(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Jeffrey Epstein in his short life
managed to become both one of the most
respected businessmen, and reviled people
in the entire world.
His life was filled with many different
types of good and evil.
Some would say that Epstein
was the equivalent of the devil himself.
Everything about the man remains a bit of a mystery,
but with every shovel full of dirt
used to uncover his secrets,
the picture gets grimmer and more disturbing.
It's time to take a look behind the facade.
Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American financier
and also a convicted sex offender.
He began his professional life as an educator,
but then switched to the banking and finance sector
where he assumed various roles.
Epstein developed an elite social circle,
and with that formation he would procure women
and many underage girls who were then sexually abused
by Epstein, along with some of his contacts.
In the year 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida
began investigating Epstein after a parent complained
that Epstein had sexually abused
her then 14 year old daughter.
Epstein pleaded guilty, and was convicted in 2008
by a Florida state court of soliciting a prostitute
and acquiring an underage girl for prostitution.
Upon his arrest, he served over a year in custody,
but with extensive work release.
Even though federal officials
had in fact identified 36 girls,
some as young as 14 years old, whom he had sexually abused,
Epstein was convicted of only the aforementioned two crimes,
as part of a plea deal.
Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019
on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors
in both New York and Florida.
Epstein died in his jail cell on August 10, 2019.
The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.
Epstein's lawyers disputed the ruling,
because his death eliminates the ability
to further pursue criminal charges.
As a result, a judge dismissed all criminal charges
on August 29, 2019.
So who was this man?
How did he come to power, and why did it take so long
for him to get his just desserts?
Epstein was born back in the year 1953
in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents
by the names of Pauline and Seymour G. Epstein.
His parents got married in 1952, shortly before his birth.
Prior to his birth, his mother Pauline
worked as a school aide and was a homemaker.
His father Seymour Epstein worked
for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
as a groundskeeper and gardener.
Jeffrey Epstein was the eldest of two siblings.
He and his brother Mark grew up
in the middle class neighborhood of Sea Gate,
located in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn.
Epstein attended Public School 118,
and then Mark Twain Junior High School,
which was located close by.
In 1967, Epstein attended the National Music Camp
at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.
He was blessed with musical talent,
and learned to play the piano when he was five.
He graduated in the year 1969 from Lafayette High School
at the age of 16, having skipped two grades.
Later that same year, he attended classes at Cooper Union
until he switched colleges in 1971.
From 1971, he attended
the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
at New York University, but he left
before receiving a degree in June 1974.
In September 1974, Epstein began work
as a mathematics and physics teacher for teens
at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
He was given a job by Donald Barr,
who was the father of US Attorney General William Barr.
Epstein taught at the exclusive private school
beginning in the fall of 1974.
He was dismissed from his duties there
in June 1976 for reasons of poor performance.
While he was teaching at the school,
Epstein became acquainted with Alan Greenberg,
the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns.
Greenberg's son and daughter were at that time
enrolled in classes there.
Greenberg's daughter, now named Lynne Koeppel,
remembers a parent-teacher conference there
in which Epstein influenced another Dalton parent
into advocating for him to Greenberg.
Greenberg was impressed with Epstein's intelligence,
and drive for financial success.
Thus he offered him a job at Bear Stearns,
where he learned the ins and outs of trade and finance
on Wall Street in New York City.
Epstein joined the financial firm in 1976
as a low level junior assistant to a floor trader.
He moved up quickly to become an options trader,
working within the special products division,
where he was taxed with advising
the bank's wealthiest clients,
such as Seagram president Edgar Bronfman
on tax mitigation strategies.
The bank's later chief executive officer, Jimmy Kane,
spoke highly of Epstein's skill with complex products,
and of course, wealthy clients.
In 1980, four years after he joined Bear Stearns,
Epstein climbed the corporate ladder high enough
to be promoted to the position of a limited partner.
In 1981, he was asked to vacate Bear Stearns
for, according to his sworn testimony,
being guilty of Reg D violations,
which are noted as brief notice,
which includes company information
such as the names and addresses of the company's
executive officers and stock promoters.
But little other information about the company itself.
Even though Epstein left abruptly,
he remained close to Kane and Greenberg,
and was a client of Bear Stearns
until it eventually collapsed in 2008.
Once free of the company that helped him
assert and insert himself into the financial world,
Epstein founded his own consulting firm,
IAG, the Intercontinental Assets Group Incorporated
in August of 1981.
Ironically, Epstein's new company
assisted clients in recovering stolen money
from fraudulent brokers and lawyers.
Epstein would go on to describe his work at IAG
as being a high level bounty hunter.
He bragged to friends that he had sometimes worked
as a consultant for governments, and for the very wealthy,
to recover their embezzled funds,
and at other times he would brag that he worked for clients
who they themselves had embezzled funds.
Epstein also boasted to some people that during this time,
he was an intelligence agent.
Whether this statement was honest and truthful
is anything but clear.
During the '80s, Epstein possessed an Austrian passport
that had his photo along with a false name.
The passport showed his home as being in Saudi Arabia.
Investigative journalist Vicky Ward was told in 2017
by a former senior White House official
that US Florida District Attorney Alexander Acosta,
who handled Epstein's criminal case in 2008,
said to Trump transition interviewers,
"I was told Epstein belonged to intelligence,
"and to leave it alone,
"and that Epstein was above his pay grade."
During this time, one of Epstein's clients
was the Saudi Arabian businessman named Adnan Khashoggi,
who served as the middleman in transferring American weapons
from Israel to Iran as part of
the Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s.
Khashoggi was one of the several defense contractors
that Epstein knew.
Around the mid 1980s, Epstein traveled multiple times
between the United States, Europe, and Southwest Asia.
While in London, Epstein met a man
by the name of Steven Hoffenberg.
Steven Hoffenberg gave Epstein a job in 1987 as a consultant
for a company named Tower Financial Corporation.
TFC served as a collection agency
which bought debts people owed
to banks, hospitals, and phone companies.
Hoffenberg set Epstein up with several offices
in the Villard House, and paid him $25,000 per month
for his consulting work.
Their nefarious ways didn't last very long,
as in 1993, Tower Financial Corporation imploded on itself
as being one of the biggest
Ponzi schemes in American history.
TFC lost its investors over 450 million dollars.
In court documents, Hoffenberg, as most snakes do,
turned on Epstein, claiming that Epstein
was intimately involved in the scheme.
Epstein vacated the company by 1989,
before it collapsed,
and was never charged for being involved
with the massive investor fraud committed.
To date, it is unknown if Epstein acquired any stolen funds
from the Tower Ponzi scheme.
Then in 1988, while Epstein was still consulting
for Hoffenberg, he founded his own
financial management firm entitled J. Epstein and Company.
Epstein stated that the company was formed
as a means to manage the assets of clients
who were more than one billion dollars in net worth.
The only billionaire client of Epstein
who was publicly known was Leslie Wexner,
chairman and chief executive officer of L Brands,
formerly The Limited Inc. and Victoria's Secret.
Epstein met Wexner in 1986
through their mutual acquaintances,
insurance executive Robert Meister
and his wife in Palm Beach, Florida.
12 months later, Epstein became Wexner's financial adviser
and served as his right hand man.
Within the year, Epstein had successfully helped to sort out
Wexner's entangled finances, and in July 1991,
Wexner granted Epstein full power of attorney,
which allowed Epstein to hire people, borrow money,
sign checks, buy and sell properties,
and do anything else that was of
a legally binding nature on Wexner's behalf.
By 1995, Epstein was a director of the Wexner Foundation,
and Wexner Heritage Foundation.
He was also the president of Wexner's Property,
which developed the town of New Albany
outside Columbus, Ohio, where Wexner lived.
Epstein garnered himself millions in fees
by managing Wexner's financial affairs.
In 1996, Epstein changed the name of his firm
to the Financial Trust Company,
and for tax advantages, based it on the island
of Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
The islands acted as an offshore tax haven,
while at the same time, offered the advantages
of being part of the United States banking system.
Years later, between 2002 and 2005,
Epstein invested 18 million dollars
in the D.B. Zwirn Special Opportunities Hedge Fund.
In November 2006, Epstein,
while under federal investigation for sex crimes,
attempted to redeem his investment
after he became aware
of accounting irregularities in the fund.
During this time, his investment had grown
to 140 million dollars.
Zwirn refused to redeem the investment,
as there was worry that Epstein's redemption
could cause a run on the bank at the hedge fund.
The government began to negotiate with Epstein
for a plea agreement, as the hedge fund started to collapse.
The fund's collapse would go on
to trigger the Great Recession,
and in the process, lose Epstein millions.
In March 2005, a woman contacted
Florida's Palm Beach Police Department
and claimed that her 14 year old stepdaughter
had been taken to Epstein's mansion by an older girl.
While there, she was allegedly
paid $300 to strip and massage Epstein.
As a result of these horrid allegations,
police began a 13 month undercover investigation of Epstein,
including a search of his house.
The FBI also became involved.
In due course, the police alleged that Epstein
had paid several girls to perform sexual acts with him.
Interviews with five of the alleged victims
and 17 witnesses under oath,
a high school transcript, and other items
found in Epstein's trash and home
allegedly showed that some of the girls involved
were under 18, the youngest being 14,
with many others under 16.
The authorities' search of Epstein's home
found two hidden cameras, and large quantities
of photos of girls throughout the house.
The police had even interviewed some of the girls pictured
during the course of their investigation.
A former employee told the police that Epstein
had been the recipient of massages
at least three times a day.
Eventually, the FBI compiled reports on 34 confirmed minors
who were eligible for reparations,
whose allegations of sexual abuse by Epstein
included many corroborating details.
Julie Brown's 2018 expose in the Miami Herald
identified about 80 victims,
and went on to locate about 60 of them.
Some of the truly horrific details uncovered
during the investigation included allegations
that 12 year old triplets were flown in
from France for Epstein's birthday,
and flown back the following day,
after being sexually abused by the financier.
It was alleged that the young girls were recruited
from Brazil and other South American countries,
former Soviet countries in Europe,
and that Jean-Luc Brunel's MC2 modeling agency
was also supplying girls to Epstein.
In May 2006, Palm Beach police
filed a probable cause affidavit stating that Epstein
should be charged with four counts
of unlawful sex with minors, and one count of sexual abuse.
After press reports surfaced that Epstein would be charged
with one count of aggravated assault
with no intent to commit a felony,
Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter,
who was instrumental in bringing in the FBI,
accused the Palm Beach County State Prosecutor
Barry Krischer of being too lenient on Epstein.
Krischer then convened a Palm Beach County Grand Jury,
a practice which was usually only done in capital cases.
Presenting evidence from only two victims,
the grand jury ended up returning
only a single charge of felony solicitation of prostitution
to which Epstein pleaded not guilty to in August 2006.
However, during July 2006,
the FBI began its own investigation of Epstein,
which was nicknamed Operation Leap Year.
It resulted in a 53 page indictment in June 2007
that was never presented to a grand jury.
Alexander Acosta then the US Attorney
for the Southern District of Florida,
agreed to a plea deal,
which Epstein's attorney Alan Dershowitz helped to negotiate
to grant Epstein from immunity
from all federal criminal charges,
along with four named co-conspirators,
and any unnamed potential co-conspirators.
The Miami Herald reported that the non-prosecution agreement
essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe
into whether there were more victims,
and other powerful people,
who took part in Epstein's sex crimes.
Florida DA Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal
because he was informed
that Epstein belongs to intelligence,
that he was above his pay grade, and to leave it alone.
Epstein agreed to plead guilty in Florida State Court
to two felony prostitution charges,
registered as sex offender,
and paid restitution to three dozen victims
identified by the FBI.
The plea deal was later called a sweetheart deal.
Later on, a federal judge found that the prosecutors
had violated the victims' rights.
On June 30, 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty
to one of the two state charges
of procuring for prostitution
from a girl who was below the age of 18.
Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
While most convicted sex offenders in Florida
are sent to state prison, Epstein was instead
housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade.
According to the Sheriff's Office,
after three and a half months,
Epstein was allowed to leave the jail on work release
for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.
This disobeyed the sheriff's own policies
requiring a maximum remaining sentence of 10 months,
and making sex offenders ineligible for the privilege.
Epstein's sentence was a far cry from punishment.
His cell door was left unlocked, and he had access
to the attorney room,
where a television was installed for him
before he was moved to the stockade's
previously unstaffed infirmary.
Epstein worked at the office of a foundation he had created
before reporting to jail.
This foundation was dissolved after he had served his time.
While serving his sentence,
the Sheriff's Office received $128,000
from Epstein's nonprofit to cover the costs
of extra services that were being provided
during his work release.
His office was monitored by permit deputies,
whose overtime was paid by Epstein.
These deputies were required to wear suits,
and checked in welcomed guests at the front desk.
Later the Sheriff's Office said these guest logs
were destroyed as per the department's
records retention rules.
Epstein was also allowed to use his own driver
to drive him between jail and his office,
and other appointments.
In the end, Epstein served almost 13 months
before being released for a year of probation.
He was placed on house arrest until August 2010.
While on probation, he was allowed numerous trips
on his corporate jet to his residences
in Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands.
He was allowed long shopping trips,
and to walk around Palm Beach for exercise.
After a contested hearing in January 2011,
and an appeal, he stayed registered in New York State
as a level three sex offender,
meaning that he was considered
a high risk of repeat offense.
This status would be a lifelong designation.
Since he was in a maelstrom of trouble,
Epstein opted to capitalize
on the deviant ways of his clients and acquaintances
to line his pockets with whatever monies could be generated.
It was during this time that Epstein installed
concealed cameras in various places on his properties
as a means to record sexual activity with underage girls
by prominent people for criminal purposes,
such as blackmail.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's close companion,
told a friend that Epstein's private island
in the Virgin Islands was completely wired for video,
and the friend believed that Maxwell and Epstein
were videotaping everyone on the island
as an insurance policy.
Epstein's mansion in New York was said
to be wired extensively with a video surveillance system.
Epstein allegedly lent girls to powerful people
to ingratiate himself with them,
and also to gain possible blackmail information.
According to the Department of Justice,
Epstein kept a cache of compact discs locked in his safe
in his New York mansion with handwritten labels
that included the description,
young girl's name, plus the client's name.
Epstein partially confirmed that he had blackmail material
when he, off the record,
told a New York Times reporter in 2018,
that he had dirt on powerful people,
including information regarding their sexual tendencies
and recreational drug use.
Years had passed, but just like a leopard,
an animal's spots cannot be changed.
On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested
at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey
on sex trafficking charges.
He was jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center
in New York City, which has held prisoners
such as John Gotti, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman,
and Paul Manafort.
According to witnesses and sources
on the day of Epstein's arrest,
about a dozen FBI agents forced open the door
to his Manhattan townhouse with readied search warrants.
The search of his townhouse
turned up evidence of sex trafficking,
and also found hundreds,
and perhaps thousands of sexually suggestive photographs
of fully or partially nude females.
Some of the images were confirmed
as those of underage females.
In a locked safe, compact discs were found
with handwritten labels
with various incriminating descriptions.
Also found in the safe was $70,000 in cash,
48 diamonds, and a fraudulent Austrian passport
which expired in 1987.
The passport had numerous entrance and exit stamps,
including entrance stamps that showed the use
of the passports to enter France, Spain,
the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.
On July 8, 2019, prosecutors with the
public corruption unit of the Southern District of New York,
charged Epstein with sex trafficking
and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex.
The grand jury indictment alleged
that literally dozens of underage girls
were brought into Epstein's mansions for sexual encounters.
Judge Kenneth Mara was then taxed to decide
whether the non-prosecution agreement
that protected Epstein from the more serious charges
should still stand.
Epstein's lawyers pleaded with the court
to allow Epstein to post bail.
They offered to post up to 600 million dollars in bond,
which included 100 million dollars from his brother Mark,
so he could leave jail and submit to house arrest
in his New York City mansion.
Thankfully, United States District Judge Richard M. Berman
denied the request on July the 18th,
saying that Epstein posed a danger to the public
and a serious flight risk to avoid prosecution.
The worm had begun to turn.
On July 23, 2019, Epstein was found
injured and semi-conscious at 1:30 a.m.
on the floor of his cell.
He had serious marks around his neck
that were suspected to be the result
of either a suicide attempt, or an assault.
His then cellmate,
former New York City police officer Nicholas Tartaglione,
who was charged with four counts of murder,
was questioned about Epstein's condition.
He denied having any knowledge of what happened.
Epstein himself said he recollected nothing.
According to NBC News, two sources
said that Epstein might have tried to hang himself.
A third said the injuries were not serious,
and could have been staged,
and a fourth source said that an assault by his cellmate
had not been ruled out.
After that incident, Epstein was placed on suicide watch.
Just six days later on July the 29th,
Epstein was taken off suicide watch
and placed in a special housing unit
with another inmate.
Epstein's close associates
referred to him as in good spirits.
The jail informed the Justice Department
when Epstein was placed in the special housing unit
that he would have a cellmate,
and that a guard would check in
on Epstein's cell every 30 minutes.
These procedures were not followed
on the night of his death.
On August the ninth, Epstein's cellmate was transferred out
and there was never a replacement cellmate brought in.
Later in the evening,
in violation of the jail's normal procedures,
Epstein was not checked every 30 minutes.
The two guards who were assigned
to check his jail unit that night
were said to have fallen asleep,
rendering them incapable
of checking in on him for about three hours.
It was revealed later
that the guards falsified related records.
Two cameras in front of Epstein's cell
were also said to have malfunctioned that night.
Epstein was found dead in his cell
at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City
at 6:30 a.m. EDT on August 10, 2019.
The Bureau of Prisons said life-saving measures
commenced immediately upon the discovery of Epstein's body.
Emergency responders were called in,
and he was rushed to a hospital.
On August the 10th, the Bureau of Prisons
and US Attorney General William Barr
called the death an apparent suicide,
although no final determination had been made.
Due to violations of normal jail procedures
on the night of his death,
such as the aforementioned
removal of his cellmate without a replacement,
the falling asleep of two guards
who were meant to check in on him,
the malfunction of two cameras in front of his cell,
along with Epstein's knowledge
of comprising information about famous people,
his death generated doubt about his apparent suicide,
and speculation immediately touched off
that he was murdered.
Before he died, Epstein was reportedly depositing funds
into other prisoners' accounts,
as a means to gain favor with them, or buy protection.
Days before his death, on August the eighth,
Jeffrey Epstein signed his last will and testament.
The signing of the will was witnessed
by two attorneys who knew him.
His will named two long time employees
as executors, and immediately gifted all of his assets,
and any assets remaining in his estate to a trust.
An autopsy of Epstein's body was conducted
on August the 11th by New York City's
Chief Medical Examiner, Barbara Sampson.
Epstein's lawyers also sent famed pathologist Michael Baden
to personally observe the city's autopsy.
Following the procedure, the medical examiner's office
reported that Epstein had indeed hung himself
using a sheet from his bed.
The preliminary result of the autopsy
concluded that Epstein had sustained
multiple breaks in his neck bones.
Among the bones broken in Epstein's neck was the hyoid bone.
Such breaks of the hyoid bone can occur
from those who hang themselves,
but they are more common
in victims of homicide by strangulation.
A 2010 study found broken hyoids
in 1/4 of cases of hangings,
and a larger study conducted from the year 2010 to 2016
found hyoid damage in just 16 of 264 cases.
This equates to just 6% of cases of hangings.
Hyoid bone breaks are more common in older individuals,
as bones become more brittle upon reaching middle age.
Forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht
noted that hanging by leaning forward
would not result in broken cervical bones.
Multiple studies have found different percentages
for both manners of death,
thus yielding any clear picture
of what transpired that night in his cell
the cause for much debate and speculation.
Epstein's estate independent pathologist Michael Baden,
who was at the examination, was unable to discuss the result
since, as of August 16th, he was bound by a gagging order
from the medical examiner's office, and Epstein's estate.
Epstein's lawyers released a joint statement
following the report of the medical examiner
expressing that they are not satisfied
with the results of the autopsy,
challenging the conclusions,
and saying that a more complete response
would be forthcoming.
Epstein's lawyers also indicated that the defense team
fully intends to continue its own independent
and complete investigation into the circumstances
and cause of their client's death.
This investigation would include taking legal action,
if necessary, to view the pivotal camera footage
near his cell during the night of his death.
Seemingly always waiting to throw his hat
into a three ring circus,
sitting United States President Donald Trump
responded to Epstein's death
by retweeting an unfounded conspiracy theory
from a user named Terrence K. Williams,
linking Epstein's death to former President Bill Clinton
and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
A spokesperson for the Clintons, Angel Urena tweeted,
"Ridiculous, and of course not true,
"and Donald Trump knows it."
White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway
defended Trump's retweet, saying on "Fox News Sunday"
that he wants everything to be investigated.
CNN host Jake Tapper later criticized Trump for the retweet,
saying, "The state of our union is appalled
"that Trump had used his massive Twitter platform
"to spread a deranged conspiracy theory."
Attorney General William Barr stated that he was appalled
by Epstein's death while being held in federal custody,
and that his untimely passing raises serious questions
that must be answered.
Barr then ordered an investigation
by the Justice Department's Inspector General,
in addition to the FBI investigation.
Senator Ben Sasse, chairman of the
United States Senate Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee
later wrote a letter to Barr saying,
"The Department of Justice failed."
He added, "Given Epstein's previous attempted suicide,
"he should've been locked in a padded room
"under unbroken 24/7 constant surveillance.
"Obviously, heads must roll."
"For them to pull him off suicide watch is shocking,"
said Cameron Lindsay, a former warden with experience
working at three federal facilities.
Lindsay went on to tell NBC News
"For someone this high profile, with these allegations,
"and this many victims who has had a suicide attempt
"in the last few weeks, you can take absolutely no chances.
"You leave him on suicide watch until he's out of there."
Federal prosecutors in the case
called Epstein's death disturbing,
and emphasized that they would continue to seek justice
for his accusers even after the financier's death.
Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney
for the Southern District of New York,
said in a statement, "To those brave young women
"who have already come forward, and to the many others
"who have yet to do so,
"let me reiterate that we remain committed
"to standing for you, and our investigation
"of the conduct charged in the indictment,
"which included a conspiracy count, remains ongoing."
Due to Epstein's removal from an earlier suicide watch,
violations of standard prison procedures,
and Epstein's knowledge of compromising information
about famous people, his death spawned skepticism
as well as multiple conspiracy theories.
A Rasmussen poll conducted in August of 2019
found that only 29% of American adults
believe Epstein actually committed suicide,
while 42% think he was murdered to prevent him
from testifying against powerful people
with whom he associated.
And the remaining 29% of people were undecided.
Before Epstein's death, several people publicly predicted
an untimely demise for Epstein in prison.
In a July the 27th interview, Bob Fitrakis,
a long time investigator into Epstein
said that he thought it was likely
that Epstein would be killed in prison.
Spencer Kuvin, a lawyer who represented
three alleged victims of Epstein,
stated in a July 2019 interview
following Epstein's first apparent suicide attempt
that he believed it was an attack on his life,
and stated, "There was a high probability
"that he would be murdered in prison."
At an August the 27th hearing,
Epstein defense attorney Reid Weingarten
expressed significant doubts that death was due to suicide.
According to Weingarten, when attorneys
met with their client shortly before his death,
"We did not see a despairing, despondent suicidal person."
Director of admissions
at Jackson Institute for Global Affairs,
and CNN commentator Asha Rangappa suggested,
inferring from the publicly available evidence,
that Epstein might have been able to bribe guards
to look the other way, thus allowing him to commit suicide.
Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore tweeted,
"I guess they think a country dumb enough to elect Trump
"is stupid enough to believe
"Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide."
Florida Senator Marco Rubio declared that Russian bots
were responsible for spreading
Epstein conspiracy theories online,
as a means to create their own narrative
and further divide the American public.
A spokesperson for Virginia Senator Mark Warner
went on to claim that spreading the conspiracy theories
was akin to doing Russia's dirty work for them.
On August 14, 2019, Manhattan Federal Court Judge
Richard M. Berman, who was overseeing
Epstein's criminal case,
wrote to the Metropolitan Correctional Center
Warden Lamine N'Diaye,
inquiring as to whether an investigation
into the millionaire's apparent suicide
would include a probe into his prior injuries
that Epstein had sustained on July the 23rd.
Judge Berman wrote that to his knowledge,
"It has never been definitely explained
"what they concluded about the incident."
The National President of the Council of Prison Locals C-33,
E.O. Young, stated that "Prisons can't ever stop anyone
"who is persistent on killing themselves."
Between the years 2010 and 2016, around 124 inmates
killed themselves while in federal custody.
That's around 20 prisoners per year,
out of an inmate population of 180,000.
The previous reported inmate suicide in the MCC facility
in Manhattan was conducted in 1998.
Young said it was unclear if there was video
of Epstein's hanging, or any direct observations
made by jail officials.
He said that, "While cameras are ubiquitous in the facility,
"he did not believe that the interior
"of inmates' cells were within their range."
Young went on to state that,
"Union officials had long been raising concerns
"regarding staffing, as the Trump administration
"had imposed a hiring freeze, and budget cuts on the BOP,"
adding, "All this was caused by the administration."
Serena Greg, the president of the
American Federation of Government Employees,
said that, "MCC is functioning with fewer than 70%
"of the needed correctional officers,
"forcing many to work mandatory overtime
"and 60 to 70 hour work weeks."
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
In previous congressional testimony,
Attorney General Barr admitted the BOP
was short about 4,000 to 5,000 employees.
He had lifted the freeze, and was working
to recruit sufficient new officers
to replace those who had departed.
Finally, the shades are raised.
While we may never know exactly what happened
inside of his cell on August 10, 2019,
there are several things which cannot be disputed.
First and foremost, there is no such thing
as sex with a minor.
It is rape, it is abuse, it is assault.
Of that, there is no doubt.
Epstein's reign of heinous activity and behavior
came, much like his life, to an extremely violent end,
but the torment and the scars which he left behind
will likely take many, many years to heal.
(dramatic music)