The internet is a noisy place. You've likely seen the blurry screenshots, the "leaked" lists on TikTok, and the frantic Twitter threads claiming just about every famous person on earth was hanging out on Little St. James. It’s messy. It’s confusing. Honestly, it’s mostly wrong. If you want to know who went to Epstein island, you have to stop looking at memes and start looking at the actual unsealed court documents, the flight manifests from the "Lolita Express," and the sworn testimony from the people who were actually there.
Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands became a symbol of a massive, systemic failure of justice. But the guest list isn't a single, tidy document. It's a jigsaw puzzle of pilot logs kept by David Rodgers and Larry Visoski, combined with the 2024 unsealing of documents from the Virginia Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell lawsuit. We aren't talking about "vibe checks" here. We’re talking about names that appear in black and white on FAA-regulated flight records.
The Difference Between the Flight Logs and the "List"
First things first. There is no single "client list."
When people ask who went to Epstein island, they are usually conflating three different things: the flight logs, Epstein’s personal "Black Book," and the names mentioned in court depositions. The flight logs are the most reliable evidence we have. They track who boarded Epstein’s planes—a Gulfstream IV and a Boeing 727—between the 1990s and the late 2010s.
Being on a flight log doesn't automatically mean someone went to the island. Epstein had properties in Palm Beach, Manhattan, New Mexico, and Paris. A lot of these flights were just shuttles between New York and Florida. However, specific logs do show tail numbers heading straight for the Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas, the jumping-off point for Little St. James.
Then you have the "Black Book." This was Epstein’s directory. It’s got nearly 2,000 names in it. Does having a phone number in a billionaire’s contact list make you a criminal? No. It makes you someone a social climber wanted to be able to reach. We have to be careful about the distinction between "being in the book" and "visiting the island for illicit purposes."
The Most Notable Names on the Manifests
Let’s get into the names that have been verified through those 2024 document dumps and previous investigative reporting by outlets like the Miami Herald.
Bill Clinton is the name that usually stops the conversation. Records show the former President flew on Epstein’s plane multiple times in the early 2000s, specifically for trips to Africa related to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton’s team has maintained he knew nothing of Epstein's crimes and never visited the island. However, unsealed testimony from Virginia Giuffre claimed she saw him there, a claim Clinton’s representatives have vehemently denied.
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Then there’s Prince Andrew. The Duke of York’s association with Epstein is well-documented, culminating in a disastrous BBC interview and a settled civil lawsuit. He was photographed at Epstein’s New York mansion, but witnesses and logs also place him within the Epstein orbit in various locations, including the Caribbean.
Donald Trump is another name that frequently pops up. Trump was a fixture in the New York and Palm Beach social scenes where Epstein operated in the 90s. While Trump flew on Epstein's plane from Palm Beach to New Jersey in 1997, there is currently no evidence in the flight logs or court testimonies that he ever visited Little St. James. He eventually banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after Epstein reportedly harassed a girl at the club.
Academic and Tech Heavyweights
It wasn't just politicians. Epstein was obsessed with "intellectual philanthropy." He wanted to be the guy who funded the future.
- Stephen Hawking: A 2006 photo famously shows the theoretical physicist on a boat near the island during a science conference Epstein funded on a neighboring island.
- Bill Gates: While Gates has expressed regret over meeting Epstein several times to discuss global health funding, he has stated he was never at the island and that the meetings were a mistake.
- Marvin Minsky: The AI pioneer was mentioned in depositions, with allegations surfacing that he was involved in the exploitation of victims, though his family has denied this.
- Lawrence Krauss: The physicist was a frequent associate, often defending Epstein in the early days of the scandal.
Why the 2024 Document Unsealing Changed Everything
For years, people talked about "The List" like it was a holy grail. In early 2024, Judge Loretta Preska ordered the unsealing of dozens of documents related to a 2015 lawsuit. This didn't reveal a secret cabal of new names so much as it provided context for the names we already knew.
It gave us the "whys." Why was David Copperfield at a dinner? Why was George Mitchell mentioned?
The documents revealed how Epstein used "social currency." He would invite a world-class scientist or a former Prime Minister to his home specifically so he could tell the next person, "Look who I know." It was a shield. If you’re hanging out with Nobel laureates, people assume you’re a legitimate guy. This is how he operated. He bought legitimacy by association.
The unsealed papers also highlighted the names of victims who had previously been anonymous. This is the part people often skip over when they are hunting for celebrities. The documents weren't just about who went to Epstein island; they were about what happened to the people who were forced to be there.
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The Logistics of Little St. James
To understand the guest list, you have to understand the place. Little St. James wasn't just a house. It was a 70-acre compound. It had a library, a Japanese bathhouse, and that strange, gold-domed building that fueled a thousand conspiracy theories.
Locals in St. Thomas saw the helicopters. They saw the boats. They saw the "Lolita Express" land. The island was a fortress of privacy. This privacy is what allowed the abuse to happen, but it’s also what makes the "guest list" so hard to finalize. If you took a private boat from a different island, you wouldn't necessarily appear on a flight manifest.
Distinguishing Fact from Fiction
We have to talk about the "fakes."
During the 2024 unsealing, a fake list circulated on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) that included names like Tom Hanks, Jimmy Kimmel, and Celine Dion. None of those names appear in the actual court documents. Not one.
Kimmel even threatened legal action against Aaron Rodgers for suggesting he was on the list. This is why it is vital to check the source. If the source is a grainy image with no docket number, ignore it. If the source is the Southern District of New York court records, pay attention.
Many people mentioned in the documents were simply "mentioned." For example, a witness might be asked, "Did you ever see [Famous Person] at the house?" If the witness says "No," that person’s name still appears in the transcript. This has led to massive amounts of misinformation where "mentioned in the docs" is equated with "guilty of a crime."
The Role of Ghislaine Maxwell
You can't talk about the guest list without Ghislaine Maxwell. She was the gatekeeper.
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Maxwell was the one who curated the social circle. She was the bridge between Epstein’s money and the British aristocracy and American high society. Witnesses describe her as the "manager" of the island's activities. Her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking solidified the reality that the island wasn't just a vacation spot; it was a crime scene.
What Happens Now?
The investigation into Epstein’s network is technically ongoing, though it has slowed significantly since his death in 2019. The civil suits against his estate and the banks that funded him—like JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank—have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for the survivors.
These settlements often involve the discovery of even more emails and internal memos. We are still learning about the depth of his financial ties to people like Leon Black (who stepped down from Apollo Global Management after his ties to Epstein were scrutinized) and Jes Staley.
The "guest list" is likely as complete as it will ever be in terms of flight logs, but the social list—the people who knew what was happening and looked the other way—is much longer.
How to Verify Information Yourself
If you want to dive deeper into who went to Epstein island without falling for conspiracy traps, here is how you handle the data:
- Access the Pacer System: This is the official portal for U.S. Federal Court documents. You can find the Giuffre v. Maxwell filings there. It costs a few cents per page, but it is the primary source.
- Search for the "Rodgers Logs": These are the specific pilot logs from David Rodgers. They are widely available via investigative journalism sites like DocumentCloud.
- Ignore "Meme Lists": If a list is just a series of names typed in a Notes app or a colorful graphic, it is almost certainly fake. Look for scanned PDFs of actual legal transcripts.
- Cross-Reference Dates: Many celebrities have been "placed" at the island on dates when they were documented to be in other countries filming movies or performing concerts.
- Follow the Money: The most damning evidence usually isn't a flight; it's a wire transfer. The lawsuits against the big banks contain more "smoking gun" information about Epstein’s enablers than the flight logs do.
The reality of Epstein's island is darker than a celebrity gossip column. It was a failure of the legal system, the financial system, and the social elite. By focusing on the verified names and the actual court records, we honor the survivors who fought for years to get these documents unsealed in the first place. Accountability starts with the truth, not with rumors.
Next Steps for Research:
- Read the 2024 unsealed deposition of Johanna Sjoberg for firsthand accounts of island visitors.
- Review the Senate Judiciary Committee reports on the FBI's handling of the initial 2008 investigation.
- Audit the Miami Herald’s "Perversion of Justice" series, which remains the definitive investigative work on the case.