The Trump administration was accused of ‘protecting’ Jeffrey Epstein‘s alleged co-conspirators as newly released documents suggest at least 10 others were involved in his child sex trafficking ring.
The damning evidence of Epstein’s accomplices came to light in an email that was sent between federal investigators trying to contact around 10 ‘co-conspirators’ after the late pedophile’s arrest in 2019.
The documents were among a trove of files related to the late financier’s sex crimes that were published on Tuesday.
The email, which was shared online by Miami Herald reporter Julie K Brown, was sent just one day after federal agents arrested Epstein on sex trafficking charges and raided his Manhattan home.
All of the names included in the email were redacted except for three. The first two were Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges in 2021; and Jean-Luc Brunel, a former French modeling agent who was found dead in his Paris jail cell in 2022 and was suspected of scouting girls for Epstein.
The third was retail magnate Leslie Wexner, who was a major benefactor for Epstein until he severed ties with the financier in 2007 amid his indictment in Florida.
But lawyers for the former Victoria Secret CEO told BBC News that ‘the assistant US attorney in charge of the Epstein investigation stated at the time that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target.
‘Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again,’ the attorneys claimed.
Damning files released by the Department of Justice on Tuesday suggest Jeffrey Epstein had at least 10 co-conspirators in his child sex trafficking ring, among them Ghislaine Maxwell
The Trump administration is now being accused of ‘protecting’ the co-conspirators, whose names were redacted from the file
In an email from July 2019, an unidentified sender with a signature that included ‘FBI New York,’ asked a colleague for ‘an update on the status of the 10 co-conspirators’
In the first email, an unidentified sender with a signature that included ‘FBI New York,’ asked a colleague: ‘When you get a chance can you give me an update on the status of the 10 co-conspirators?’
In a reply several hours later, a recipient gave a rundown of efforts to contact Wexner, Maxwell and others.
It noted that they located three alleged co-conspirators in Florida, one in Boston, one in New York and one in Connecticut.
The documents do not detail the information federal investigators sought from these individuals nor the basis for characterizing them as potential co-conspirators.
But by September 2019, prosecutors exchanging updates noted that the investigation into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators was ‘ongoing’ and that they had conversations with several people who they said would cooperate in the investigation, ABC News reports.
Prosecutors later detailed a seven-page ‘memo on co-conspirators we could potentially charge,’ as well as an 86-page ‘co-conspirator update memo.’
The following year, Maxwell would be arrested by the FBI and charged by the Southern District of New York with conspiring to entice minors to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses.
She remains the only co-conspirator who has ever been charged in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, and in September of this year, FBI Director Kash Patel insisted that no other cases could be made and that Epstein worked alone.
Now, Democrats are urging the Trump administration to release the names of all of the other alleged co-conspirators whose names were redacted from the files.
Only three names were not redacted in the email, including Jean-Luc Brunel (pictured), a former French modeling agent who was found dead in his Paris jail cell in 2022
Leslie Wexner, a major benefactor for Epstein until he severed ties with the financier in 2007 amid his indictment in Florida, was also named, though his attorneys claim he was cleared of any wrongdoing
Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California who pushed to get the Epstein files released, raged at the Department of Justice for failing to release ‘interview files’ that he insisted include the ‘names of other men’ accused of sexual misconduct.
‘They have the names of the Wall Street tycoons, the politicians who visited Epstein’s rape island and who either engaged in the rape of these underage girls or covered it up,’ Khanna said in an interview with MeidasTouch Network on Tuesday.
‘How do I know? Because I’ve talked to the survivors. I’ve talked to the survivors’ lawyers who were at the FBI interviews.
‘We’re saying release them. But you have the Department of Justice more concerned with protecting the reputations of these men than they are protecting the reputation of these survivors,’ Khanna argued.
He went on to say that the public does not need ‘all 300 gigabits’ of information, instead ‘what we need is those interview memoranda.
‘And if people think it’s a hoax – I mean, it’s not, because I’ve talked to the survivors – then just release the interview memos and we’ll put it to rest.
‘But I guarantee you, once those interview memoranda are released, there are going to be other powerful men implicated,’ Khanna suggested.
Senator Chuck Schumer also asked on social media, ‘Who are these 10 co-conspirators? Why haven’t we seen those memos? Where are the grand jury records? Where are the FBI records? What are they hiding?’
He then declared that the released files offered ‘more questions than answers.’
The New York senator, who is pushing the Senate to sue the Department of Justice for failing to fulfill a Friday deadline to publicize all documents, added in a statement to The Hill: ‘The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved and why they chose not to prosecute.
Maxwell was arrested by the FBI and charged by the Southern District of New York with conspiring to entice minors to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses for Epstein in 2020
She remains the only co-conspirator who has ever been charged in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring
Schumer added: ‘Protecting possible co-conspirators is not the transparency the American people and Congress are demanding.’
Brown, the Miami Herald reporter, also asked online: ‘Why are the names of Epstein’s co-conspirators redacted?’
Under the law that passed overwhelmingly in Congress, the Department of Justice could not redact names and information that may be embarrassing or cause ‘reputational harm.’
It specifically asks the Department of Justice for internal communications and memos detailing who was investigated and decisions concerning ‘to charge, not charge, investigate or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates.’
Lawmakers in both parties have said they are examining legal options to force more transparency, with Khanna and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie saying they are considering bringing contempt charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi.
But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that Department of Justice attorneys were still working to redact information and photos related to Epstein’s victims.
‘We’re going through a very methodical process with hundreds of lawyers looking at every single document and making sure that victims’ names and any of the information from victims is protected and redacted, which is exactly what the Transparency Act expects,’ Blanche said on Meet the Press over the weekend.
Democrats like Congressman Ro Khanna, of California, and Senator Chuck Schumer, of New York, accused the Department of Justice of ‘protecting’ the alleged co-conspirators
Miami Herald reporter Julie K Brown also questioned why the names were redacted
Schumer declared on social media that the files offered ‘more questions than answers’
The documents that were released on Tuesday offered more insight into Epstein’s final days and his relationship with Maxwell.
One chilling file details how a man who got into an argument with the disgraced financier at a strip club claimed his chauffer warned him ‘remember what I buried.’
The chauffer then reportedly warned Maxwell that ‘they had that same thing on him.’
The filing concludes with the man claiming to have heard of Maxwell’s efforts to recruit the young friend of a dancer at the club.
The man claimed to have overheard Maxwell tell Epstein she ‘spoke to one of the girls who worked at the club’, who told Maxwell she had a ’15-year-old friend’ who ‘needed help.’
Maxwell heard the young girl was ‘out on the street’, and according to the man overhearing their conversation, she ‘told Epstein they were going to pick her up when they left the club.’
The documents also included new information about Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York in August 2019.
It notes that following an unsuccessful suicide attempt one month later, the financier told a psychologist he was afraid to go back to his cell.
‘He stated that approx 1am he’d gotten up to drink of water as he gets up every thirty minutes. He remembered walking back to his bunk and waking up with staff there in his cell,’ an assessment by a psychologist said of the July 23 attempt.
‘When interviewed he stated he still cannot remember what happened in the SHU that caused the marks on his neck. He stated that for the 5 days before that he had only slept about 30 minutes each night because of noise in SHU.’
Jeffrey Epstein is pictured after an apparent suicide attempt in July 2019
The evaluator added: ‘He stated he is anxious about going back to SHU because he stated he is going back to a place where he had gotten marks on his neck and he does not know why it happened.’
Records showed Epstein was treated for a ‘circular line of erythema at the base of his neck, one section on the front with marks of friction and a small erythema in his left knee.’
Epstein’s cellmate at the time was Nicholas Tartaglione, who said he tried to revive Epstein.
Tartaglione was later cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident by prison authorities, and had been moved out of the cell by the time of Epstein’s death weeks later.
Also included in Tuesday’s file drop was a document that claimed Donald Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous private jet ‘many more times than has been previously reported.’
The allegation was found in an email sent in 2020 from a New York assistant US attorney, which states that Trump was listed as a passenger on eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four where Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was also present.
Trump’s presence in the Epstein files does not imply any wrongdoing. The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing concerning the disgraced financier.
