A long-sealed clause in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2009 settlement with Virginia Giuffre—paying her $500,000 to drop all claims—explicitly shielded “any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant,” a broad shield that quietly protected powerful associates like royalty and elites for over a decade.T

The confidential 2009 settlement agreement between Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, long known to shield “potential defendants” from liability, has gained renewed attention in December 2025 with the latest tranche of declassified Epstein documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Originally unsealed in January 2022 during Giuffre’s civil suit against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the document revealed Epstein paid Giuffre $500,000 in exchange for a broad release discharging him and “any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant” from all claims. This clause was intended to protect Epstein’s associates, including high-profile figures allegedly involved in his trafficking network.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s team argued the language barred Giuffre’s allegations against him, though the case settled out-of-court in 2022 without admission of liability. The settlement’s protective scope effectively delayed accountability for years, as potential co-conspirators relied on its ambiguity.

Giuffre’s posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl, published in October 2025, revisited these terms, criticizing how they silenced victims and shielded powerful men.

The infamous 2001 photograph central to her claims against Mountbatten-Windsor has also been reaffirmed in recent disclosures.

Following Giuffre’s tragic suicide in April 2025 and Mountbatten-Windsor’s permanent stripping of royal titles, these resurfaced details highlight enduring questions about justice in the Epstein scandal.