New batch of Epstein files released by DOJ
The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
This redacted photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows a desk, documented on July 6, 2019, during a search of Jeffrey Epstein's home in New York. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)
New documents released in the latest batch of Epstein files show that prosecutors struggled to process more than 1 million documents related to the case.
In an email correspondence from February 2020 to March 2020, an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York expressed frustration in trying to sift through the documents, which included electronic data from hard drives and devices.
“Notwithstanding their many promises to us about quick and effective processing of the 60+ devices they seized, the FBI is completely f------ us on this,” one email read.
Prosecutors explicitly warned that processing the documents would be a “total disaster” without an organizational system in place.
“We have also encountered some very significant problems in trying to review the more than 1 million documents we recently received,” another email stated.
According to the emails, prosecutors couldn’t tell which devices had been fully or partially processed, which files came from which devices and whether they had received duplicates or new material.
Other issues included emails separated from attachments, load files not linked to native files, mismatched control numbers and image files largely missing, according to the emails. There was also confusion about the descriptions of seized items on a spreadsheet not matching the items on the Epstein search warrants.
An image showing an Austrian passport that Jeffrey Epstein used in the 1980s under a false name, “Marius Robert Fortelni.” (Department of Justice)
The latest documents include a fake passport Jeffrey Epstein apparently used in the 1980s.
The passport appeared to be issued from Austria, with Epstein going by the name “Marius Robert Fortelni.” It listed Saudi Arabia as his place of residence.
In a 2019 letter to a federal judge over his detention on sex trafficking charges, Epstein’s lawyers justified Epstein’s use of a false identity.
“Eighth, as for the Austrian passport the government trumpets, it expired 32 years ago,” his attorneys said in the letter. “And the government offers nothing to suggest – and certainly no evidence – that Epstein ever used it.”
“In any case, Epstein – an affluent member of the Jewish faith – acquired the passport in the 1980s, when hijackings were prevalent, in connection to Middle East travel,” the letter continued. “The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnapers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur.”
Fox News' Bill Mears contributed to this report.
A photograph of an undated sign on orange paper that federal officials say was hung in the Special Housing Unit where Jeffrey Epstein was held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. (Department of Justice)
A jail sign calling for mandatory rounds on Jeffrey Epstein every 30 minutes at Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City was defaced, according to documents released by the Department of Justice.
A photograph of an undated sign on orange paper read, “MANADATORY ROUNDS MUST BE CONDUCTED EVERY 30 MINUTES ON EPSTEIN #76318-054 AS PER GOD!!!!”
The sign was pictured with the word “mandatory” misspelled and underlined with a red ink pen, and a question mark was added after it. It was signed “God.”
The sign was hung in the Special Housing Unit where Epstein was being held, according to the documents.
This undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)
The Epstein file dump includes a 2021 subpoena sent to Mar-a-Lago seeking records in the ongoing case against Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of sex trafficking and is in federal prison.
The document, dated Oct. 5, 2021, called for the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, to testify and give evidence in United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN).
It demanded “any and all employment records relating to” a subject whose name was redacted in the document.
President Donald Trump owns the Mar-a-Lago Club.
The subpoena was signed by then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, and an assistant U.S. attorney whose name was redacted.
Fox News' Bill Mears contributed to this report.
A 2020 memo from a federal prosecutor states that President Donald Trump was listed as a passenger on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane at least eight times in the mid-1990s. (Getty Images/File)
A 2020 memo from a federal prosecutor states that President Donald Trump was listed as a passenger on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane at least eight times in the mid-1990s.
The memo states that some of these flights happened “during the period we would expect to charge in a [Ghislaine] Maxwell case.”
“In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present,” the memo reads.
Trump was listed as having traveled with his then-wife Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric, according to the memo.
It states that on one flight in 1993, Trump and Epstein were the only two listed passengers. On another, the only three passengers were listed as Epstein, Trump and a then-20-year-old whose name was redacted in the released document.
Two passengers present on two other flights, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case, the memo stated.
The name of the federal prosecutor who wrote the memo is redacted from the document.
The Department of Justice on Tuesday released a new tranche of nearly 30,000 pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the DOJ wrote in a post on X. “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
The DOJ said is releasing the files out of a “commitment to the law and transparency.”
It added that the documents were released with the legally required protections for the victims of Epstein.
To access the latest Epstein files the DOJ has released, click here.
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