Jeffrey Epstein’s list – dozens of names of famous politicians, actors, businessmen and scientists – was released Wednesday by a New York court as part of a defamation lawsuit from 2015.

Virginia Giuffreaka Virginia Roberts, had taken legal action against Ghislaine Maxwell, already convicted of sex trafficking and imprisoned, Epstein’s close friend who supplied him and his friends with minors.

Among the shocking names on the list is former US President Bill Clinton who, according to Daily Mailreportedly invited Stephen Hawking, the iconic astrophysics professor, to one of his pink parties.

According to leaked documents, Giuffre had claimed that Professor Hawking “participated in an underage orgy” hosted by Bill Clinton at a dinner on his private island in the Caribbean – something the Democratic politician flatly denied.

In January 2015, Epstein emailed Maxwell’s promoter and offered to offer money to Virginia Giuffre’s then-underage girlfriends to deny her allegations.

A copy of the email was among nearly 1,000 pages of documents unsealed by a US court last night.

It specifically refers to: “You can offer a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaintances, family who can help prove her allegations how Hawking participated in an underage orgy at a Clinton dinner in the Virgin Islands is false.”

However, it is not clear why Epstein wants to deny these claims and protect Hawking, whom he appears to have known personally. According to the Daily Mail, Hawking had visited Epstein’s private island in 2006 during a conference on a neighboring island. He had also taken part in a guided tour of the seabed in a submarine specially designed for him.

Hawking suffered from motor neurone disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a condition that had developed over the years. He was almost completely paralyzed and communicated through a speech-generating device.

Despite this, he married twice and had three children.

He passed away on March 14, 2018aged 76, in Cambridge, England.