Court documents unsealed in New York on Friday provide the first detailed look at how Jeffrey Epstein operated what appears to be a vast global sex trafficking racket with the help of alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, "and a number of other powerful business and world leaders," reports the Miami Herald.

The documents released Friday are part of thousands of pages in a 2015 federal defamation case involving one of Epstein's victims. The contents are graphic and disturbing, with details on how Epstein and accomplices trafficked teen girls mostly from the U.S. Russia and Sweden.

They also detail Ghislaine Maxwell's role as a co-abuser, and very effective recruiter of vulnerable girls.

One accuser said a court deposition that Maxwell "recruited her under the guise of a legitimate assistant position, but asked her to perform sexual massages for Epstein, and punished her when she didn't cause Epstein to orgasm".

Another deposed person "testified that [Maxwell] contacted him to recruit high school-aged girls for Epstein, and also testified that Maxwell and Epstein participated in multiple threesomes with Virginia Giuffre".

A man working as Epstein's butler "witnessed, firsthand, a 15-year-old Swedish girl crying and shaking because [Maxwell] was attempting to force her to have sex with Epstein and she refused", the court documents claim.

The 15-year-old girl said Maxwell "tried to force her to have sex with Epstein through threats and stealing her passport".

From the indefatigable Julie K. Brown, without whom Jeffrey Epstein would not be in jail today:

Some of the testimony is difficult to read, as when one 15-year-old Swedish girl, shaking and crying in despair, tells a butler who worked for one of Epstein's closest friends that she had been taken to Epstein's island in the Caribbean and forced to have sex with him and others. The butler relates the story under oath. The girl, visibly traumatized, told the houseman who worked for Eva Dubin, a former Miss Sweden and founder of the Dubin Breast Center at Mount Sinai, and her husband, prominent hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, that Epstein and Maxwell had physically threatened to harm her and seized her passport to keep her on the island, according to the butler's statement. She was so distraught she couldn't recall how she got back to the U.S. mainland, but the butler testified that Maxwell brought her to the Dubin residence. The cache of court documents, part of the case's motion for summary judgment, also shows in 2006, when the Palm Beach police were first investigating Epstein, he was being assisted by Maxwell as part of a pyramid-like scheme the pair operated to lure young girls from around Palm Beach, focusing on schools, colleges and spas. Palm Beach Detective Joe Recarey testified in the case that he was never able to question Maxwell, but the fact that the police had evidence of Maxwell's involvement raises new questions about why the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida failed to pursue sex trafficking charges against Epstein, Maxwell and others.

Famed attorney David Boies, who represents one of Epstein's victims, said "there is nothing in the Maxwell case that showed any wrongdoing by Clinton, Gore or Trump," reports the Miami Herald.

But plenty of people knew what was going on, says Boies.

Huge record cache details how Jeffrey Epstein, madam lured girls into depraved world

Jeffrey Epstein's deposition. "Fifth." "Fifth." "Fifth." "Fifth." It goes on like this for a few pages. Starting page 44 of this doc. @CourthouseNews https://t.co/ql6G5UMCuz pic.twitter.com/BQ4styNRqz — Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) August 9, 2019

#BREAKING: Former Sen. George Mitchell DENIES allegation in court documents unsealed today — alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein says he trafficked her to powerful men, including Mitchell #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/WNgLmuuYur — Jon Chrisos (@JonWGME) August 9, 2019

New Jeffrey Epstein documents contain some extremely damaging allegations against the billionaires Eva Andersson-Dubin and Glenn Dubin, who previously told Epstein's probation officer they were comfortable having him around their teenage daughter https://t.co/WokaqbMQu6 — Gabrielle Bluestone (@g_bluestone) August 9, 2019

Court documents unsealed Friday paint chilling picture of how hundreds of girls and young women from around the world were trafficked for sex by Jeffrey Epstein, his alleged madam, and a number of other powerful business and world leaders https://t.co/ItwhmFdmsR — Catherine Rampell (@crampell) August 9, 2019

Per new unsealed Jeffrey Epstein documents, Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly used to brag about giving George Clooney a blowjob in a bathroom pic.twitter.com/ul16GGaSh7 — Gabrielle Bluestone (@g_bluestone) August 9, 2019