Epstein targeted in newly unearthed probe over suspicious $50m | US | News
Jeffrey Epstein spent more than half a decade under Drug Enforcement Administration scrutiny as part of an undercover investigation examining him and 14 of his associates for suspicious financial movements potentially tied to drug trafficking, according to reports in newly revealed Justice Department files.
“DEA reports indicate that the above individuals were involved in illegitimate wire transfers related to illegal drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City,” the 2015 document states. The 69-page memo, branded “law enforcement sensitive,” has been extensively edited; The identities and key investigative details of 14 common targets were extracted.
Reagan-era task force enlisted
The documents reportedly stemmed from DEA agents going to the Organized Crime Task Force Fusion Center in Virginia and requesting interagency intelligence on Epstein and others connected to an active criminal case.
The task force, created under Ronald Reagan to combat exploding cocaine imports, established the Virginia Fusion Center in 2009 as a center for interagency intelligence coordination.
Launching any DEA case requires proving the existence of a drug connection, a law enforcement source told CBS News, and the wiretap of the Fusion Center shows that investigators viewed it as a “major” operation rather than gathering basic information.
Case documents include a DEA reference number indicating that the case was filed in New York on December 17, 2010. The “judgment awaited” note in the 2015 memo reportedly confirms that the investigation is still ongoing five years after it was launched.
A law enforcement source told CBS News that this “judicial pending” designation generally means agents are seeking court permission for search warrants or similar investigative tools.
Another source suggested that this could indicate that someone connected to the case had already been arrested, but CBS reported that it could not determine which interpretation was correct due to the erasure of names in the document.
Sex trafficking prosecutors left in the dark
An entirely separate investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Manhattan in 2018 put Epstein behind bars at a downtown federal prison following his July 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking allegations.
Sources involved in this case told CBS that prosecutors were not aware of the previous DEA investigation.
Epstein remained in custody awaiting trial when he died in August 2019. Authorities determined that he took his own life.
International investigation network revealed
According to the report, DEA papers reveal numerous other investigations into Epstein connections that were not previously publicly disclosed; these include the Immigration and Customs Enforcement case in West Palm Beach from 2006 to 2008; a Las Vegas ICE investigation opened in 2009 that showed “pending” status as of January 27, 2010; Paris-based ICE operation called “Angel Watch”, which opened in June 2013 and was completed within months; plus an FBI investigation that began in 2006 and remained open as of 2015.
Banking information scattered throughout the document identifies Epstein-linked accounts in Switzerland, France, the Cayman Islands and New York, along with records of past law enforcement interactions.
Financial analysis tracked that nearly $50 million was transferred through suspicious wire transfers between 2010 and 2015, but the identities of the recipient and sender were redacted from records.
