Forensic experts are questioning the American government’s account of the final night of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s life, after a new review of CCTV footage found an orange shape was spotted near his prison cell.
Earlier this month, CCTV footage taken outside Epstein’s cell was released six years after the notorious paedophile was found dead.
Around 11 hours of footage taken from inside the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City on August 9 and 10 2019 was publicly revealed for the first time.
Following his arrest on multiple charges, including sex trafficking, he was found unresponsive in his cell early in the morning of August 10 and was later declared dead in hospital.
Coroners at the time ruled he had committed suicide by hanging, and a recent FBI and Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation into his death concluded the same.
But a new analysis carried out by CBS News has raised questions over whether this assessment was correct.
In the 11-hour clip, which is already facing accusations of being doctored, a shadowy, orange object could be seen moving up the stairs to Epstein’s cell block at the New York prison at around 10:40pm the night before he was found dead.
While federal investigators initially concluded that the blob, which can only be seen briefly, was a corrections officer ‘carrying linen or inmate clothing’, forensic experts told CBS that it may have actually been another inmate.
A shadowy, orange object could be seen moving up the stairs to Epstein’s cell block at the New York prison at around 10:40pm the night before he was found dead
Jeffrey Epstein (pictured) was found unresponsive in his cell early in the morning of August 10 and was later declared dead in hospital
Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, told the broadcaster: ‘Based on the limited video, it’s more likely a person in an [orange] uniform.’
Trump’s administration is already under fire for allegedly doctoring the supposedly ‘raw’ footage using Adobe Premiere Pro from two clips.
One of the clips was originally four hours and 19 minutes long, but it had nearly two minutes and 53 seconds cut out.
The cut occurs at 11:58:58 pm – which is mere milliseconds before there is a one-minute gap in the tape. The second clip resumes at midnight on the dot.
Attorney General Pam Bondi blamed the gap on a ‘nightly system reset.’
Though the timing may suggest overlap, the metadata shows that the file was modified multiple times on May 23, 2025, over a span of more than three hours, contradicting the notion that this was ‘raw’ footage.
WIRED pressed the DOJ for comment on the edits, and a spokesperson replied in minutes, saying ‘Refer you to the FBI’. The FBI then declined to comment.
