Stephen Hawking, world-renowned physicist and Cambridge alumnus, has been named in newly released court documents related to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein offered a financial reward to friends of his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, to disprove allegations that Hawking had been involved in an “underage orgy”.

The documents, made public yesterday (03/01), show an email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell on 12 January 2015, telling her to disprove Giuffre’s allegations regarding Hawking.

The email stated: “You can issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false. The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.”

The court records are related to a lawsuit involving Epstein’s long term associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 of conspiring with the convicted sex offender and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The documents were made public after a New York judge ordered in December that previously redacted names be unsealed from January 1.

The documents name Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Oprah Winfrey, among others, although no allegations are made against them.

Hawking was famously diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), an incurable condition which left him almost completely paralysed. His appearance on the unsealed court documents is linked to claims made by alleged trafficking victim, Virginia Giuffre, involving Hawking and former President Bill Clinton.

According to the files, Epstein emailed Maxwell in 2015 that he could offer money to Giuffre’s friends to “help prove” allegations that the scientist was involved in an “underage orgy” were false.

In 2006, Hawking was pictured during a visit to Epstein’s private Caribbean island before the sex offender was first charged later that year. The photographs, which emerged in 2015, were taken around the time of Hawking’s visit to a science conference at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, funded by Epstein. The Times have reported that Epstein paid for a submarine to be modified to allow Hawking to tour the seabeds.

Epstein, who was set to stand trial on sex trafficking charges, died by apparent suicide in jail in 2019. Hawking died aged 76 in 2018.