Financier Epstein arrested in U.S. sex trafficking case

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Jeffrey Epstein's cause of death was suicide by hanging, medical examiner says
CNN

URL: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/16/us/jeffr ... index.html
Category: Legal
Published: August 16, 2019

Description: (CNN) - Jeffrey Epstein's cause of death was suicide by hanging, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Friday. Hours later, Epstein's attorneys said they will conduct their own investigation into the circumstances of his death. The medical examiner's determination came almost a week after the multimillionaire was found in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where the 66-year-old was awaiting trial on federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing underage girls and running a sex trafficking ring. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The autopsy was performed Sunday, the chief medical examiner's office said in a statement at the time, but its findings were pending further information. A private pathologist also observed the autopsy, the statement said, calling it "routine practice." The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the autopsy showed Epstein "sustained multiple breaks in his neck bones." Both the FBI and the Justice Department's Inspector General are investigating the circumstances around the accused sex trafficker's death. Epstein's lawyers said they are not satisfied with the medical examiner's conclusions and urged more scrutiny of the jail. "No one should die in jail. And no one, not Mr. Epstein who was presumed innocent and had violated no prison disciplinary rule, and not anyone should be imprisoned under the harsh, even medieval conditions at the MCC where Mr. Epstein spent his final hours," they said. "His safety was the responsibility of the MCC. It is indisputable that the authorities violated their own protocols." US Attorney General William Barr said earlier this week that there were "serious irregularities" at the facility where Epstein was held. Epstein was placed on suicide watch following an incident last month at the jail. But in late July, after he was given daily psychological assessments, he was taken off suicide watch and returned to the special housing unit, according to a person briefed on the matter. Two prison staff members guarding Epstein's unit failed to check on him that night for about three hours, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing several law enforcement and prison officials with knowledge of the investigation. Officials have cautioned to CNN that they don't know what the staff members were doing during that time and are still trying to pin that down. Guards are supposed to check on detainees in the special housing unit every 30 minutes, a source with knowledge of Epstein's time at the prison previously told CNN. It's protocol for detainees coming off suicide watch not to be placed alone in a cell, the source said, and Epstein initially had a cellmate in the special housing unit. But that person was removed for unknown reasons. CNN previously reported that of the two officers responsible for monitoring Epstein that night, one was not currently a detention guard but was temporarily assigned to the post, per a person briefed on the matter. The guard, a man not identified by officials, had previously been trained as a corrections officer but moved to another position. In their statement Friday, Epstein's attorneys said they may take legal action to "view the pivotal videos -- if they exist as they should -- of the area proximate to Mr. Epstein's cell during the time period leading to his death." Federal Bureau of Prisons rules allow people who work in other prison jobs, such as teachers or cooks, to be trained to fill in at posts normally held by regular guards. Both guards were working overtime shifts but it's unclear whether that was mandatory. One person familiar with the matter said both employees had volunteered. Union officials say the overtime was mandatory. The two guards aren't talking to investigators and have hired lawyers, people briefed on the matter have told CNN.

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Medical examiner rules Epstein death a suicide by hanging
AP

URL: https://apnews.com/a947e0d85d31496eb5bd9ff4994c9718
Category: Legal
Published: August 17, 2019

Description: NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s medical examiner ruled Jeffrey Epstein’s death a suicide Friday, confirming after nearly a week of speculation that the financier faced with sex trafficking charges hanged himself in his jail cell. Epstein, 66, was found dead at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, touching off outrage that such a high-profile prisoner could have gone unwatched at the Manhattan federal lockup where infamous inmates Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff came and went without incident. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson said in a statement that she made the suicide determination “after careful review of all investigative information, including complete autopsy findings.” Sampson’s announcement came as a Justice Department official told The Associated Press that some prison staffers believed to have relevant information aren’t cooperating with investigators.

Epstein’s lawyers said they were “not satisfied” with Sampson’s conclusions and that they would conduct their own investigation, including seeking to obtain any video of the area around Epstein’s cell from the time leading to his death. Epstein, arrested July 6 and jailed since, was found dead with a bedsheet around his neck less than 24 hours after more than 2,000 pages of documents were made public from a since-settled lawsuit against an ex-girlfriend alleged to be his aide-de-camp. The documents included graphic allegations against Epstein and a 2016 deposition in which he refused to answer questions to avoid incriminating himself. At the time of Epstein’s death, the Bureau of Prisons said he had apparently killed himself. But that did not squelch conspiracy theories , including one retweeted by President Donald Trump that speculated Epstein was murdered. What emerged in the days that followed, however, was not evidence of a sinister plot, but early signs that prison staff failed to properly secure and monitor a prisoner, leading to ferocious criticism by everyone from Attorney General William Barr to Epstein’s lawyers. Jail guards on Epstein’s unit failed to check on him every half hour, as required, and are suspected of falsifying log entries to show they had, according to several people familiar with the matter. Both were working overtime because of staffing shortages, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authorization to publicly discuss the investigation. Epstein, who was charged with sexually abusing numerous underage girls over several years, had been placed on suicide watch last month after he was found on his cell floor July 23 with bruises on his neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail say Epstein was taken off the watch after about a week and put back in a high-security housing unit where he was less closely monitored, but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes. Barr says officials have uncovered “serious irregularities” at the jail. The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general are investigating. “It is indisputable that the authorities violated their own protocols,” Epstein’s lawyers said in a statement late Friday, calling the conditions in the unit where Epstein spent his final hours, “harsh, even medieval.” In the wake of Epstein’s death, federal prosecutors have shifted their focus to possible charges against anyone who assisted or enabled him in what authorities say was rampant sexual abuse. Barr, on Monday, warned that “any co-conspirators should not rest easy.” Authorities are most likely turning their attention to the team of recruiters and employees who, according to police reports, knew about Epstein’s penchant for underage girls and lined up victims for him. The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of police reports , FBI records and court documents that show Epstein relied on an entire staff of associates to arrange massages that led to sex acts. Meanwhile, the investigation into Epstein’s death is being hampered because some people, including jail staff members who are believed to have information pertinent to the probe, aren’t cooperating and have not yet been interviewed by the FBI, according to a Justice Department official. The official said the FBI has repeatedly sought interviews with staff members but those interviews are being delayed by union representatives. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. One possible roadblock to further charges is the controversial plea agreement Epstein struck more than a decade ago in Florida . The non-prosecution agreement not only allowed Epstein to plead guilty in 2008 to lesser state charges and serve just 13 months behind bars, it also shielded from prosecution several Epstein associates who allegedly were paid to recruit girls for him. The AP often does not report details of suicide methods but has made an exception because Epstein’s cause of death is pertinent to the ongoing investigations. The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Thursday that the autopsy revealed that a bone in Epstein’s neck had been broken, leading to speculation his death was a homicide. Sampson responded that “no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum” and experts said the bone in question often breaks in suicidal hangings. Autopsy reports are not public records in New York, and the details of the medical examiner’s finding, or the evidence she relied upon, were not immediately available. An office telephone number for Dr. Michael Baden, the pathologist hired by Epstein’s representatives to observe the autopsy, repeatedly rang unanswered on Friday. Epstein was a wealth manager who hobnobbed with the rich, famous and influential, including presidents and a prince. He owned a private island in the Caribbean, homes in Paris and New York City, a New Mexico ranch and a fleet of high-price cars. His friends had once included Britain’s Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton and Trump both said they had not seen Epstein in years when new charges were brought against him last month. The medical examiner’s ruling that Epstein’s death was a suicide came a day after two more women sued Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, saying he sexually abused them. The suit, filed Thursday in a federal court in New York, claims the women were working as hostesses at a popular Manhattan restaurant in 2004 when they were recruited to give Epstein massages. One was 18 at the time. The other was 20. The lawsuit says an unidentified female recruiter offered the hostesses hundreds of dollars to provide massages to Epstein, saying he “liked young, pretty girls to massage him,” and wouldn’t engage in any unwanted touching. The women say Epstein groped them anyway. One plaintiff now lives in Japan, the other in Baltimore. They seek $100 million in damages, citing depression, anxiety, anger and flashbacks. Other lawsuits, filed over many years by other women, accused him of hiring girls as young as 14 or 15 to give him massages, then subjecting them to sex acts.

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Ex-Colombian President Says Fidel Castro Invited Jeffrey Epstein to Cuba
Breitbart News

URL: https://www.breitbart.com/national-secu ... tein-cuba/
Category: Politics
Published: August 15, 2019

Description: Former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana issued a statement Wednesday explaining why his name appeared on the flight records of accused rapist and sex trafficker of minors Jeffrey Epstein, claiming Cuban dictator Fidel Castro invited the two to Havana. Guards found Epstein dead in his prison cell on Saturday of an apparent suicide. Irregularities in guard records the night before his death and his removal from suicide watch shortly before his death have led many to speculate that Epstein, who had relationships with many high-profile and powerful personalities in his capacity as a “financier,” was killed. Pastrana adamantly denied any knowledge of the sex trafficking and rape of underaged girls that Epstein stood accused of at the time of his death.

Comunicado del expresidente Andrés Pastrana Arango.

— Andrés Pastrana A (@AndresPastrana_) August 14, 2019

“Amid journalistic revelations of the horrifying and condemnable sex scandals of financier Jeffrey Epstein, the registry of a flight of mine on his plane has appeared to Nassau, Bahamas, to transfer to my final destination Havana, Cuba, invited by President Fidel Castro,” Pastrana wrote. “Mr. Jeffrey Epstein left Cuba a day or two later; I stayed on the island.” Pastrana explained that he met Epstein in Ireland during the International Achievement Summit of 2002 in Dublin. The summit was hosted by the American Academy of Achievement, a non-profit group whose goal is to help global elites meet, network, and do business together. The International Achievement Summit was founded, in the words of the organization, for “generating a dialogue between eminent international achievers and the most promising young leaders of tomorrow.” Pastrana noted that the Dublin conference was “a highly-publicized ceremony at which personalities such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, Bono, and Jeremy Irons” attended. Clinton, in particular, is believed to have had a close relationship with Epstein. In a statement following his indictment in July, the former president admitted to traveling with Epstein on four occasions and meeting with the investor twice in New York. Reports surfacing since Epstein’s arrest this year indicate that Clinton flew significantly more often than the statement alleged on the plane known as the “Lolita Express.” One witness who has come forward since Epstein’s arrest also claims that Clinton visited Epstein’s private island, where he is alleged to have trafficked underaged girls to prominent and wealthy older men. Pastrana adamantly denied having ever visited the private island. Pastrana’s name appears on flight records dating back to 2003, a year after his tenure as president of Colombia ended. According to the Miami Herald:

Flight records show that Pastrana was aboard one of Epstein’s private planes that left on March 20, 2003, from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport headed to Palm Beach International Airport. Pastrana also appears in the manifest of another flight the next day from Palm Beach to Nassau International Airport in the Bahamas.

Records show Epstein, his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, and model executive Jean-Luc Brunel, on both flights. According to the documents, they all returned to Palm Beach, without Pastrana, from the Bahamas on March 23. The trip to Cuba, however, does not appear either in Rodgers’ records or in the records kept by the Federal Aviation Administration and obtained by the Miami Herald. Pastrana developed a relationship with Castro during his tenure as president, as the Cuban communist regime has for years abetted the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist terrorist organization responsible for over a half a century of murders, kidnappings, rapes, forced abortions, and multi-million-dollar drug sales in the South American country. Pastrana sought a peace deal with both the FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second-largest Marxist terrorist group active in the country, and attempted to develop a relationship with Castro to get it done. Telesur, a radical leftist propaganda network, claimed in an homage to Castro’s support for terrorism that the dictator paid “special attention” to Pastrana and developed a role as a “protagonist” in the FARC struggle against peace in Colombia. Pastrana himself also discussed establishing a working relationship with Castro in pursuit of a deal with the FARC in multiple interviews. Following Castro’s death – and the conclusion of a FARC peace deal with the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos despite losing a constitutionally mandated public referendum to impose it – Cuba had no more use for Pastrana and arrested in him 2018 for trying to enter the country. Pastrana said he was attempting a visit to support pro-democracy dissidents on the island, a violation of Cuba’s strict laws against disrespecting communism. Pastrana’s relationship with Castro does not explain the late dictator’s relationship with Epstein. The Herald notes that Epstein does not appear in the flight records to Cuba though Pastrana claimed that he did indeed take a flight to the island. There is no publically known record of any relationship between Castro and Epstein. As an American, Epstein was banned from tourism to Cuba and, to legally enter the country, would have had to file for a government exception to the embargo under one of 12 categories of permitted travel to Cuba. There is at press time no indication that Epstein ever did so. If the allegations that Epstein engaged in child sex trafficking are true, it is possible he developed a business interest in Cuba. Cuba has for decades allowed child prostitution to flourish – one of the few, if only, industries to thrive under communism. “As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba, and traffickers exploit victims from Cuba abroad,” the U.S. State Department said in its annual trafficking report for 2019. “Sex trafficking and sex tourism, including child victims, occur within Cuba. Traffickers exploit Cuban citizens in sex trafficking and forced labor in South America, the Caribbean, and the United States.” Epstein was arrested in July on charges of child sex trafficking. Reports following his arrest indicated that prosecutors believed he had “had sexual encounters with dozens of underage girls at his Palm Beach, Florida residence,” brought to him by a team of “female fixers” to recruit them. Epstein was a registered sex offender and had already served jail time on similar charges. Epstein was found dead in his cell this weekend. Authorities initially told reporters that he appeared to have strangled himself with his bedsheet, an item he would not have had access to if he had remained on suicide watch. On Wednesday, the Washington Post revealed, however, that an autopsy completed on his body found broken neck bones common in cases of asphyxiation, leading to suspicions he was aided in his suicide attempt or killed.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Former Bodyguard: ‘Somebody Helped Him’ Kill Himself
Breitbart News

URL: https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2019/08 ... l-himself/
Category: Crime
Published: August 15, 2019

Description: Someone helped Jeffrey Epstein commit suicide, Epstein’s longtime bodyguard, Igor Zinoviev, said Monday. “Somebody helped him to do that,” Zinoviev told the Intelligencer. However, he declined to elaborate on his suspicions, stating, “Listen, you know, that’s going a little too deep.”

Zinoviev said he lived at Epstein’s Palm Beach home for six years but added that he did not care about his former boss’s alleged suicide. “I’m not sad. I mean, I didn’t have anything against him, like a bad thing, you know? I don’t care about his life completely. I don’t give a, let’s say, like, crap about how he die, how he live, or how he’s managed,” he concluded. On Thursday, an autopsy revealed that Epstein had several broken bones in his neck, a discovery that raised additional questions regarding his death. The report stated:

The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that among Epstein’s broken bones was his hyoid, a horseshoe-shaped bone situated near the Adam’s apple in men. Forensic experts told the Post that hyoid breaks are plausible in hanging cases yet are more common in homicide victims who are strangled to death.

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that although he is not a conspiracy theorist, he believes Epstein’s death was “way too convenient.” “This makes no sense. He’s one of the prominent prisoners in America, at that point. He had either attempted suicide previously or been assaulted. Either way, it is the same reality,” de Blasio commented. “He needed to be watched 24 hours a day. It’s one of the premier federal facilities in the country. It belongs to the Justice Department. Come on. How on earth do they miss this?” However, Breitbart News reported Wednesday that prison guards at the Manhattan jail where Epstein was being held allegedly fell asleep the night before his death and falsified documents to cover up their mistakes. “According to the New York Times, the guards dozed off for three hours, causing them to miss the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s routine prisoner check. They then forged their supervision logs, which could come with criminal charges,” the report said.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged ‘Madam’ Spotted at LA In-N-Out
Breitbart News

URL: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019 ... la-innout/
Category: Entertainment
Published: August 15, 2019

Description: Ghislaine Maxwell, who allegedly operated as Jeffrey Epstein’s “madam” in procuring underage girls for the purposes of sexual predation, was spotted by the New York Post dining at an In-N-Out restaurant in Los Angeles, CA, on Monday. The New York Post reported:

The Post found the socialite hiding in plain sight in the least likely place imaginable — at a fast food joint in Los Angeles. Maxwell, 57, alleged madam to the multi-millionaire Epstein, was scarfing down a burger, fries and shake al fresco at an In-N-Out on Monday while reading, “The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives.” Maxwell — who was sitting alone with a pet pooch — was surprised she was located and told an onlooker: “Well, I guess this is the last time I’ll be eating here!”

Jeffrey Epstein's gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell spotted at In-N-Out Burger in first photos since his death

— New York Post (@nypost) August 15, 2019

Maxwell was recently sued, alongside Epstein’s estate and three of Epstein’s staffers, by Jennifer Araoz — one of Epstein’s accusers — as part of a lawsuit that falls under the Child Victims Act. Araoz said she was 15 when Epstein allegedly raped her in his Manhattan townhouse, describing Maxwell as Epstein’s “recruiter.” Maxwell is also accused of having participated in acts of sexual predation with Epstein. Araoz’s complaint alleges Maxwell and Epstein’s staffers “conspired with each other to make possible and otherwise facilitate the sexual abuse and rape of Plaintiff.” Maxwell has been living with tech CEO Scott Borgeson in his secluded mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, since 2016, according to a close neighbor, the New York Post reported. Epstein’s autopsy showed several broken bones in his neck, according to a Wednesday-published report at the Washington Post.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Stinks.
Human Events

URL: https://humanevents.com/2019/08/10/jeff ... th-stinks/
Category: Crime
Published: August 10, 2019

Description: Those ruling out foul play are being seriously unserious.

As so often happens in the aftermath of a controversial event in 2019, a number of our journalistic betters lectured the public on the proper way to talk about Jeffrey Epstein’s “apparent suicide” this morning. “Stop speculating Epstein was murdered,” demanded Justin Miller of the Daily Beast, a man who just got done propagating nonsense about President Trump and Russia. And Kelly Weill, of the same outlet, took an apparent break from running interference for Antifa to warn about conspiracy theories “erupting” in the aftermath of Epstein’s death. The Daily Beast’s intrepid worriers may be right. Despite having reportedly attempted to commit suicide two weeks ago, despite the fact that he was the most high-profile defendant awaiting trial in the country, despite the fact that he was in a special housing unit, and despite the fact that he likely had the ability to destroy the lives of some of the wealthiest, most famous, and most powerful people on the planet, the initial reports that Epstein committed suicide, unaided, could be true. Jeffrey Epstein might just have hung himself, on his own volition, without prompting or assistance from anyone else. Color me skeptical. Usually, Occam’s razor suggests that the “conspiratorial” explanation for a shocking event is the less likely one. Not so here. Assembling an innocent explanation of Epstein’s death requires assuming a staggering amount of incompetence on the part of MCC Manhattan staff. Despite a near-miss on July 30, they would have had to innocently give their most infamous and high-profile criminal defendant the means and opportunity to kill himself, and in doing so, utterly fail at their most basic responsibilities. El Chapo stayed in MCC Manhattan during his trial. He had plenty of motive to kill himself, and he was one of the wealthiest and most powerful criminals on the planet. But he couldn’t do it. He was convicted, and he’ll spend the rest of his life at Supermax in Florence, Colorado. Indeed, in an exchange on Twitter between James Gagliano, a former FBI agent, and Preet Bharara, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the two described themselves as “dumbfounded” that Epstein could have been able to commit suicide. Elie Honig, a CNN analyst and a former Assistant US Attorney in the same office, tweeted that in his 8 years as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District, he couldn’t “recall any suicides at MCC during that time.” One does not have to construct a “conspiracy theory” in order to think that Jeffrey Epstein was likely murdered (or presented with a Frank Pentangeli offer). There’s no need to guess who wanted him dead or what their motive might have been, other than to keep Epstein from revealing unspecified information about an unspecified person or people. We’ve seen pictures of a then 16-year-old girl hugging a British royal – with Epstein’s madam in the background. Just yesterday, a trove of documents were released alleging connections between Epstein, underage girls, and a wide variety of influential and powerful people. Many people had a powerful motive to see Epstein dead. It’s perfectly reasonable to think the man might have been murdered. Indeed, a person employing basic Bayesian logic would weight the probability of foul play highly, even if they did not favor a specific theory of who was responsible or what actually happened. Moreover, those journalists reporting that Jeffrey Epstein, in fact, did commit suicide are themselves ahead of the facts. Attorney General Barr noted in his statement only that Epstein was “found dead.” The New York City Medical Examiner said, a few hours after the story broke that the cause and manner of Epstein’s death were still “pending investigation.” Now, there is reason to be confident the DOJ will play the investigation straight. Shortly after news of Epstein’s death broke, The Associated Press reported that the FBI had opened an investigation into Epstein’s death. AG Barr, in his statement, announced there would be a separate DOJ Inspector General investigation, and CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz reported that the Southern District of New York would be investigating as well. It would be hard for any actor or group of actors – no matter how powerful – to corrupt three different investigations run by three different, mostly autonomous departments. But until those investigations are completed, speculation is perfectly reasonable. And if you firmly believe there was no foul play involved, I know of a few stunning bridges over the Potomac you might be interested in.

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Epstein’s Cellmate Told There Will be a “Price to Pay” if He Talks
Infowars

URL: https://www.infowars.com/epsteins-cellm ... -he-talks/
Category: Crime
Published: August 21, 2019

Description: Begs to be transferred to another jail.
Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate claims he was told there would be a “price to pay” if he talked about the sex trafficker’s alleged suicide and is begging to be transferred to another jail. Ex-cop Nicholas Tartaglione shared a cell with Epstein during his first suicide attempt but the two were separated before Epstein hanged himself on August 10. Now Tartaglione is requesting a transfer because he says prison guards have been threatening him and telling him to “stop talking.” “The clear message Mr. Tartaglione has received is that if he conveys information about the facility or about [Epstein’s] recent suicide, there will be a price to pay,” reads a letter from Tartaglione’s lawyer Bruce Barket. “Whether or not the investigators into the suicide chose to interview Mr. Tartaglione about the attempted suicide to which he was witness or about how the facility is run and the conditions under which the inmates are forced to live, the correction officers know he has information potentially very damaging to the very people now charged with guarding him or their coworkers.” Epstein’s suicide has now largely disappeared from the headlines, with many of the high profile clients he provided “services” for breathing a huge sigh of relief. As we reported last week, Epstein’s injuries that led to his death are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation than by hanging.

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Report: Bill & Hillary Clinton Frequently Visited Epstein’s ‘Zorro Ranch’ Compound
Infowars

URL: https://www.infowars.com/report-bill-hi ... -compound/
Category: Crime
Published: December 3, 2019

Description: Bill Clinton had emphatically denied ever visiting Epstein’s homes – except for New York apartment
Bill and Hillary Clinton visited billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s “Zorro Ranch” in New Mexico “a whole bunch of times,” according to former estate workers. The former president was Epstein’s closest “celebrity mate” who visited Epstein’s 10,000-acre compound in the New Mexico desert, said Jared Kellogg, a former IT system contractor for the property. Kellogg, who had little knowledge of Epstein’s pedophiliac reputation, said he was brought on by property manager Brice Gordon to improve the estate’s security systems and set up surveillance cameras around the compound. “My contact was Brice, their main concern was that there was no video surveillance on the property at all. I thought this was a simple request, as they wanted surveillance to protect their investment. It’s a huge site,” Kellogg told the Daily Mail. “But what was weird was that the whole time I was on site, Brice would be bragging about how the Clintons would visit, the whole family. Not just Bill, but Bill, his wife, their kid, and they would stay on the ranch itself.” Kellogg went on to describe the elaborate layout of Epstein’s ranch, and how it was meant to capture a Wild West motif for guests like the Clintons. “He had built this Western replica village with a saloon, barn houses, old school house and when you’re walking through it, it feels like you’re walking through the 1800s,” Kellogg said. “It was like Westworld, it’s like they built a functioning movie set, they put a lot of thought and detail into it, the flooring and facilities in there.” “I was saying how cool the replica houses were, they’re pretty neat like the 1800s,” Kellogg continued. “[Gordon] said: ‘Yeah, they’re built for guests, we get a lot of visitors. It’s really cool the Clintons come out and hang out [with Epstein].” “It sounded like a normal summer vacation,” he added, unaware Epstein frequently trafficked underage girls through his property. Bill Clinton had denied ever visiting any of Epstein’s homes save for a visit at his New York apartment, where a $56 million portrait of the former president in a Monica Lewinsky-like blue dress and red heels had been discovered hanging on Epstein’s wall during an FBI raid after his arrest in July. “[Bill Clinton] had one meeting with Epstein in his Harlem office in 2002, and around the same time made one brief visit to Epstein’s New York apartment with a staff member and his security detail,” said Clinton’s official statement after Epstein’s arrest. “He’s not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.” It’s already known that Clinton flew aboard Epstein’s “Lolita Express” private jet on more occasions than he admitted, flying not four times as he claimed, but over 26 times to countries like Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, China, Brunei, London, New York, the Azores, Belgium, Norway, Russia and Africa. If Kellogg’s testimony is true, it means Clinton lied once again about his association with Epstein, this time about his visits to Zorro Ranch, where Epstein schemed to create a eugenics program where he would systematically impregnate dozens of women to “seed” the human race.

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'HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS' Jeffrey Epstein was MURDERED, claims victims’ lawyer after ‘receiving new information from prison source’
The Sun

URL: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9757129/j ... -suggests/
Category: Crime
Published: August 22, 2019

Description: A LAWYER for Jeffrey Epstein's victims says he has obtained new information that suggests the billionaire paedo did NOT commit suicide but was murdered. Spencer Kuvin, who accurately predicted that shamed financier would not last until his trial, told Sun Online he had been contacted by an anonymous prison worker who claimed it was "highly unlikely" the perv killed himself. The former pal of Prince Andrew's was found unresponsive in his jail cell while awaiting trial on child sex charges on August 10 at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). The 66-year-old reportedly had a sheet tied around his neck when he was found and the medical examiner later announced he had died by suicide. The prison source told Kuvin "every square inch" of the cells where Epstein was kept were covered by CCTV so there should have been a comprehensive video account of exactly what happened to Epstein. Kuvin said: "I received a call from a supervisor at the MCC, which is the jail that Mr Epstein was held. "The first words out of his mouth to be honest were, 'Don't believe what you are hearing' in regards to Epstein's death. "I had a lengthy conversation with him about the issue of security within MCC and he gave me a fairly detailed description of the interior of the jail, which led me to believe that he was credible. "He told me how the SHU (special housing unit) where Mr Epstein was kept was basically designed to be a jail within the jail.
'DON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE HEARING'
"And then there was a separate, even more secure unit, inside the SHU where the highest value targets were kept. "He said every square inch of that place is covered by cameras. It was designed that way because of super high value targets that are kept there such as terrorists, drug dealers and other extremely high value targets or suspects like Mr Epstein. "If reports that there is no CCTV are true - it would mean that they'd either shut the cameras off or they were not functioning in some way. He says there's no way that they would not have been able to see what was going on." Kuvin said he also found it "highly suspicious" that Epstein's cell mate was taken from his cell on the Friday - just a few hours before Epstein's death in the early hours of Saturday. Epstein had been on suicide watch after he was found unconscious with injuries to his neck following a previous incident on July 24 - but was removed from it a few days before his death. "What my source found very suspicious was that his cell mate was pulled the day before," he said. "The purpose of a cell mate for someone who either who was on suicide watch or is on suicide watch is to notify guards if something is happening. So the fact that they pulled the cell mate is not only one level above negligent, it also appears intentional. "Really he should have been on suicide watch. Not only was he not on suicide watch, they pulled the one person that could have notified guards if something untoward was about to occur. "It was almost as though they did it so that no one could see what was going to happen the following day." Epstein, who was facing 45 years in prison, apparently killed himself by hanging himself with a bed sheet, the New York Post reported.
'HE DIDN'T SEEM CAPABLE OF SUICIDE'
But Kuvin, who has met Epstein three times, says he can't imagine him having the "resolve" or "bravery" to commit such an act. "I met the man on three separate occasions and he never seemed to me to be a remorseful individual," he said. "He always seemed highly intelligent, arrogant, self-assured, confident. Never thought he did anything wrong, even in light of all the evidence against him, he basically just blamed the victims and had an incredible ego about himself and someone with that type of ego just never struck me as someone that could possibly commit suicide. "I didn't think he was that brave to be perfectly honest. He always hid behind lawyers upon lawyers upon lawyers in his civil and criminal cases. I mean you can't even count the number of people he hired to protect him from any allegations, both civil and criminal. "This type of an act requires a certain amount of resolve. And he just never struck me as someone that could do that."
WAS SOMEONE PAID TO KILL EPSTEIN?
Kuvin who told Sun Online just days before his death he felt like the billionaire's life was in jeopardy because his powerful pals "didn't want their secrets out" believes the most likely scenario was that someone in the prison was paid to carry out a hit on Epstein. "I think the most likely scenario if it's not as suicide, is that somebody on the inside of the prison was paid essentially to make it look like a suicide," he said. "And the guards were paid to disappear and not be there. And his cell mate was taken away on Friday, so there'd be no witness. "So someone went in there in the early morning hours, tied him around the neck with a bed sheet, tied the bed sheet to the bed and pushed him down effectively and held him down until he choked to death. "For something like this, you would expect to see some type of bruising or whatever around his shoulders if he's being held down against his will. "So that would be the most likely scenario to make it appear as though he had done the act himself. "With the fracture of the bone in his neck it suggests a high amount of force pushing down on him. "I think the most likely scenario if it is not suicide - as I've said before - is that there were too many people that were afraid that he would talk about what he may have done with them and others. "They just paid off someone to go into the jail and take care of him."

Kuvin, who represents three of Epstein's victims, says his victims now want to see a full investigation into what happened in the prison as well as to see some of his co-conspirators - many of whom have been named in various court documents - arrested. And he said Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's one-time girlfriend who has been repeatedly accused in court papers of grooming young girls, should be very worried about the possibility of arrest. "I think she should be highly concerned. "So with the Attorney General saying that he's not closing the investigation and he's going to be pursuing all Mr Epstein's co-conspirators I can tell you that my clients are hopeful that Ms. Maxwell is one of the ones that's arrested following all of this. "The victims are frustrated that he was allowed to do this or they allowed this to happen to him but at the same time they're satisfied that he's gone for good and not a threat to him or any other potential women that are out there. "We want to see a full investigation and to hold all co-conspirators accountable for what happened." Maxwell has always denied any wrongdoing.

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Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were spies who used underage sex to blackmail politicians, ‘ex-handler’ claims
The Sun

URL: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10414087/ ... blackmail/
Category: Crime
Published: August 22, 2019

Description: GHISLAINE Maxwell and her paedophile lover Jeffrey Epstein were both Israeli spies who took pictures of powerful men having sex with underage girls to blackmail them, their alleged Mossad handler has sensationally claimed. The pair allegedly ran a "honey-trap" operation where they would provide young girls to politicians in order to squeeze them for information for the Israelis.

The unsubstantiated claims have been made by Ari Ben-Menashe who claims he is a former Israeli spy. Ben-Menashe claims that he was the “handler” of Ghislaine's dad Robert Maxwell, who was also a spy, and that it was the former newspaper baron who introduced Epstein and his daughter to the Israeli intelligence agency. He makes the unverified claims in a new book called "Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales". In a preview of the book, shared with Sun Online, Ben-Menashe says: “Mr Epstein was the simple idiot who was going around providing girls to all kinds of politicians in the United States. “See, f**king around is not a crime. It could be embarrassing, but it’s not a crime. “But f**king a fourteen-year-old girl is a crime. And he was taking photos of politicians f**king fourteen-year-old girls—if you want to get it straight. “They [Epstein and Maxwell] would just blackmail people, they would just blackmail people like that.” Ben-Menashe is a mysterious Iranian-born Israeli businessman who claims to have worked for Mossad from 1977 to 1987. He was arrested in 1989 in the US on arms dealing charges but was acquitted in 1990 after a jury accepted he was acting on behalf of Israel. Israel tried to distance themselves from him, with government sources saying he never had anything to do with intelligence services, although other news reports - in both the US and Israel - confirmed he did. He later wrote a book called Profits of War: Inside the US-Israeli Arms Network and in the early 1990s claimed that Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine's dad, worked for Mossad. The new book takes this further and claims Maxwell may have worked for other governments too as as a double or triple agent. Ben-Menashe claims that despite reports Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell met in the early 90s in New York, they actually met much earlier - through the socialite's father. He claims that Robert Maxwell introduced Epstein to Mossad and then Ghislaine got involved later. Files from the British Foreign Office, released in 2003 appear to back the claims Robert Maxwell may have been a spy, with one report describing him as a “thoroughly bad character” who was being “financed by Russia” and another saying his “questionable activities” had been brought to the attention of the Foreign Officer “on several occasions”. While the Maxwell family have always denied such reports, family friend Laura Goldman says in the book: “My feeling is that he probably was an agent to the Russians, the Israelis, and the British. I believe that Ghislaine continued his work.” It is not known whether Maxwell and Epstein gathered any intelligence about pal Prince Andrew in their alleged espionage work - although the book suggests the Royal was a target.

John Dougan, who served as Deputy Sheriff in Palm Beach, Florida at the time Epstein was in prison for his first slew of child sex offenses, says he was given access to Epstein's case file - including video tapes - in its entirety by Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey, who later died unexpectedly aged 50. Dougan managed to copy the tapes, encrypt them and flee to Russia, where he now lives. Although he has not watched the encrypted files he tells Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales that he is certain they contain blackmail material involving wealthy people - and that Prince Andrew was a target. “Do I think that Epstein was probably put up to getting some wealthy people to sleep with some underage women so those people could be black- mailed by Western intelligence agencies? Absolutely I do,” he said. MI6 were “concerned that Russia may have obtained kompromat, compromising material, on Prince Andrew,” according to a Times report - although Dougan claims he has given no information to the Russians. Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell on August 10 after allegedly committing suicide, while he faced charges for sex trafficking minors. Melissa Cronin, the book's author, believes that Epstein's alleged intelligence links add weight to the theory that he did not kill himself but was murdered. She also points to Epstein's and Maxwell's links with prominent people from the science and technology industries - and believes the pair not only ran a honeypot operation but also an information-gathering operation. "Before I started with the book, I was extremely skeptical of the murder theory.," she told Sun Online. "I'm definitely not a conspiracy theorist by nature at all, but the more that we dug into this, there's just so much incontrovertible evidence about his work in the world of espionage, his work with Mossad and it all comes together to make a really compelling argument for the fact that he was murdered. "I think one thing that is interesting and important to say is that Epstein wasn't necessarily a spy in the traditional sense, he wasn't particularly loyal to Israel per se, he was a collector of information. "So of course there was the blackmail aspect of what he was doing in terms of the honey trap and getting this footage of people that he could use as leverage. "At the same time, something that a lot of people haven't really explored is how he cultivated these relationships within science and technology. "We get really deep into that in the book and to how he was meeting with and extracting really sensitive information from scientists and eminent theorists and things like that. "That material - probably even more so than the blackmail material - is what really would be of interest to a foreign power such as Israel." Ghislaine Maxwell has previously denied any wrongdoing. Sun Online reached out to her representatives for Maxwell. Representatives for the Israeli government did not respond to requests for comment.

[smix]

Another Jeffrey Epstein Development That Will Fuel The Conspiracy Theory Fires
Townhall

URL: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa ... s-n2552054
Category: Crime
Published: August 22, 2019

Description: The death of Jeffrey Epstein has rehashed the conspiracy theory about the Clinton body count. Actually, it just rehashed conspiracy theories in general. The only difference is the theory-peddlers are right on one thing: this needs to be investigated. That’s about it, right? There’s no evidence that Hillary Clinton ordered a hit from insider the jail, though it’s made for some good memes on social media. What we do know is that Epstein officially killed himself, though prior to the report being released it was noted that the neck fractures are more commonly seen in homicides than suicide by self-strangulation.

Epstein was a wealthy former hedge fund manager who knew everyone. He knew President Trump, the Clintons, and members of the British Royal Family. It’s these connections and his wealth that allowed him to get a sweetheart deal from the government where he avoided serious jail time for his alleged sex crimes. At the time, there was not enough evidence to convict, according to federal prosecutors. That person was former Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who served as a U.S. Attorney at the time. It was this deal and the events that led to it which were covered by The Miami Herald that brought his arrest this summer and the indictment on trafficking girls as young as 14. Epstein is a convicted sex offender. You can connect the dots. His Manhattan residence yielded more incriminating evidence, including what appear to be blackmail tapes that were catalogued by Epstein. His residence in the Virgin Islands, known as “Pedophile Island,” was also raided by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies, where reports tickled back the entire area was wire for surveillance. The reason: possible blackmail. This guy reportedly had dirt on a lot of people, including former governors. Again, circling back to his connections, people with money, and those people with money who had way too much time on their hands, we can assume the worst in their actions. Yes, I think it’s safe to assume that many wanted Epstein dead and that his suicide brought much relief to those in high society. That’s not a far-fetched thing to say. Attorney General William Barr has ordered the FBI to look into his death, along with the Department of Justice Inspector General’s office. Barr was reported to be “appalled” that Epstein died under federal custody. He had tried to kill himself two weeks prior to his death but was reportedly taken off suicide watch hours before he died. Logs were falsified. Some of the guards were akin to temps at an office. And now The Washington Post wrote that at least eight jail officials knew the Epstein shouldn’t have been left alone and that directive was ignored 24 hours before he died (via WaPo):

At least eight Bureau of Prisons staffers knew that strict instructions had been given not to leave multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alone in his cell, yet the order was apparently ignored in the 24 hours leading up to his death, according to people familiar with the matter. The fact that so many prison officials were aware of the directive — not just low-level correctional officers, but supervisors and managers — has alarmed investigators assessing what so far appears to be a stunning failure to follow instructions, these people said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing investigations. They declined to identify the eight. Investigators suspect that at least some of these individuals also knew Epstein had been left alone in a cell before he died, and they are working to determine the extent of such knowledge, these people said, cautioning that the apparent disregard for the instruction does not necessarily mean there was criminal conduct. The explanation, they said, could be simpler and sadder — bureaucratic incompetence spanning multiple individuals and ranks within the organization. The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment. “It’s perplexing,” said Robert Hood, a former warden at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colo. “If people were given instructions that Epstein should not be left alone, I don’t understand how they were not followed.” Hood, who also once served as the Bureau of Prisons’ chief of internal affairs, said it was disconcerting that officials might have thought they were putting Epstein on a less-intensive form of suicide watch. “You’re either on suicide watch or you’re not. If you have any concern at all, you maintain the suicide watch,” he said.

The warden has been reassigned, while two guards were suspended. What a mess. I don’t think there’s some Grassy Knoll-esque conspiracy here, but what we do have is possibly one of the most explicit cases of government incompetence in recent memory.

[smix]

Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers highly ‘skeptical’ of suicide ruling, say he wasn’t ‘despairing, despondent’ before death
CNBC

URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/27/jeffrey ... uling.html
Category: Crime
Published: August 27, 2019

Description: A defense lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday expressed deep skepticism that the wealthy financier died by hanging himself in a Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges, as a medical examiner has ruled. The injuries suffered by Epstein are “far more consistent with assault” than suicide, the lawyer, Reid Weingarten, told Judge Richard Berman in U.S. District Court in Manhattan during a hearing. Weingarten cited the defense’s own medical sources. Broken bones were found in Epstein’s neck during an autopsy after he died Aug. 10. Such fractures are somewhat more common in cases of strangulation than in hanging. Weingarten told the judge that when he and other defense attorneys spoke to Epstein shortly before his death “we did not see a despairing, despondent, suicidal person.”

Weingarten’s comments came during a proceeding where prosecutors were seeking the dismissal of child sex trafficking charges against the Epstein as a result of his death. More than 20 alleged victims of Epstein spoke or had statements read during the hearing. Another Epstein lawyer, Martin Weinberg, told Berman that the defense team had prepared a “significant” motion to dismiss the case, and that the lawyers were not approaching the case with a “futile, defeatist attitude.” Weingarten said Berman had a “pivotal role to find out what happened.” “We want the court to help us find out what happened,” Weingarten said. “We’re skeptical of the certitude” of the finding of suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, the lawyer said. There are “significant doubts” regarding “the conclusion of suicide,” Weingarten said. But Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor, told Berman that Epstein’s death was already the subject of “an ongoing and active grand jury investigation.” “It is not the purview, respectfully, of the court to conduct an investigation into uncharged matters,” Comey said. The focus of the hearing, she added, should be to allow Epstein’s accusers to be heard “and to bring this case to a close.” However, Epstein’s lawyers argued that there was legal precedent for the court to investigate Epstein’s death. And some of the victims’ lawyers also suggested that a court-led investigation might be appropriate. “If there is jurisdiction ... it would increase the confidence” to have the court “oversee the investigation,” said Gloria Allred, the high-profile attorney who introduced new alleged victims of Epstein at the hearing. Epstein, 66, was a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other celebrities, whom he entertained at his luxurious residences on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, and on a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Authorities and accusers have said that Epstein sexually abused young girls and women at those properties, and that his misdeeds were abetted by a number of conspirators, none of whom has ever been charged. Berman had refused to release him on bail because of his potential threat to girls if released. Federal prosecutors in Miami in 2007 reached a nonprosecution deal with Epstein that allowed him to escape potentially serious federal charges in exchange for pleading guilty to less serious state charges related to prostitution, for which he served 13 months in jail. Weeks before his death, Epstein was found semiconscious in his cell in the Manhattan Correctional Center with marks on his neck. That incident led to him being placed on suicide watch, but he was taken off of that status about a week later. Epstein’s connections, vast wealth and the prior incident in the jail led to a rash of speculation about whether he was killed in his jail cell, and did not commit suicide. “There are conspiracy theories galore,” Weingarten noted Tuesday. Weingarten also pointed out that “we’ve heard that” the surveillance video at the jail around Epstein’s cell “were either corrupted or not functioning.” Weingarten also said of conditions in the jail: “In a word, they were dreadful.” He said there was vermin, standing water and lack of natural light at the facility. Epstein’s other lawyer, Weinberg, called the MCC’s conditions “horrific” and “medieval.” The warden of the MCC was transferred out of his post on the heels of Epstein’s death, and two guards were placed on leave.

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FBI probing if Jeffrey Epstein's death was the result of a 'criminal enterprise,' prisons chief says
CNBC

URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/jeffrey ... ation.html
Category: Crime
Published: November 19, 2019

Description: The FBI is investigating whether a "criminal enterprise" played a role in the controversial jailhouse death of well-connected sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, the head of the federal prison system told a Senate committee Tuesday. But Bureau of Prisons Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer also testified that there is "no indication, from anything I know," that the wealthy investor's demise on Aug. 10 "was anything other than a suicide." At the time Epstein died, the former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton was awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges. The FBI did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Sawyer's spokeswoman Kristie Breshears later told CNBC that, "When the Director referenced 'criminal enterprise', she was merely mirroring the language Senator [Lindsey] Graham used" in asking Sawyer whether the FBI was eyeing such an enterprise. "She was referring to looking into possible criminal conduct by staff," Breshears said. Sawyer's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee came on the same day that two guards from a Manhattan jail operated by the BOP were criminally charged with falsifying official records to cover up the fact that they never conducted mandated safety checks on Epstein and other inmates in the hours before he was found unresponsive with a noose around his neck in his cell. Those guards, Michael Thomas and Tova Noel, allegedly browsed the internet and appeared to have been asleep for about two hours during the time that they were supposed to be making sure that Epstein was alive and accounted for. Sawyer said Epstein's death is the one incident involving the BOP that has "probably gotten the most public attention." "This incident was a black eye on the entire Bureau of Prisons," said Sawyer, who became the agency's director less than two weeks after Epstein died. The New York City medical examiner's office has ruled Epstein's death was a suicide by hanging. But Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Epstein's brother, has said that the injuries found on Epstein's neck were more consistent with those found in homicides. That view has fueled conspiracy theories about Epstein's death, as have his connections to numerous rich, powerful and high-profile people, such as L Brands' Les Wexner, Microsoft's Bill Gates and Britain's Prince Andrew. During Tuesday's hearing, one senator underscored to the prisons boss how skeptical many people are about the official ruling that Epstein killed himself. "Christmas ornaments, drywall and Jerry Epstein. Name three things that don't hang themselves," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., flubbing Epstein's first name. "That's what the American people think. And they deserve some answers," Kennedy said. Graham, R-S.C., asked Sawyer about the probes into the incident, which are being conducted by the FBI and the BOP's Office of Inspector General. "With a case this high profile, there has got to be either a major malfunction of the system or a criminal enterprise afoot to allow this to happen," Graham said. "So are you looking at both? Is the FBI looking at both?" Graham asked. Sawyer answered, "The FBI is involved, and they are looking at criminal enterprise, yes." "I have received no information from the FBI investigation yet," she later said. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said it was "disgraceful" that Epstein died while in federal custody before getting an opportunity to testify about other influential men who might have been involved in his crimes. Epstein "was a pedophile, he was a sexual predator who preyed on young girls, Cruz said. "There were powerful men that wanted Jeffrey Epstein silenced." "As I see it there are two, and only two possibilities for what happened with Jeffrey Epstein," Cruz added. "No. 1, there was gross negligence and a total failure of BOP to do its job with a prisoner on suicide watch that led to Epstein's committing suicide." "Or No. 2, something far worse happened," Cruz said. "That it was not suicide but rather a homicide carried out by a person or persons who wanted Epstein silenced. Either one of those is completely unacceptable. Both of those are profound indictments of BOP and our federal incarceration system." He then asked Sawyer if there was any indication that Epstein was the victim of a homicide. "Based on the evidence that I am aware? No," Sawyer answered. Weeks before his death, the 66-year-old Epstein was found semiconscious on the floor of his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center with marks on his neck. He was placed on suicide watch after that incident for 24 hours, and then put under psychological watch for less than a week. Epstein had been arrested in July after arriving at a northern New Jersey airport on a private plane from France. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged him with the trafficking of dozens of underage girls to be sexually abused by him from 2002 through 2005 at his huge townhouse on the Upper East Side, and at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. He had pleaded not guilty in the case. The arrest came six months after The Miami Herald published stories detailing how a number of women who claimed to have been abused by Epstein were not informed of a nonprosecution agreement that he negotiated with federal prosecutors in Miami in 2007. Under that agreement, Epstein agreed to plead guilty to relatively minor state charges in Florida, which included paying an underage girl for sexual services. In that earlier case, Epstein served 13 months in jail, but was out on work release for much of that sentence. He also had to register as a sex offender. Epstein's plea deal occurred while Alex Acosta was U.S. attorney in southern Florida. Acosta went on to become Trump's Labor secretary and resigned from that position days after Epstein was arrested in July.

[smix]

Investigators scrutinizing video outside Epstein’s cell find some footage unusable, according to people familiar with the inquiry
The Washington Post

URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html
Category: Crime
Published: August 26, 2019

Description: At least one camera in the hallway outside the cell where authorities say registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself earlier this month had footage that is unusable, although other, clearer footage was captured in the area, according to three people briefed on the evidence gathered earlier this month. It was not immediately clear why some video footage outside Epstein’s cell is too flawed for investigators to use or what is visible in the usable footage. The incident is being investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office, which are attempting to determine what happened and how to assess whether any policies were violated or crimes committed.

The footage is considered critical to those inquiries, and the revelation of an unusable recording is yet another of the apparent failures inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the short-staffed Bureau of Prisons facility in downtown Manhattan that held Epstein. It’s unclear whether the flaw in the taping affected a limited duration of the footage or whether it was a chronic problem in the beleaguered Manhattan facility. A Bureau of Prisons spokesman declined to comment, as did spokespeople for the FBI, the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan. The people who spoke about the footage did so on the condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing probe. Epstein, a well-connected financier, had been charged in early July with sexually abusing dozens of young girls in the early 2000s and ordered held without bond. The arrest brought a sense of long-awaited justice to those who alleged Epstein abused them and who had earlier been dismayed by a 2008 plea deal he received to resolve similar allegations that was widely criticized as too lenient. That deal allowed Epstein to plead guilty to two state charges and spend just 13 months in jail, with work release privileges. The new charges could have resulted in a prison term of as much as 45 years. But on Aug. 10, the 66-year-old was found hanging in his cell. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. His death was ruled a suicide. Prosecutors have since moved to drop the charges against Epstein — although they continue to investigate those who might have conspired with him. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to consider the matter and has indicated that those who say Epstein victimized them will be allowed to speak in court. Meanwhile, there has been intense scrutiny of the federal facility where he was held, which did not follow its protocol in the handling of Epstein in several ways, officials have said. Epstein should have been checked on every 30 minutes in the jail’s special housing unit, though it had been several hours since the last check when he was discovered as staff members delivered breakfast. Investigators are exploring whether logs were falsified to indicate checks had occurred when they had not, a person familiar with the matter said. The two officers on duty when Epstein apparently hanged himself were both working overtime — one forced, the other voluntarily, officials have said. One did not normally work as a corrections officer, though he had in the past and was allowed to do so, officials have said. Epstein also was supposed to have a roommate, following a July 23 incident in which he was found on the floor of his cell with marks on his neck. Authorities suspected he had attempted suicide; Epstein said he believed he had been attacked. He was placed on suicide watch for about a week after that — meaning he was monitored 24-7. He was placed back in the jail’s special housing unit late in the month and, for a time, had a new roommate. But that person was transferred the day before Epstein’s death, and a new roommate was not assigned — despite the fact that at least eight jail officials knew Epstein was not to be left alone in his cell. New York’s chief medical examiner, Barbara Sampson, ruled Epstein’s cause of death a suicide on Aug. 16. The ruling came five days after the medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy and classified the cause of death as pending while seeking additional information. The pathologist’s autopsy found Epstein suffered fractures in his neck bones, according to two people familiar with the findings. Among the breaks in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone, which in men is near the Adam’s apple. Such breaks can occur in those who hang themselves, according to forensics experts and studies on the subject. But they are typical in victims of homicide by strangulation, experts told The Post. Experts also caution that such a break must be viewed in the context of the findings of a full autopsy to draw a conclusion about a cause of death. The hyoid bone becomes more brittle and is easier to break as people age. Epstein was 66. Law enforcement officials have said they believe Epstein killed himself. Lawyers for Epstein and his family had questioned Sampson’s ruling of suicide and the thoroughness of the investigation into Epstein’s death. “The defense team fully intends to conduct its own independent and complete investigation into the circumstances and cause of Mr. Epstein’s death including if necessary legal action to view the pivotal videos — if they exist as they should — of the area proximate to Mr. Epstein’s cell during the time period leading to his death,” the lawyers said in an Aug. 16 statement. “We are not satisfied with the conclusions of the medical examiner.”

[smix]

Forensic Investigator: Jeffrey Epstein’s Autopsy More Consistent with Homicide
National Review

URL: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/for ... -homicide/
Category: Crime
Published: October 30, 2019

Description: Financier and convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein — whose death was ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner’s office — was likely murdered, famed forensic pathologist and Fox News contributor Dr. Michael Baden said on Fox & Friends this morning after examining Epstein’s body. “I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case,” he said of the particular fractures found on Epstein’s neck. Epstein was found hanging in his Manhattan prison cell on August 10 and was later declared dead. After rampant speculation, New York’s chief medical examiner Barbara Sampson cautioned against taking details out of context. “In all forensic investigations, all information must be synthesized to determine the cause and manner of death. Everything must be consistent; no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum,” Sampson said on August 15. But Baden’s opinion on autopsy — especially of the combination of fractures in Epstein’s neck — raised a number of key questions about Epstein’s cause of death. “Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,” Baden said. Baden, who has worked on multiple high-profile cases and has examined over 20,000 bodies over a five-decade career, was hired by Epstein’s brother to attend the official autopsy. Baden revealed that at the time of the autopsy, the doctor overseeing the procedure “didn’t think there was enough information to say suicide,” and initially put the status of the case to “pending further study,” before changing it and publicly releasing the suicide ruling. Baden also said that any potential DNA under Epstein’s fingernails, as well as on the sheets used to strangle him, has not yet been released. “It appears that this could have been a mistake,” Baden said. “There’s evidence here of homicide that should be investigated, to see if it is or isn’t homicide.”
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Update 3:00 p.m.: New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson defended her “suicide” determination in the Epstein case. “We continue to share information around the medical investigation with Mr. Epstein’s family, their representatives, and their pathology consultant,” Sampson said. “The original medical investigation was thorough and complete. There is no reason for a second medical investigation by our office.”