- Jeffrey Epstein did not keep a client list to blackmail powerful figures, DOJ and FBI found
- Epstein's 2019 death was ruled a suicide, not murder, according to a Trump administration memo
- No further charges will be filed against individuals linked to Epstein's case
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein didn't keep a supposed "client list" to blackmail powerful figures, the US President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly concluded in a memo on the disgraced financier's death probe. The finding also concluded that Epstein's 2019 death, which was surrounded by a slew of conspiracy theories, was, in fact, not a murder, according to a report by Axios.
The memo also stated that no further charges would be filed against individuals linked to the infamous Epstein case. Epstein's former girlfriend and associate, and British socialite, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking and related offences.
Trump's Epstein Connection
After his public fallout with the President, tech billionaire Elon Musk linked Donald Trump with disgraced financier Epstein in a post on X. Trump's former ally, however, deleted an explosive allegation later, saying he "went too far."
However, the questions surrounding Trump's name in the government's Epstein files have persisted because the President and the sex offender were acquaintances and neighbours who attended the same parties in the 1990s.
In a 2017 interview, Epstein even claimed that he was "Donald Trump's closest friend." But Trump in 2019 said he was "not a fan of Epstein" and hadn't "spoken to him for 15 years." He also claimed that he had barred Epstein from his golf resorts in the early 2000s.
Mystery Over Epstein's Death
The Trump administration is also planning to release footage-- both raw and "enhanced versions"-- reportedly showing that no person entered the area of the Manhattan prison where Epstein was held the night he was found dead in 2019.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found hanging off the side of his cell's bed, unresponsive in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York--where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Prison guards, who found him, performed CPR before transporting him to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:39 am.
The Trump administration's new two-page memo claims that the video footage from the prison supports the medical examiner's conclusion that Epstein committed suicide.
Conspiracy Theories
The findings of the new report gain importance as it is the first time the Trump administration has officially contradicted conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein's activities and his death, some of which were even pushed by the FBI's top two officials-- director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino-- before Trump appointed them to the bureau. Patel and Bongino, who are both social media influencers and activists, were among the Make America Great Again (MAGA) figures who questioned the official account of Epstein's death.
Ever since Epstein's death, there has been chatter, particularly among right-wing circles, that the disgraced financier's crimes involved government officials, celebrities and business leaders and that someone killed him to cover it up.
Trump Team's Memo
In its memo, the Trump administration said investigators carefully reviewed footage of Epstein's prison cell from about 10.40 pm on the night of August 9, 2019, when he was locked in, until around 6.30 am the following day when he was found unresponsive.
Axios reviewed the footage, but could not independently verify it, reportedly showing no one entering the area.
"The FBI enhanced the relevant footage by increasing its contrast, balancing the colour, and improving its sharpness for greater clarity and viewability," the memo said.
The memo added that investigators found "no incriminating 'client list' " of Epstein, "no credible evidence ... that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals," and no "evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."
What's Next
The DOJ and FBI said that no "further disclosure" of Epstein-related material "would be appropriate or warranted," suggesting no more confidential files related to the case would be made public.
The memo claimed that most of the material in Epstein's files relates to child sexual abuse, details of sex offender's victims, and information that would expose innocent individuals to "allegations of wrongdoing."
"Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography," the memo added.
