FBI concluded Jeffrey Epstein wasn't running a sex trafficking ring for powerful men, files show
Source: AP
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, DAVID B. CARUSO and LARRY NEUMEISTER
Updated 9:30 AM CST, February 8, 2026
NEW YORK (AP) The FBI pored over Jeffrey Epsteins bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the worlds most influential people.
But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.
Videos and photos seized from Epsteins homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didnt depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.
An examination of Epsteins financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-client-list-sex-trafficking-049c96080a2ca2c12c84ac506437e50b
UpInArms
(54,431 posts)Anything that comes from this maladminstration is a lie
FakeNoose
(40,759 posts)Asking for a country....
underpants
(195,600 posts)Ritabert
(2,155 posts)._.
(1,768 posts)Not your fathers FBI..
quaint
(4,810 posts)GiqueCee
(3,627 posts)... was led by a homicidal, cross-dressing psychopath named J. Edgar Hoover. Not much has changed.
MLWR
(897 posts)just want to "spend more time with their families."
patphil
(8,841 posts)The victims tell a different story.
raccoon
(32,285 posts)electric_blue68
(26,438 posts)AZJonnie
(3,220 posts)I could lay out the evidence that underpins this analysis (it doesn't 'prove' it, but suggests it), but it would annoy many people so I won't. I hope you'll believe me when I say it's honestly well-considered, and that I would be more than happy to jump on the bandwagon to believe what everyone else does, if the evidence ever truly warrants it.
A lot of the reasons behind this though I will say stem from the testimonies in Maxwell's 2022 trial, which I consider to offer the highest level of credibility, due to everyone being under oath in a closely-watched federal criminal trial
OTOH, I also strongly suspect he and Brunel were recruiting models and actresses (who were 18+) from all over the world to come and party at Epstein Island and elsewhere, and I'm sure a lot of what happened there is rightly called "sex trafficking", so I disagree with the headline, and think the word "minors" should be part of it.
I think he was trafficking young women, and privately abusing minor girls, rather than sharing them with his rich buddies, with the likely exception of Virginia Guiffre.
In the public imagination, IMHO, these two things (abusing minors, trafficking 18-25 year olds to his rich buddies) have become conflated into one storyline, but I don't think that version of the story is particularly accurate.
Let the flames begin.
2naSalit
(101,006 posts)Are there any female humans in your life? Have you exposed any of them to your 'theory'?
All I can say is, you must not have been paying much attention to detail.
AZJonnie
(3,220 posts)Here's the thing. If you've approached everything you'd think of as "evidence" in this case pre-judged and viewed through the lens of "I'm absolutely positive Epstein was trafficking minors to his rich buddies", I completely understand how and why many people (yourself included) think there is mountains of evidence to confirm it. I get it. I get why you think I sound crazy or blind or whatever you're getting at. I do.
But this article suggests I'm not as stupid and/or crazy and/or blind as you're alluding to, otherwise probably the FBI (which includes 8 years of Obama's DoJ, and 4 of Biden's) wouldn't be thinking similarly.
niyad
(130,514 posts)bluestarone
(21,648 posts)Don't ever hire YOU as a lawyer.
AZJonnie
(3,220 posts)FakeNoose
(40,759 posts)You're making the distinction between the age of the girls when they were recruited for Epstein's "private stock" and when they were turned over to the other men who may be involved.
The distinction is that Epstein himself was only interested in girls under 18. Most of the recruits were around 15 or 16. Many were high school dropouts and runaways. Once they reached 18, he kept them in his "group" by giving them money or paying their tuition etc. But they were expected to be part of the scenery at his parties in one way or another, and they could say "no" whenever they wanted to. So Epstein wasn't actually pimping the girls per se, he was bringing them in as eye candy, and enabling the men to meet them and take it from there.
If that's what you are saying, I think I agree ... for the most part. A girl who worked for Epstein and stayed around for 2 or more years would have aged out anyway. At that point the older girls were encouraged to recruit younger girls for Epstein, or else they could be enterprising and find a sugar daddy on their own. Those girls who stayed were already buying into the whole thing, plus they had reached the age of consent in most cases.
Perhaps the feds are looking at it this with an extremely narrow definition of "rape," "consent," and "trafficking," in which case they can hold their noses and say nothing was there.
My own opinion is that Bill Barr probably removed anything that incriminated Chump as soon as he got his hands on Epstein's evidence. But there's so much to go through that he could have missed a lot too. Don't forget that Barr wanted to resign as soon as Chump lost the election in 2020. He'd already had over a year to paw through Epstein's documents, and he was probably disgusted as anyone would have been.
AZJonnie
(3,220 posts)But they were not minors at the time. As I said, I think the characterization in the headline of not trafficking at all ... is probably inaccurate.
I don't want to get too into why I lean towards the belief I expressed (it would be unpopular if I laid it *all* out), but people who think I'm just talking out of my rear should read all of what Carolyn A testified to against Maxwell (and Epstein) in the former's 2022 federal trial. Carolyn was the one Maxwell was convicted of trafficking to Epstein, the one that got her the 20 years. She was the DoJ's star witness, basically.
If one goes and reads it all, they'll discover why, on the particular question of him sharing many minors with many of his friends, the evidence is a lot weaker than people have been led to believe. And that's probably why DoJ hasn't seemed to do all that much beyond prosecute Epstein and Maxwell themselves. Including Holder, Lynch and Garland.
If compelling evidence to the contrary comes out, I'll be quick to reassess. I'd love to not be an outlier with my friends on DU on this question.
usonian
(24,147 posts)Bullshit.
oldmanlynn
(795 posts)Obviously, theyre taking something from the DOJ thats been whitewashed and reporting on it as if its all true
Pas-de-Calais
(10,273 posts)catrose
(5,348 posts)SunSeeker
(57,894 posts)Because they didn't interview anyone!
It's easy to find nothing if you look for nothing.
malthaussen
(18,481 posts)After all, they are the agency that has consistently blown off the threat of RW terrorism for decades. They are the agency that concluded that the student protest movement was overrun with Commies. They are the agency that concluded the Civil Rights movement was overrun with Commies. I could go on, but the bottom line is this: the FBI is not infallible, especially when it comes to the crimes of wealthy white men.
-- Mal
mdbl
(8,287 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 8, 2026, 03:44 PM - Edit history (2)
Infallible is almost giving them a softer excuse for why they F'd the entire thing.
malthaussen
(18,481 posts)yaesu
(9,126 posts)Vinca
(53,567 posts)purr-rat beauty
(1,098 posts)They truly are that stupid to think we are that stupid
Escape
(407 posts)...Their exact names and positions in their departments.
Scrivener7
(58,898 posts)Buddyzbuddy
(2,324 posts)At least, that's what the 30% MAGA supporters are saying and Faux News.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,614 posts)Well the GOP has multiple tactics at once. At the same time they get "influencers" and podcasters like Megan Kelly to start chipping away at promoting the idea that diddling little girls is perfectly fine.
Mysterian
(6,247 posts)That means the opposite is true.
