possible co-conspirators, fake video and Trump trips

The U.S. Department of Justice released the latest and largest slice of the Jeffrey Epstein files on Tuesday.

More than 11,000 documents continue the flood of released information that began Friday, a deadline mandated by a new law requiring the department to make all investigative files on the dead pedophile and financier publicly available.

Most of the documents released Tuesday have been redacted with names and information redacted, including the names of people the FBI has named as possible accomplices in the Epstein case.

The justice department faces criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle over the amount of redaction the law says could be done, particularly to protect the identity of victims or active criminal investigations.

President Donald Trump’s name appeared more in these new documents than in previous versions. Many were media clippings mentioning him, but one notable email from a federal prosecutor showed Trump flying on Epstein’s jet.

The Justice Department said some of the files “contain untrue and sensational claims” about Trump.

Just because his name appears in the Epstein files does not mean there was wrongdoing. The BBC has requested comment from the people mentioned in our report.

Among the thousands of pages included in this latest release, an email sent in 2001 by a person identified as “A” stands out.

The message sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice and close associate, states that “A” is “at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family.”

“A” then asks Maxwell, who is sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for sex trafficking of minors and other crimes: “Have you found me any inappropriate new friends?”

In another email sent later the same day, Maxwell responded: “I’m so sorry to disappoint [sic] but the truth needs to be told. I could only find suitable friends.”

Email “A” was sent from abx17@dial.pipex.com with the sender’s name listed as “Invisible Man”.

An image from an earlier version of the Epstein files showed a different but similar email (aace@dial.pipex.com) listed in Epstein’s phone book under a contact titled “Duke of York.”

Another topic in the new dossier exchange between Maxwell and the “Invisible Man” is about an upcoming trip to Peru.

In October, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lost use of the title Duke of York following scrutiny over his links to Epstein.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said he “did not see, witness or suspect any conduct that would subsequently lead to such conduct.” [Epstein’s] Arrest and conviction”.

The BBC has contacted Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s team for a response.

The documents disclosed include emails between FBI personnel in 2019 that mention 10 possible “collaborators” of Epstein.

The emails stated that six of the 10 accomplices were served with subpoenas. Among them, three were in Florida, one in Boston, one in New York City and one in Connecticut.

When the emails were sent, four subpoenas, including one to a “wealthy businessman in Ohio,” had not yet been served.

Another email sent to FBI New York provides updated information on the co-conspirators. More than one name seems to be mentioned this time. Most of them were removed from the file.

Two names were not redacted – (Ghislaine) Maxwell and Wexner.

“I don’t know if Ohio has contacted Wexner,” one email reads.

The email likely refers to Former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, who had a public friendship with Epstein. In 2019, Wexner said he was “embarrassed” by his ties to the financier.

Wexner’s lawyers told BBC News: “The assistant US attorney in charge of the Epstein investigation stated at the time that Mr Wexner was neither an accomplice nor a target.”

“Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again,” they said.

Possible accomplices in Epstein’s crimes are the main focus of his victims and many lawmakers who are demanding more transparency from the Justice Department.

“There are potentially 10 co-conspirators that we know nothing about that the DOJ is investigating,” Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanyam told BBC News on Tuesday. he said.

Subramanyam, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, added that he was also “concerned” about the level of redactions that protect the names of lawyers and non-victims. Lawmakers in both parties have said they are examining legal options to push for more transparency.

The law, passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, states that redacting names and information that could be embarrassing or “disputable” is not allowed, and specifically calls for internal communications and memos from the justice department detailing who is being investigated and decisions “to charge, not indict, investigate, or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates.”

A letter included among the published documents attracted great attention on the internet. However, according to the justice ministry, this is fake.

The handwritten letter and envelope initially indicated that Epstein was writing to former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who spent decades in prison for sexually abusing young female athletes.

“As you know, I’ve now taken the ‘shortcut’ home. Good luck!” the fake letter states. “We shared one thing: our love and concern for young ladies and our hope that they would reach their full potential.”

The author signs it off: “Life’s not fair, Love, J. Epstein.”

The letter failed to be delivered and was sent back to the Manhattan jail where Epstein was held before his death.

The FBI was alerted to the returned letter and requested analysis of it. This request was also included in the published set of documents.

The justice ministry on Tuesday described the letter as fake and said there were some irregularities in the note and the envelope holding it.

“The article does not appear to match that of Jeffrey Epstein,” the justice department wrote to X.

“The return address did not list the prison where Epstein was being held and did not include the inmate number required for outgoing mail,” they added.

Authorities noted that the envelope bore a postmark from northern Virginia and stated that Epstein was detained in New York. It was also postmarked on August 13, 2019, three days after Epstein’s death.

The documents raised urgent questions even before the Justice Department announced that the document was fake.

The returner was listed as “J. Epstein” at “Manhattan Penitentiary”; however, the correct name of the now-closed prison was “Metropolitan Prison”.

The documents released Tuesday also include the FBI’s request for analysis.

An FBI lab request stated that in August 2019, a sender listed as “J. Epstein” at “Manhattan Correctional Facility” attempted to send a letter to “Larry Nassar, 9300 S. Wilmot Road, Tucson, Arizona, 85756,” the address of a federal prison.

Nassar is currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Trump’s name appears more frequently in these files than in any other set of documents released by the justice department.

A federal prosecutor in New York wrote in a January 2020 email that newly obtained flight records “reflect that Donald Trump traveled significantly more on Epstein’s private jet than previously reported (or that we knew).”

The recipient of the email has been edited.

Trump was listed as a passenger on “at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996,” and Ghislaine Maxwell was on at least four of those flights, the prosecutor wrote. Trump also “traveled at various times with Marla Maples, her daughter Tiffany, and her son Eric, among others,” it said.

Trump was previously married to Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, from 1993 to 1999.

The prosecutor also wrote that “on one flight in 1993, he and Epstein were the only two passengers listed; on another, the only three passengers were Epstein, Trump and the then-20-year-old,” and the name of the third passenger was redacted.

“Two of the passengers on the other two flights were women who could have been potential witnesses in the Maxwell case.”

The timing of the trips overlaps Years investigated by federal prosecutors Maxwell’s behavior and travels are part of the criminal case against him. He was eventually convicted of conspiring with Epstein to recruit and sexually abuse minors.

But throughout the files released Tuesday, many other mentions of Trump’s name appear only in press clippings that mention him, his campaigns and other news moments.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein.

In a statement accompanying Tuesday’s announcement, the Justice Department said the new files “contain false and sensational allegations against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI just before the 2020 election.”

“To be clear: the allegations are false and false, and if they had any credibility they would certainly have been weaponized against President Trump,” the justice department said.

One of the strange entries in Tuesday’s document presentation was a fake video showing an Epstein-like figure in a jail cell, raising questions about how it appears in the department’s official files.

Other documents showed that a man from Florida sent an email to federal investigators in March 2021 with a link to the video. He asked if it was real, but it wasn’t.

BBC Verify used reverse image search to find a copy of the video, which was uploaded to YouTube in October 2020. The user who posted the video said that the clip was created using 3D graphics.

According to a 2023 report from the Bureau of Prisons, no video footage exists from Epstein’s cell on the day he died.

The inclusion of the fake video in this press release offers a glimpse into the questions federal officials receive from the public; Many have heard conspiracy theories or have harbored suspicions for years and want answers about Epstein’s life and death.

Shayan Sardarizadeh contributed to this report.