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Controversial director Brett Ratner, whose documentary \u201cMelania\u201d <\/a>about the first lady premiered last week, found himself in the headlines once again over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n A photograph, part of the trove of files the Department of Justice\u2019s investigation into Epstein <\/a>released on Friday, shows Ratner sitting on a couch with his arms wrapped around a woman, whose identity is concealed. She is sitting next to Epstein and a second woman, who is also redacted in the photo and is sitting at the far end of the couch next to the disgraced financier. It is unclear where the photo was taken or when.<\/p>\n The filmmaker is among several prominent individuals from the worlds of entertainment, technology, politics and business \u2014 including L.A. Olympics boss Casey Wasserman<\/a> \u2014 who have turned up among millions of files that the Justice Department has released.<\/p>\n Epstein died by suicide<\/a> in 2019 in Manhattan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. <\/p>\n Ratner\u2019s name also surfaces in a number of emails contained in the released files in which Epstein discusses his attempts to connect with the director and descriptions in which their social circles overlap.<\/p>\n It is not the first time Ratner turned up in Epstein\u2019s orbit. In December, his photo appeared in an earlier batch of files the department released.<\/p>\n In the undated photograph, Ratner is seen seated, hugging a shirtless Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and an Epstein associate.<\/p>\n Brunel died of an apparent suicide<\/u><\/a> in 2022 in a French prison while awaiting trial on charges that he had raped a minor.<\/p>\n Ratner has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the director did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n During a Monday appearance on \u201cPiers Morgan Uncensored,\u201d<\/a> Ratner said that the recently released photograph was taken about 20 years ago. He said that the woman he is hugging was his then-fiancee, with whom he declined to name, and that she had invited him to an event where the picture was taken.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and never in contact with him after,\u201d he said on the show. <\/p>\n Among the emails in which Ratner is mentioned, in December 2010, Epstein discusses a dinner he is having at \u201c7:30\u201d in which he says that he has invited Ratner but has not yet heard back. <\/p>\n In December 2010, it was widely reported that Epstein hosted a dinner at his Manhattan townhouse just months after he finished serving a prison sentence and house arrest for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The dinner was attended by a number of boldfaced names including Woody Allen and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew.<\/p>\n A year later, Epstein\u2019s assistant appears to email Ratner saying, \u201c<\/i>Jeffrey would like to speak with you regarding [redacted] could you please give us a call.\u201d It is unclear whether Ratner followed up.<\/p>\n In another heavily redacted email from 2018, Epstein writes to someone saying: \u201cHi I\u2019m Jeffrey. brett Ratner thought we should meet.\u201d He follows up with a second email asking whether Ratner had spoken to this person yet.<\/p>\n During the Cannes film festival in 2012, celebrity superpublicist and ubiquitous presence on the awards circuit Peggy Siegal emailed Epstein that she was sitting with Ratner about to watch a Roman Polanski documentary, adding that \u201cBrett says \u2018hi\u2019 and he loves you!\u201d<\/p>\n In other gossipy emails Siegal sent to Epstein, she cites Ratner in her listing of which power brokers and celebrities are in attendance at various parties and who is staying on whose yacht in St. Barts (Ratner, she wrote, was staying with his business partner, the Australian billionaire James Packer).<\/p>\n Siegal\u2019s relationship with the convicted pedophile came under renewed scrutiny in 2019 after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, particularly as she helped facilitate his return to society following his prison sentence. <\/p>\n \u201cHad I known that he had been accused of abusing underage girls, I would not have maintained a friendship with him,\u201d she told the Hollywood Reporter.<\/p>\n Siegal could not be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n On Nov 1, 2017 \u2014 the day The Times published its investigation in which six women accused Ratner of sexual misconduct<\/a> \u2014 Epstein emailed lawyer Reid Weingarten: \u201cbrett ratner now oy.\u201d<\/p>\n Ratner\u2019s career was derailed nine years ago after The Times published detailed allegations<\/u><\/a> against the director made by multiple women who accused him of harassment, groping and forced oral sex. Actor Olivia Munn claimed that Ratner masturbated in front of her when she delivered a meal to his trailer on the set of the 2004 film \u201cAfter the Sunset.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time, the director\u2019s attorney Martin Singer rejected<\/u><\/a> the women\u2019s claims, saying that his client \u201cvehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations that have been reported about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Ratner\u2019s agents at WME dropped him, as did his publicist, and projects were put on hold. Ratner parted ways with Warner Bros.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n