Jeffrey Epstein sent a big bodyguard to scare a photographer and get back photos taken for a magazine story in 2015, which effectively stopped the magazine from publishing.

Christopher Anderson, a photographer for Vanity Fair, said that in 2015, he was hired to take pictures of Epstein for an article in a New York magazine. Anderson said, "I didn't know much about Epstein at the time other than the fact that he had heavy connections to powerful men."

Anderson talked about meeting Epstein and his staff for the first time. He said, "Epstein quizzed me about my pictures, how the shoot would go, and how much I thought my pictures were worth."

Anderson said that after the shoot, Epstein offered him $20,000 to own the photos after they were published. "Epstein didn't want anyone else to have the pictures after the magazine published them, and offered me $20k to own them," he said, per RadarOnline.

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Anderson said that a few days later, Epstein backed out of the story and started asking for the pictures. "Then the threats started, and he sent his bodyguard, Merwin, to my studio to intimidate me," he said.

The photographer also said that Epstein was able to get the magazine to kill the story. "Epstein succeeded in threatening the magazine, too, and they killed the story," Anderson said.

Anderson also showed pictures from an old hard drive that displayed Epstein's offices and personal desk. One email discussed payments from the Duke and Duchess, which Anderson said showed Epstein's connections to powerful people. He said, "II found the copy on a very old hard drive."

People on social media praised Anderson for telling the story. One Instagram user wrote, "The bravery of this post—crazy read, great photojournalism!" Another user added, "More info in this Instagram post than all the Epstein files."

Many of the documents related to Epstein's crimes remain sealed, despite an ongoing investigation into his activities. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat, said that lawmakers are now pushing for openness.

Khanna told NPR on January 2, "I want to see over these next few weeks for the documents to start coming out that the American people want to see."

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Jeffrey Epstein