Which lawsuits include sworn testimony linking Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein?
Executive summary
Several civil lawsuits and court filings contain allegations or submitted documents that link Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, most prominently a 2016 California complaint filed under the pseudonym “Katie Johnson” and later civil claims filed against Epstein’s estate and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2020; those findings appear again in Justice Department file releases but remain largely unverified by prosecutors and were singled out by the DOJ as containing unvetted material [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The 2016 California complaint (the “Katie Johnson” filing) — an allegation filed under oath or pseudonym, not a criminal conviction
A civil suit brought in 2016 by a plaintiff using the pseudonym “Katie Johnson” accused both Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump of forcible rape of a 13‑year‑old at Epstein’s Manhattan residence in 1994; the complaint is a public filing that has been widely cited in media summaries of the Trump–Epstein nexus but represents an allegation in civil litigation rather than a criminal indictment or judicial finding of guilt [1].
2. The 2020 civil suit against Epstein’s estate and Ghislaine Maxwell — courtroom filings that included graphic allegations referring to Trump
Lawsuits filed against Epstein’s estate and Maxwell in 2020 included statements and exhibits that, according to multiple news reports, described an alleged encounter in the 1990s in which Epstein purportedly introduced a young woman to Trump and where Trump “smiled and nodded,” language that surfaced again in the DOJ document releases and in press coverage of those releases [2] [5] [6]. Those materials were part of civil claims for damages and rely on witness statements and documentary evidence produced in discovery; press accounts note the documents were unredacted in some public releases, but reporting does not establish that the allegations were substantiated in court by a judicial finding [7] [6].
3. The Virgin Islands civil litigation and related document dumps — broader case files that reference Trump in discovery material
The executors of Epstein’s estate and victims’ civil actions brought claims in the U.S. Virgin Islands and other venues beginning around 2020–2021; documents from those suits, and the ancillary discovery materials released by the Department of Justice, contain many references to Trump — including flight‑log notes and subpoenas issued to Mar‑a‑Lago reported by The New York Times — but the released files are collections of investigative material, not judicial determinations linking Trump criminally to Epstein’s offenses [7] [8] [6].
4. What the DOJ releases added — files, flight records, and the caution about unverified material
The department’s successive public releases of investigative files included items that mention Trump — a prosecutor’s email stating newly obtained flight records “reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times,” a handwritten note allegedly referencing Trump, and civil‑court documents containing graphic allegations — but the DOJ explicitly warned that portions of the released material were unverified and could include false or sensational claims; the agency also emphasized it has not accused Trump of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein [3] [4] [6].
5. Limits of the public record and competing interpretations
Reporting shows plaintiffs’ civil filings and discovery documents contain allegations and witness statements linking Trump to Epstein’s conduct, but news outlets and the DOJ caution these are allegations drawn from investigative files rather than proven facts; some media coverage highlights the same documents as corroboration, while the DOJ and other commentators emphasize the lack of criminal charges and the presence of unverified material in the released troves [9] [4] [3]. Additionally, at least 16 items briefly posted on the DOJ site — including a photograph involving Trump — were removed without public explanation, complicating outside review of the full record [10].
6. Bottom line for readers parsing the lawsuit landscape
Civil lawsuits that most directly include sworn or filed allegations linking Trump and Epstein are the 2016 “Katie Johnson” complaint and the 2020 civil claims against Epstein’s estate and Ghislaine Maxwell, and related discovery in the Virgin Islands and other cases fed the Justice Department’s document releases; those materials are part of litigation and investigative records reported by outlets such as The Guardian, TIME, PBS, BBC, CNN and The New York Times, but they consist of allegations, witness statements, and prosecutorial notes rather than criminal convictions or indictments of Trump [1] [2] [8] [7] [6].