Jeffrey Epstein’s former butler tried to sell the paedophile’s “little black book” to an undercover FBI agent during a sting, footage released by the US department of justice reveals.

Alfredo Rodriguez, who worked for the financier at his Palm Beach mansion in Florida, believed he was selling the book for $50,000 (£37,000) to a lawyer representing Epstein’s victims.

Rodriguez described the book as a “Holy Grail” of information that contained names, addresses and phone numbers for high-profile public figures, witnesses and hundreds of alleged victims in places including New York, New Mexico, and Paris.

In a 45-minute covert recording on Nov 3 2009 Rodriguez can be seen telling the agent that the book had the details of “underage girls” procured by Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner, is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking in a minimum-security prison in Texas.

In the footage, Rodriguez tells the anonymous FBI agent: “They were very young … Ghislaine Maxwell was his former companion, a very powerful lady from England.”