5] [6] [2]. Those manifests record names, dates and sometimes annotations — for example, multiple entries showing former President Bill Clinton on flights, sometimes accompanied by Secret Service — but manifests alone do not state the nature of any encounter or who arranged travel [1] [3].
2. Which high-profile names appear in reporting of the manifests
Major outlets and committee releases have cited repeated appearances of some well-known figures in the flight and estate records: Prince Andrew is listed as a passenger and appears in related committee notes about payments; former President Bill Clinton appears multiple times on flight manifests; reporting and the committee releases reference Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Woody Allen among those whose names surface in travel records or schedules [2] [1] [4]. Other names long associated with Epstein through his “little black book” and earlier document dumps include Naomi Campbell, Alec Baldwin, Mick Jagger and various business leaders — but many such inclusions predate or sit outside the specific flight logs now being publicized [7] [8] [9].
3. Why presence on a manifest is not proof of criminality
Government releases and journalists repeatedly caution that being listed on a manifest or in a contact book only indicates contact or travel with Epstein — not participation in criminal activity. The Department of Justice and congressional staff have emphasized that the documents are part of an investigative record and that different documents serve different purposes; the DOJ memo and reporting note there is no single “client list” proving systematic blackmail or trafficking of every person named [10] [11] [12].
4. Redactions, context gaps and competing narratives
House committee releases include heavy redactions to protect victims and ongoing probes; estate disclosures and prior DOJ releases contain fragmented material and calendars that leave contextual gaps. Some political actors have used selective document excerpts to argue either for broad culpability or for political hoaxes; for instance, public figures have characterized the releases as partisan weaponization while committee Democrats highlight apparent patterns of contacts — both rhetorical frames exist in the current reporting [10] [1].
5. What investigative reporting has added
Journalists and court filings have enriched the record: flight logs entered into evidence at trials showed detailed passenger lists spanning the 1990s and 2000s; outlets such as CBS and others reviewed thousands of pages to connect flights and calendar entries to events, and noted instances where known victims’ names appear (often redacted in public versions) on the same flights as celebrities [5] [4]. Reporting has shown that many names were already public from earlier leaks and court filings; the November 2025 estate release added tens of thousands of pages but did not create a single definitive list of criminal “clients” [10] [2].
6. How to read the most-cited names responsibly
When encountering lists that name celebrities or business leaders, treat the documents as raw data requiring verification: manifests record presence or scheduled travel, not crimes; contemporaneous notes, witness testimony, and prosecutorial findings are the evidentiary steps that can sustain allegations. Several reputable outlets and the DOJ caution against leapfrogging from appearance on a list to conclusions about conduct [12] [11].
7. Limitations of the public record and next steps
Available sources do not provide a single, unredacted, adjudicated “client list” that uniformly links named figures to crimes; instead, the public record is a wide set of documents — flight logs, calendars, contact books and estate materials — that require cross-referencing with witness testimony and investigative findings [10] [6]. Continued congressional review, criminal investigations and court processes will be needed to determine whether specific entries are probative of offenses or merely reflect social or professional contacts [2] [12].
Sources cited in this summary: House Oversight and news coverage of released flight manifests and estate documents [1] [3] [2], DocumentCloud/DOJ flight logs entered into evidence [6] [5], and reporting and analysis explaining limits of a “client list” and contents of the black book [10] [4] [11].