Unidentified people carrying binders bearing the seal of the US Justice Department reading “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” walk out of the West Wing of the White House in February. The Trump administration had promised it would release documents on late tycoon and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Justice Department and the FBI have found no evidence that disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had a “client list” or that he blackmailed prominent associates.
The conclusions are included in a two-page memo outlining the “exhaustive review” the department conducted of the Epstein files in its possession. The memo also states that after a “thorough investigation,” the FBI found that Epstein died by suicide, which aligns with previous department conclusions.
The findings contradict past statements from Attorney General Pam Bondi about an alleged list of Epstein clients. And it’s unclear if the memo will tamp down on the continued public skepticism about Epstein’s case, particularly his suicide.
Epstein died at a federal lockup in New York City in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His death has fueled numerous conspiracy theories, particularly on the far right, because of his ties to the wealthy and powerful and the continued speculation surrounding his death.
Axios was the first to report on the memo.
Bondi has long promised to release documents from the Epstein investigation. She made public a small batch of files in February, and said the move was part of the administration’s “commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
That same month, she told Fox News in an interview that Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
More than four months later, the department memo directly contradicts her.
“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’ There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” the memo says. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
Asked Monday about Bondi’s previous remarks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to play down the discrepancy.
“She was saying the entirety of all the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” Leavitt told reporters. “That’s what the attorney general was referring to, and I’ll let her speak for that.”
Leavitt added that the attorney general and the FBI director pledged, at Trump’s direction, to conduct an exhaustive review of the Epstein materials “and that’s what they did, and they provided the results of that. That’s transparency.”
Suicide in line with prior findings, medical evidence
The unsigned memo says the FBI and the department went through its investigative files related to Epstein—digital searches of databases, hard drives, network drives and physical searches of cabinets, desks and closets—to find any and all relevant materials.
Epstein’s died by suicide on Aug. 10, 2019 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, according to the memo. It notes that the conclusions is consistent with previous findings, including those of the city’s chief medial examiner, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the DOJ’s inspector general.
It says the conclusion his death was by suicide is also supported by video footage from the common area of the prison unit where Epstein was being held when he died.
“Anyone entering or attempting to enter the tier where Epstein’s cell was located … would have been captured by this footage,” the memo states. “The FBI’s independent review of this footage confirmed that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at around 10:40 pm on Aug 9, 2019, until around 6:30 am the next morning, nobody entered any of the tiers.”
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have previously raised questions about the official account of Epstein and his death. Since taking top jobs at the bureau, though, they have publicly stated that Epstein killed himself.
Both men faced backlash online from conspiracy theorists.
The memo states that there are more than 1,000 victims of Epstein’s abuse, and that sensitive information on those individuals is contained in the investigative files. It says that combatting child exploitation and providing justice to victims are top priorities, and that “perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends.”
“To that end, while we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government’s possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,” the memo says.
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