As newly unsealed documents linked to a case against the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell reveal names of high-profile associates of Jeffrey Epstein, many are quick to reiterate that their place on the long-awaited list does not mean they have done anything illegal. This is absolutely true – and as a court correspondent, it is incredibly important to stress the legal implications, or more accurately lack thereof, of this new information.

With the exception of allegations made under oath by Johanna Sjoberg against Prince Andrew that, if proven, would amount to criminal conduct, most of those named on the list are not accused of any legal wrongdoing. But that doesn’t mean we should not ask questions about the moral, rather than strictly legal, implications of their conduct. I mean this in two senses – both the personal moral implications for those named and the morals we hold as a society, which are laid hideously bare in these documents.

I have been working on a book about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the culmination of my investigative reporting on the case, for almost four years. The thing that shocks me even more than the graphic details I’ve learned from survivors that have never been made public is that this sex trafficking ring was known about and enabled by such an enormous group of people for perhaps as long as four decades. The number of people who saw or interacted with the victims I’ve spoken to – people who were famous, wealthy, headline-grabbing or otherwise – and did not ask questions about why they were there, is staggering.

The headline, for me, of the most recent tranche of documents is an email in which the Epstein........

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