The Justice Department released thousands more files tied to the investigations into convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
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The Justice Department released thousands more files tied to the investigations into convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
Posted overnight Monday into Tuesday, the latest batch included emails and other documents, videos, spreadsheets and photos among other records, such as a fraudulent Austrian passport using the name Marius Robert Fortelni and Epstein’s photo
Another document was a 2019 email chain with the subject line “Epstein update” that seemed to indicate the Department of Justice was investigating “10 co-conspirators” who were only identified by geographic locations –– not by name
Democrats on Tuesday called on the Justice Department to identify individuals who were being investigated
Posted overnight Monday into Tuesday, the latest batch included emails and other documents, videos, spreadsheets and photos among other records, such as a fraudulent Austrian passport using the name Marius Robert Fortelni and Epstein’s photo.
Another document was a 2019 email chain with the subject line “Epstein update” that seemed to indicate the Department of Justice was investigating “10 co-conspirators” who were only identified by geographic locations –– not by name.
The email, which appeared to be from an FBI investigator with the Crimes Against Children Human Trafficking Unit, noted that three of the individuals were in Florida, one in New York City, one in Boston, one in Connecticut and another was “a wealthy businessman in Ohio.” The names of the authorities on the email chain were also redacted.
In a previous message in the chain, one of the investigators asked how many of the 10 people had been served with “GJS,” presumably referring to grand jury subpoenas, and interviewed in an official capacity. However, the answer to the question was not contained in the thread.
Democrats on Tuesday called on the Justice Department to identify those under investigation.
“Who are these 10 co-conspirators? Why haven’t we seen those memos? Where are the grand jury records? Where are the FBI records? What are they hiding?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York wrote on X Tuesday.
This undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Ghislaine Maxwell rubbing Jeffrey Epstein’s feet. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)
Epstein died by suicide in a New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His longtime confidant and former girlfriend, Maxwell was indicted the following year and subsequently convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2021. She is currently serving her 20-year prison sentence and was moved to a prison camp in Texas earlier this year.
In a post on social media Tuesday morning, the Justice Department said the latest tranche included documents that “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President (Donald) Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.”
It is unclear which documents the social media post was referring to specifically.
The latest release comes days after the Justice Department’s Friday deadline to make public all “unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” in a “publicly searchable and downloadable format.”
Officials began releasing records Friday afternoon and shared a second set Saturday – but some of the files initially uploaded were later removed from the webpage. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday during an interview with NBC News that the removals were part of prosecutors’ efforts to protect victims’ personal information.
The records released so far under the Epstein Files Transparency Act include more than 450 with references to Trump. The president – and others included in recently released records – have not been implicated in connection with any of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes.
Of the files that reference Trump, many were mentions in news reports. But several in the most recent documents included what seemed to be new information about the president, including an email from an unidentified assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York about the number of times Trump flew in Epstein’s plane.
The prosecutor wrote in the message –– dated Jan. 8, 2020 –– that “Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware),” citing “at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present.”
In addition to Trump’s family, other passengers aboard the various flights included an unidentified 20-year-old woman whose name was redacted and two women that the assistant U.S. attorney said “would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.”
Another file was a letter purportedly sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the U.S. gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of young athletes. The Justice Department initially said Tuesday that it was looking into the “validity of this alleged letter” and later said it determined the message is fake.
The letter was addressed to Nassar in an Arizona federal prison, but the former doctor had been moved to a different facility so the message was instead sent to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, known as MCC, where Epstein was found dead on Aug. 10, 2019.
In the message written inside of a card and postmarked Aug. 13, 2019 – three days after Epstein’s death – the writer noted that they and Nassar shared “our love & caring for young ladies” and that, “Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls,” without identifying to whom the statement was referring.
After the card was returned to MCC, the Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative alerted the FBI, which then asked a lab to analyze the handwriting to determine “if the individual who wrote the letter was Epstein or another unknown person,” according to another newly released record. Authorities said Tuesday that the handwriting does not appear to match Epstein’s.
In its post on X Tuesday, the DOJ wrote: “This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual. Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law.”
On Monday, Trump spoke about the files released to date during an unrelated event, contending that some individuals shown in the photos made public may have had no real connection to the disgraced financier.
“You probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago,” the president said.
This story was updated with information about the determination by the Justice Department that a letter purportedly from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is fake.