When the central goal of their investigation took his personal life in jail, federal investigators sought to widen their aperture into who else may need helped Jeffrey Epstein commit his crimes, in accordance with paperwork included within the Division of Justice’s release Friday.
The late intercourse offender and rich financier’s far-reaching net of affect, and his roster of staff, helped make doable each his lavish life-style and — allegedly — his intercourse trafficking scheme. Following Epstein’s jail cell suicide in August 2019, prosecutors redoubled their efforts to determine those that have been aware of, and enabling of, his abuse – and who they may doubtlessly cost.
4 months after Epstein’s demise, federal prosecutors laid out the proof and allegations they’d gathered in a confidential “prosecution memorandum” despatched to the then top-prosecutor in New York, U.S. Legal professional Geoffrey Berman – to investigate “the extent to which sure of Epstein’s associates and staff might or is probably not criminally liable for his or her conduct throughout their employment with Epstein.”
“Epstein created an unlimited community of underage victims — as younger as 14 — in areas together with New York and Palm Seaside,” the December 2019 memo states.
Paperwork that have been included within the U.S. Division of Justice launch of the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata are photographed, Jan. 2, 2026.
Jon Elswick/AP
“In creating and sustaining a community of minor victims whom he abused, Epstein labored with others, together with staff and associates who facilitated his exploitation of minors by, amongst different issues, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with Epstein, each in New York and in Florida,” the memo mentioned.
Prosecution memos are sometimes ready upfront of charging selections in federal circumstances to permit attorneys to evaluate internally the strengths and vulnerabilities of prison circumstances.
As investigators interviewed dozens of Epstein’s alleged victims in addition to his associates and former staff, a number of names stored popping up, together with Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein’s former govt assistant Lesley Groff, who allegedly helped schedule therapeutic massage appointments for ladies and minor ladies, in accordance with a number of folks interviewed within the investigation.
Prosecutors have been evaluating whether or not the authorized instruments and proof have been enough to cost any associates, together with Maxwell and Groff, they wrote within the memo. That authorized evaluation is sort of solely redacted.
Maxwell would finally be arrested in July 2020 for her position within the sexual exploitation scheme — the one particular person to have been charged apart from Epstein. She was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to twenty years. Groff has denied all wrongdoing.
An legal professional for Groff beforehand informed ABC Information that Groff “by no means knowingly booked journey for anybody beneath the age of 18, and had no data of the alleged criminality in any respect. Ms. Groff, a father or mother herself, is extremely shocked and deeply upset concerning the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein.”
The 86-page memo lays out particulars of interviews with greater than two dozen alleged victims in addition to potential topics of the prison investigation and their legal professionals. The names of all these alleging abuse are redacted within the doc.
Attorneys for Maxwell informed prosecutors in an October 2019 assembly that Maxwell denied ever hiring minors for massages and denied ever participating in intercourse acts with minors. Her attorneys additionally “defined their views of why the people making these claims [against Maxwell] weren’t credible,” the doc says.
One other Epstein affiliate, modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel, indicated he was unwilling to satisfy with prosecutors and would invoke the Fifth Modification if subpoenaed, in accordance with the memo. Brunel was later charged in France with intercourse crimes in opposition to minors. He died by suicide in his Paris jail cell in February 2022.
Different unredacted names within the prosecution memo belong to some on the highest echelons of finance, style, and Hollywood energy – with whom Epstein was recognized to rub elbows even after turning into a convicted intercourse offender.
The memo additionally particulars allegations made by an alleged Epstein sufferer of wrongdoing by two outstanding associates of Epstein — Wall Road billionaire Leon Black, and Jes Staley, Epstein’s former non-public banker at JP Morgan.
An legal professional for Black mentioned in a press release to ABC Information the claims have been a pack of lies.
“There may be completely no fact to any of the allegations in opposition to Mr. Black,” the legal professional mentioned.
A lawyer who has beforehand represented Staley in circumstances involving Epstein didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however Staley has beforehand acknowledged that he “deeply regrets” his relationship with Epstein.
DOJ officers have contended that lots of the allegations in opposition to outstanding figures weren’t corroborated or weren’t thought-about credible — and none of these males have been charged with crimes linked to Epstein.
“Look, we mentioned in July and it stays as true at present as in July, if we had info — which means the Division of Justice — about males who abused ladies, we might prosecute them,” Blanche informed reporters Friday.
“There may be this built-in assumption that in some way there’s a hidden tranche of knowledge of males that we learn about that we’re protecting up or that we’re selecting to not prosecute. That’s not the case,” Blanche mentioned. “I have no idea whether or not there are males on the market who abused these ladies, and if we study info and proof that permits us to prosecute them, you higher imagine we are going to. However I don’t suppose that the general public otherwise you all are going to uncover males throughout the Epstein recordsdata.”
