Ex-Sunrise host David “Kochie” Koch was forced to defend himself on social media after a man with the same name appeared in the Jeffrey Epstein files unsealed by a US court yesterday.
The former TV host shares the same name as an American oil tycoon – a fact our Kochie was quick to clear up via X (formerly Twitter) when trolls got hold of the unsealed documents.
“Just for absolute clarity the David Koch named in the Jeffrey Epstein lists released by the US courts is the American oil billionaire of the same name and no relation,” he wrote.
Just for absolute clarity the David Koch named in the Jeffrey Epstein lists released by the US courts is the American oil billionaire of the same name and no relation
— David Koch (@kochie_online) January 4, 2024
Australian David Koch was host of Sunrise from 2002 until last year, when he was replaced by former Olympian Matt Shirvington.
American David Koch – the one named in the documents – was the former Vice President of Koch Industries, the second largest privately-held company in the USA. He died in 2019.
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Koch isn’t the only Australian celebrity caught up in the Epstein documents.
Actor Cate Blanchett was also mentioned in the formerly sealed deposition of masseuse Johanna Sjoberg, who alleges Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell abused her in the late 1990s.
Blanchett’s name appears only once in the files, and there is no insinuation that the actor had even met Epstein; just that he liked to name-drop his Hollywood connections, including Cate Blanchett and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sjoberg made the claim while discussing her interactions with Epstein with lawyer Maxwell’s lawyer Laura A. Menninger in victim Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Maxwell in 2016.
“I saw one press report that said you had met Cate Blanchett…?” Menninger asked Sjoberg.
“I did not meet them, no,” Sjoberg replied.
“When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging him (Epstein), and he would get off – he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, ‘Oh, that was… Cate Blanchett …’ That kind of thing.”
“So, name-dropping,” Ms Menninger asked.
“Yes,” Sjoberg replied.
Other names mentioned in the files include Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, Kevin Spacey, David Copperfield, Michael Jackson and Stephen Hawking.
There are no claims of wrongdoing against anyone named in the unsealed documents.
Some names in the documents are those of victims, investigators, journalists and lawyers involved in the case.
