ap/afp | The files published by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein affair contain previously unknown details about the sex offender’s imprisonment and death. Among the more than three million pages of documents released by the department on Friday, according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, are emails that investigators exchanged after Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019. Included is an investigator’s assessment that Epstein’s last communication did not seem like a suicide note.
The US authorities have concluded in several investigations that the financier, who systematically abused minors for years, committed suicide.
The files also describe how prison staff deceived members of the media in order to get Epstein’s body out of the detention center. They used cardboard boxes and blankets to create the impression of a body, which they then loaded into a vehicle that was labeled as belonging to the coroner’s office. Journalists followed the car while Epstein’s real body left the detention center “unnoticed” in a black vehicle, according to statements included in the documents.
According to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche, material about Epstein posted on a department website includes more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 photos.
Epstein invited US Commerce Secretary Lutnick to a private island
According to the latest revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein affair, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick received an invitation to the sex offender’s private island. According to documents related to the investigation released by the Justice Department on Friday, the financier, who for years systematically abused and sexually exploited minors, invited Lutnick to his island in December 2012.
According to the documents, Lutnick’s wife enthusiastically accepted the invitation and explained that the couple would arrive with their children by yacht. According to a diary entry, Lutnick and Epstein also met for drinks in 2011. Six years later, the two men exchanged emails about building a building near their homes.
Lutnick has already distanced himself from the financier, who was found dead in his New York cell in 2019. Last year he called Epstein disgusting and said he had cut off contact with him decades ago. Lutnick did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP news agency that was emailed to him on Friday.
Former Prince Andrew continues to find himself in trouble
The files released on Friday (local time) also put British ex-Prince Andrew in further trouble. According to them, Epstein beat Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor A meeting with a Russian woman in 2010 – shortly after Epstein had served a sentence for prostitution of minors.
In a 2010 email, Epstein wrote to Andrew that he had a friend “who you might like to have dinner with” when she came to London August 20-24. The woman is “26 years old, Russian, smart and beautiful.” Andrew replied that he would be in Geneva on August 22nd but would be “very happy to see her.”
Weeks later, the brother of the current King Charles III invited. Epstein then entered Buckingham Palace. It is not clear from the files whether the meeting with the Russian woman and the visit took place in the palace.
Charles stripped his brother of all royal titles and honors last year because of his ties to Epstein. The US-Australian Virginia Giuffre had accused the former prince of having abused her as a 17-year-old.
There are also blacked out areas in the new files
The release of the documents was long overdue: According to a law passed by the US Congress, the government should have published almost all files by December 19th. So far, however, this has only happened with a fraction of the documents.
The Trump administration justified the delays with the need to obscure the identities of Epstein’s victims. There are also numerous blacked out areas in the new files. According to the Justice Department statement, this includes “some pornographic images.” However, “prominent personalities and politicians” were not blacked out.
However, several victims of the abuse scandal complained to the authorities that information about them was visible in the files “while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected.” The letter was signed by 19 abuse victims, some of whom used pseudonyms or just initials. The letter calls for the “full release of the Epstein files.”
The documents also contain lists from the US Federal Police FBI with mostly anonymous allegations against Trump. The FBI followed up on some of these tips and classified some of them as not credible. The Justice Department said the files contained “untrue and sensationalist allegations” about the US president.
The White House had no influence on the viewing of the documents, assured Blanche, who was formerly Trump’s lawyer. “We did not protect President Trump,” he emphasized.
The opposition Democrats had accused the Trump administration of breaking the law because of the delay. The Democrats also accused the president of wanting to protect himself with the slow release of files.
Trump had blocked the release of the documents for months. He denies having close ties to Epstein. Photos and documents published so far suggest the opposite. However, the president has not yet been proven to have committed any personal misconduct.
Next to Gates and Musk, the name Branson comes up again
In the documents now published, names appear that were already mentioned in the previously published Epstein files. In a draft email, Epstein wrote about Microsoft founder Gates that he had helped him “get medication” so that Gates could deal with the “consequences of sex with Russian girls.” He also enabled the entrepreneur to have “secret meetings with married women”. Gates’ foundation said the claims were “absolutely absurd and completely false.”
The documents also contain several email exchanges between Musk and Epstein. In a message, Musk asks Epstein: “What day or night is the wildest party on your island?”
Other prominent names are mentioned. Among them is that of British billionaire Richard Branson, who asks Epstein to bring his “harem” with him at the next meeting.