Overview

Jeffrey Epstein Sex Trafficking Case refers to the indictment of billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested in early July 2019 on charges related to sex trafficking minors in New York and Florida. On August 10th, 2019, Epstein was found dead in prison of an apparent suicide by hanging.

Background

In February 2008, an unidentified woman filed a suit against Epstein claiming he paid $200 to have intercourse with her when she was 16-years-old. The lawsuit was later dismissed.

In April 2016, an unidentified woman filed a federal lawsuit against Epstein and Donald Trump for allegedly molesting her at multiple parties at Epstein's apartment in New York City when she was 13 years old. The following month, a federal judge dismissed the suit.

On April 16th, 2019, Epstein was accused by Maria Farmer of sexually assaulting her and her then-underage sister in 1996. Additionally, the affidavit accused Epstein of flying her sister to New Mexico where she was allegedly sexually assaulted another time. On July 6th, Epstein was arrested in New Jersey for sex trafficking of minors.

Developments

Epstein Island Drone Footage

On July 10th, YouTuber Rusty Shackleford^[5] began uploading aerial video footage recording over Epstein's private island in Little St. James (shown below). Over the next two weeks, the channel received more than 1.4 million views.

On July 23rd, a post was submitted to the /pol/ board on 4chan,^[2] which speculated that John McAffee was responsible for posting the footage. On July 15th, The Daily Dot^[3] published an article about the conspiracy theory.

Donald Trump Video

On July 17th, 2019, MSNBC aired video footage showing Donald Trump conversing with Epstein at a party in 1992 (shown below).

Jail Cell Injury

On July 24th, 2019, NBC New York^[1] reported that Epstein was found "semi-conscious on the floor with marks on his neck" according to NBC New York. That day, the hashtag #ClintonBodyCount^[4] began trending on Twitter, along with messages promoting a conspiracy theory that Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in Epstein's injury, possibly due to a failed assassination attempt.

Death

On August 10th, 2019, officials reported that Epstein was found dead after hanging himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

That day, a thread about Epstein's death was submitted to 4chan's /pol/^[6] board, where many conspiracy theorists chimed in with speculation that Epstein was assassinated. Meanwhile, news stories about the suicide reached the front page of the /r/news,^[7] /r/The_Donald^[8] and /r/conspiracy^[9] subreddits.

4chan Post

On August 13th, 2019, BuzzFeed^[10] reported that information about Epstein's death appeared on 4chan 40 minutes prior to an official announcement. The New York Fire Department had since looked into the matter. A spokesperson responded to questioning, "An investigation is a formal act which brings about a process which includes interviewing witnesses, serving notice, determining credibility of witness statements -- and that was not warranted nor did it take place here. This determination was made after a review of the incident. We looked at the information provided by [a BuzzFeed News] reporter and we looked at our own records and there was no match."

At 8:16 a.m. on the morning of Epstein's death, an anonymous user wrote, "[D]ont ask me how I know, but Epstein died an hour ago from hanging, cardiac arrest. Screencap this" (shown below, left).

Further posts about his death, which included somewhat detailed account of how Epstein was treated, were met with skeptism by doctors. BuzzFeed spoke to Dr. Keith Wesley, who has authored numerous EMS text books and articles. He said, "This sounds like standard American Heart Association guidelines, which most EMS agencies use."

Project Veritas ABC News Cover Up

On November 5th, 2019, conservative organization Project Veritas leaked a video of ABC News anchor Amy Robach discussing the Jeffrey Epstein case saying she had evidence from Virginia Giuffre for the last three years but ABC News spiked the exposé due to threats from the Queen (shown bellow). The video garnered over 743,700 views and 45,000 likes in a day.

That day, Twitter user @ToddSeavey^[11] tweeted, "ABC nixed stories about Disney (accused of hiring pedophiles) and the Kennedy family (pals of ABC News prez Roone Arledge) while I worked there, so this leaked video of an ABC anchor saying they spiked her Epstein story for three years is no surprise" (shown below, left). Twitter user @strawberryTrav^[12] gained over 2,600 likes for tweeting, "let me reiterate this ABC news and other major news corps had the Epstein story for….3…whole….years… did absolutely nothing and the QUEEN threatened them what the fuck #EpsteinCoverup" (shown below, right). The Daily Beast^[13] published a statement from the ABC news anchor

"In a statement issued after the footage was made public Tuesday, Robach said she her comments were made in 'a private moment of frustration. I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because we could not obtain corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations' regarding Epstein, Prince Andrew, and Clinton. She added that in the years since the 2015 interview 'no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story.'"

Jeffrey Epstein's Body Photos

On January 5th, 2020, CBS' 60 Minutes^[14] broadcasted new photos of Jeffrey Epstein's dead body and his cell following the night of his death. The autopsy photos revealed that Epstein's hyoid bone was broken in three places. In an interview with CBS, former New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Baden said that such fracture was not common in suicidal hangings and that such breakage is more typical for the victims of strangulation.

First Suicide Attempt Video Erased

On January 9th, 2020, federal prosecutors revealed in a court filing that the surveillance footage of the Jeffrey Epstein's first suicide attempt on July 23 had been destroyed.^[15][16] According to the filing, the Metropolitan Correctional Center archived footage from outside the wrong cell, while the copy of the footage from the backup system "no longer exists since at least August 2019 as a result of technical errors."

After reviewing the video, it appeared to the Government that the footage contained on the preserved video was for the correct date and time, but captured a different tier than the one where Cell-1 was located because the preserved video did not show corrections officers responding to any of the cells seen in the video. After speaking with MCC legal counsel, the Government was informed that the MCC computer system listed a different, incorrect cell for Tartaglione ("Cell-2").[…]
The Government understands from speaking with MCC legal counsel that there was a backup system in place that housed all video for the Special Housing Unit, including the video requested by the defense counsel. The Government further understands from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that it has reviewed that backup system as a part f an unrelated investigation and determined that the requestion video no longer exits on the backup system and has not since at least August 2019 as a result of technical errors.

Search Interest

External References