The Department of Justice released video from the prison in which the late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019, concluding that nobody entered his cell that day and that it was in fact a suicide.
The video was released in a memo that also details Justice Department findings from an investigation into the existence of an Epstein “client list” and questions around his death. The findings state that Epstein did not keep a “client list” and that his death in 2019 was a suicide.
The memo says that FBI agents reviewed “more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence” in its investigation into Epstein and his death.
“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. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” said the memo, obtained by Axios.
As part of the investigation, FBI agents reviewed footage from the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in New York from the day Epstein died. The Justice Department released nearly 11 hours of footage from the common area of the “Special Housing Unit” in the facility where Epstein was held.
The Department of Justice released two versions of the footage, a “raw” and “enhanced” version. The enhanced version of the footage the FBI made by “increasing its contrast, balancing the color, and improving its sharpness for greater clarity and viewability.”
“[A]nyone entering or attempting to enter the tier where Epstein’s cell was located from the SHU common area would have been captured by this footage. 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 August 9, 2019, until around 6:30 am the next morning, nobody entered any of the tiers in the SHU,” the memo says.
“After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019,” the memo says. “This conclusion is consistent with previous findings, including the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the November 2019 position of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in connection with the investigation of federal correctional officers responsible for guarding Epstein, and the June 2023 conclusions of DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.”
The department’s findings echo statements that FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have said about Epstein since taking up posts at the agency. In May, Bongino in an appearance on Fox News said that the Justice Department would eventually release video that shows “clear as day, [Epstein is] the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it.”
