Showing posts with label Epstein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Epstein. Show all posts
May 8, 2026
Apr 27, 2026
Aaron and Katie
Letting Katie Phang get away showed me just how venal and outright chickenshit MSNBC had become.
If you want the truth, ask people whose integrity isn't tied to a paycheck.
Apr 14, 2026
Apr 10, 2026
Say What Now?
Interesting that shortly after Melania made her public statement about Epstein and Maxwell, Trump posted a video of a woman being murdered.
Make of that what you will.
Apr 3, 2026
Mar 17, 2026
Distraction
Speculation US president started conflict as a distraction spreads across political spectrum
Another sign shows a picture of an American serviceman killed in the conflict, standing in front of the Stars and Stripes. “Cody Khork did not have to die fighting Iran for the Epstein class”, it reads.
Four days before the bombing of Iran on Feb 28, a report revealed that the Department of Justice (DoJ) removed more than 50 pages of interviews about Mr Trump from the files, including one victim who claimed the now president abused her when she was a child decades ago.
Was it a coincidence that Mr Trump decided to bomb Iran when the Epstein files threatened to expose him?
It sounds like pure conspiracy theory, but the idea that Mr Trump began the war — hitting Tehran from the skies — to distract from Epstein has also circulated among respected pillars of American society: from Republicans to Democrats, and influential podcasters.
“PSA: bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will,” wrote Thomas Massie, a Republican who has clashed repeatedly with Mr Trump over his demands to release the documents.
He is not alone.
“For years we demanded to release the Epstein files... not a single person has been arrested and likely won’t be: no accountability, no justice,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally and House representative, said on the day the bombing started. She added: “Instead, we get a war with Iran on behalf of Israel that will succeed in regime change in Iran”.
Graham Platner, a Maine Democrat, felt much the same, telling a crowd in Brewer the day after the strikes that “this war is also being pushed because Donald Trump is in the Epstein files, and other people in the White House, and other people connected with the Epstein class,” he said, “they are terrified that we have noticed what they are doing”.
In June 2025, Joe Rogan, the American podcaster with 11 million monthly listeners, voiced similar thoughts after Mr Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites. “Just bomb Iran and everybody forgets. Everybody forgets about it,” he said.
It is not just politicians who think there may be a link.
A recent poll for Zeteo, a Left-wing website, and other outlets found that 52 per cent of people in the US believe the president attacked Iran because of the headlines about Epstein.
It found that 81 per cent of Democrats thought the war was a deliberate distraction, compared with 52 per cent of independent voters and 26 per cent of Republicans.
Chris Edelson, a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said it was “certainly possible” that the war could have been to distract from Epstein. “What we have seen in the files is shocking stuff related to Trump,” he said.
“They passed a law to make the Epstein files public and they didn’t and kept back some of the most damning stuff,” he added. “If that was the calculation then it’s trademark Trump but it’s been a disaster... what’s followed isn’t better, it’s just a different kind of terrible situation.”
On March 6, six days after the war began, the US justice department released more files pertaining to the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, including interviews with the alleged child victim.
The anonymous accuser said that she met Mr Trump through Epstein around 1983, when she was between 13 and 15 years old.
The Trump administration dismissed the woman’s claims as “baseless allegations”, and they have failed to have significantly affected public consciousness, or newspaper headlines, since the beginning of the war.
In a statement, the White House said the idea that Mr Trump began the war to stop the Epstein headlines was “such a ridiculous take that it could only be concocted by true morons, such as Thomas Massie and the Democrats”.
But the “Operation Epstein Fury” posters remain, as does the public speculation.
“When confronted with a faltering economy and the persistent political radiation of the Epstein matter, a war with Iran looked like a perfect narrative reset,” said Rick Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist.
“For Trump, war is the ultimate political reset, no matter its cost.”
Mar 16, 2026
Erika Jordan
Pointing out the cynical use of something like the "non-apology apology" is not cynicism. It's truth.
Mar 10, 2026
Mar 9, 2026
About That QAnon Thing
I may have said this before, but I can't shake the shitty feeling I get every time I stop and contemplate the very real (to me) probability that Epstein's whole kid-fucking thing was in service to gaining leverage over people with big money &/or big power in order to exert pressure to achieve political ends.
And the really shitty part of the feeling is that some people are going to start thinking that the end game actually makes trafficking kids a secondary concern.
I hate this fuckin' shit, but at least we're starting to sift out some of the bigger chunks of shit.
The most enduring conspiracy theories often contain kernels of truth, though it is debatable whether any popularly theorized conspiracy has later been proven as real by unassailable facts. But if one popular conspiracy theory seems to have been promoted from “theory” to fact, it would appear to be QAnon. What started as a far-right prophecy scam using codes and ciphers on 4chan to “reveal” the horrors of a pedophile cabal ruling the world has taken on a distinct tinge of truth thanks to millions of newly-released files involving fixer and child abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
It’s easy to look at Epstein’s communications with billionaires and royals, famous directors and scions of old money, and see the dealings of a cabal. In those countless emails, we seem to have a notorious sex offender and lover of “young women” exchanging messages with some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. Some of them appear innocuous, and some of them are deeply weird and extremely disturbing.
Like QAnon’s accusations, at least some of these messages are written in what many researchers have theorized is a code for truly unspeakable things, such as powerful people trafficking their own children, or hunting and eating human beings. And just like with QAnon, it’s fallen to “citizen researchers” to dig through the “drops” from the Department of Justice, as unpaid truth crusaders churn through millions of messages full of noise to find the bits of signal that “they” were hiding from us.
Naturally, the Epstein revelations have resulted in some QAnon believers claiming that the Epstein releases validate their years of hard work and research into the “pedo elite” running the west. It’s also resulted in a number of stories, podcasts, and social media threads essentially saying that QAnon was right this whole time. Essentially, we all thought these Q people were crazy, but there really was a pedophile cabal running things, and the Q believers knew the whole time.
Except QAnon has not been “proven true,” and it was not right. This is not because of anything to do with Epstein, but because that’s not really what QAnon was about. The idea of a dark cabal running world events and doing horrible things in the shadows is only part of QAnon — and it’s the least original part, at that.
A secret government or society of insiders using the masses for their Satanic purposes has been a rich source of lore for countless cranks and conspiracists generations before Q emerged on 4chan. Its 20th century form began with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the aftermath of the First World War, was later adapted by bestselling tomes of Cold War paranoia like None Dare Call it Conspiracy and Secrets of the Federal Reserve, and would form the core of the lurid post-9/11 globalist fantasies of “Reptoid Elite” theorist David Icke and Infowars’ Alex Jones. The name of this group shifts, but its members are always a hopelessly complicated tangle of bankers, think tanks, political figures, universities, cultural luminaries, and wealthy families. Unsurprisingly, this is almost the same exact motley crew found in the Epstein emails.
Yes, this one happens to be real. But there has always been an upper tier of society walled off from the rest of us through money, influence, and power. It’s a group that is impenetrable and exists in a world of wealth and privilege that most of us only see in movies and tabloids. And many of its charter members have been credibly accused of unspeakably awful things over the last two thousand years. And for that long, they have gotten away with it.
Where QAnon was different, and where it failed spectacularly, was in promising that justice would finally be delivered to these untouchable insiders. It offered believers not nihilistic scapegoating, but a utopia that was just a few executions away. The basis of Q, and why it was so compelling to so many people, was that the monsters were finally going to be brought down by Donald Trump, a figure of outsider wealth beholden to nobody except those who elected him. Only someone with no connection to the powerbrokers and their ancient bloodlines could deliver justice. It would be done swiftly, correctly, and publicly. And nothing would ever be the same.
It’s not hard to understand why this bloody fantasy caught on with people struggling to understand why Trump wasn’t fulfilling the promises of his first presidential campaign. He ran on bringing down the deep state, giving power back to the people, and locking up Hillary Clinton and her goons. Why wasn’t it happening? QAnon gave you an answer: that it was, but it was happening in secret. Q was revealing that secret, and making its believers part of the world it was creating.
Past foundational works of conspiracism were all about what the “insiders” or “superstate of the elite” were doing to you. World domination was inevitable, total enslavement could not be stopped, and freedom was doomed. All one could do was research, prepare, and buy as much food and ammo as your credit card could take.
In contrast, Q believers were shown that victory was possible, if you prayed hard enough and spread the gospel of Q. The anonymous poster encouraged followers to be part of the operation by making memes, doing their own research, and waking up the people they loved. It made the humble “anon” the worst nightmare of the elite machine. While much of the media saw Q as an apocalyptic cult obsessed with violence and race, Q saw itself as the savior of humanity. To quote the title of one popular Q video, it was “the plan to save the world.”
QAnon was a play-by-play of the good guys finally winning, starting with the very first Q drop on Oct. 28, 2017, promising that Hillary Clinton would be arrested in a few days trying to leave the U.S., and that the president would deploy federal forces to put down riots ginned up by her allies.
By decoding the Q drops on 4chan and later 8chan, Q believers were positioned to know before anyone when the long-promised “storm” was coming, and with it, justice.
Q promised arrests and military tribunals for the worst evildoers in dozens of posts, the first of which would “shock the world.” As one Q catchphrase put it, “the hunters would become the hunted.” Another promised “power would be returned to the people,” and that “crimes against children” would be swiftly and brutally punished. Long-held secrets would be revealed, ancient cabals would fall, and those who had terrorized patriots for generations would be hauled away to Guantánamo Bay — or worse. It would all happen “soon” or in “two weeks” or in a “big week” ahead. And nothing could stop it.
Even with the antisemitism and conspiracism inherent to QAnon, some of these are admirable goals. It’s not wrong to want truth and justice, and for people who harm others to be stopped. This is what made QAnon so appealing to older people and religious believers. It wasn’t just anarchic meme-making, it was utopian.
But it was all a hoax. None of it happened, and the people Q promised would be taken down by Trump are still out there, presumably getting away with it. Hillary Clinton was never arrested. There were no mass arrests. It failed on every level.
Trump was supposed to destroy the elite traffickers and release all of the government’s files on their members. Instead, Trump has called the entire Epstein debacle a hoax created by Democrats, and held up the release of the Epstein files to the point where it took immense pressure from Congress for the DOJ to release what they had. Even then, they didn’t, as filings that involved Trump’s alleged assault on a 13 year old girl were only made public after NPR reported that dozens of pages had been withheld. This does not seem like the behavior of someone tirelessly working to bring down Epstein’s cabal of evildoers.
There was supposed to be a great purge of the worst people in society. There were supposed to be shocking arrests and a truth that would “put 99% of Americans in the hospital.” Not a single prominent American has faced legal accountability due to the Epstein fallout other than Epstein. And Epstein didn’t feel the rope of a military tribunal, instead taking his own life without ever facing his accusers.
QAnon wasn’t right. It was spectacularly wrong, stringing its believers along for years with promises of revenge and justice that all turned to dust. The enemy of the deep state turned out to be its most high-profile protector. And the people desperate for accountability are still vulnerable to conspiracy theories that prey on their very natural desires.
QAnon was supposed to be the plan to save the world. But the world is exactly the same as it’s always been.
Mar 7, 2026
Ask A.I.
Question:
What is the Trump administration doing to keep the Epstein files out of the news?
Answer:
In his second term, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law on November 19, 2025, which legally mandates the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all unclassified records related to Jeffrey Epstein. However, the administration has faced significant criticism from both parties for the following actions that some describe as attempts to limit or delay transparency:
Delayed and Redacted Releases
- Missing Pages: An NPR investigation in early 2026 found that the DOJ had withheld dozens of pages specifically containing sexual abuse allegations against President Trump. While some were later published following media pressure, reports indicate roughly 37 pages remain missing from the public database as of March 2026.
- Heavy Redactions: Early releases in December 2025 were criticized for being "grossly" redacted, with hundreds of pages entirely blacked out, including the names of "politically exposed individuals".
- Staggered Rollout: Despite a 30-day legal deadline to release all files by December 19, 2025, the DOJ initially released only a small fraction, citing the need for "painstaking" reviews to protect victim privacy.
Strategic Counter-Investigations
- Targeting Political Foes: In November 2025, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch new investigations into Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, including Bill Clinton and Lawrence Summers.
- Withholding Evidence: Lawmakers, including Representative Thomas Massie, have raised concerns that these new probes serve as a "smokescreen" to justify withholding documents under the law's exemption for "active federal investigations".
Administration Defenses
- "Exoneration" Claims: The White House maintains that President Trump has been "totally exonerated" by the releases and argues that the files contain "untrue and sensationalist claims" meant to damage him politically.
- Dismissal as a "Hoax": At various points in 2025, Trump dismissed the ongoing push for file releases as a "Democrat Hoax" before eventually pivoting to support the Transparency Act once it became clear it would pass with a veto-proof majority.
In March 2026, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer for the administration's handling of the files and the "disjointed" nature of the public disclosures.
And:
Start a few wars - didn't need AI to figure that one out
Mar 2, 2026
Goddammit
The increasingly probable fact (IMO) that the kid-fucking was actually "secondary" because it was being used as leverage to wrangle people into money laundering schemes, and black ops fuckery, is making wish that the perps will meet with the most gruesome, agonizing, and prolonged demise ever known. And I want it all on live TV.
Every one of these assholes has to burn. And every penny they own now - or ever hope to own in the future - has to be taken from them and awarded to the survivors, and to organizations working to provide support for victims and survivors of abuse and assault.
This shit has to end.
Mar 1, 2026
Trump Is The Golgotha Shit Monster
Is there anything more on-brand
than Trump killing over 100 school girls
in an attempt to cover his ass
for fucking school girls?
Iran
The idea that we can topple a government with low-risk airstrikes is pretty dumb.
The idea that if we knock off the Irani government, killing 80 school girls in the process (oops), and then expect the new government to get all chummy with us - well that's just fuckin' stupid.
It's like thinking that once the Russians lose in Ukraine, we can expect Ukrainians to embrace the Russians even though they've outright murdered Ukrainian civilians for years - It's just really really really fuckin' stupid.
And BTW, Trump has blustered, "We can't allow a country to raise up terrorist groups".
So maybe we should stop creating those countries, and giving them reason to do it. We've been fucking with Iran for 75 years. Stop doin' that, you stoopid fuck.
We are not distracted
Oops
Burn down the #EpsteinClass https://t.co/PFf1enuZBV
— e'Ville Mike 🇺🇸 ❤️ 🌎🌍🌏 (@eVilleMike) March 1, 2026
Feb 28, 2026
Feb 26, 2026
Hillary Speaks
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee... as a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise, as do the American people, to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability.
As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people.
The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as I can. I do not.
As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that.
Like every decent person, I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes. It's unfathomable that Mr. Epstein initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008, which allowed him to continue his predatory practices for another decade.
Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing the federal government's handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes. You subpoenaed eight law enforcement officials, all of whom ran the Department of Justice or directed the FBI when Epstein's crimes were investigated and prosecuted. Of those eight, only one appeared before the Committee. Five of the six former attorneys general were allowed to submit brief statements stating they had no information to provide.
You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions.
You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican Member showed up for Les Wexner's deposition.
This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors, as well as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter. My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf.
I have spent my life advocating for women and girls. I have worked hard to stop the terrible abuses so many women and girls face here and around the world, including human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. For too long, these have been largely invisible crimes or not treated as crimes at all. But the survivors are real and they are entitled to better.
In Southeast Asia, I met girls as young as twelve years old who were forced into prostitution and raped repeatedly. Some were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I met mothers who told me how they lost daughters to trafficking and did not know where to turn. In settings around the world, I met survivors trying to rebuild their lives and help rescue others — with little support from people in power, who too often turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder.
If you are new to this issue, let me tell you: Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual, but he's far from alone. This is not a one-off tabloid sensation or a political scandal.
It's a global scourge with an unimaginable human toll.
My work combatting sex trafficking goes back to my days as First Lady. I worked to pass the first federal legislation against trafficking and was proud that my husband signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which increased support for survivors and gave prosecutors better tools for going after traffickers.
As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou deBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses.
The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete action.
I insisted that the United States be included in the report for the first time ever in 2011. Because we must hold ourselves not just to the same standard as the rest of the world but to an even higher one. Sex trafficking and modern slavery should have no place in America.
None.
Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House.
That is a tragedy. It's a scandal. It deserves vigorous investigation and oversight.
A committee endeavoring to stop human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008.
A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files.
It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies.
It would get to the bottom of reports that DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes.
It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the "wildest party" on Epstein's island.
It would demand testimony from prosecutors in Florida and New York about why they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and chose not to pursue others who may have been implicated.
It would demand that Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi testify about why this administration is abandoning survivors and playing into the hands of traffickers.
It would seek out officers on the front lines of this fight and ask them what support they need.
It would put forth legislation to provide more resources and force this administration to act.
But that's not happening.
Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump's actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers.
If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.
If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done.
What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?
My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein's crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking.
Feb 24, 2026
It Had To Be
Sooner or later, it had to come out. Dots won't stay unconnected forever - even in the era of impoverished news gathering.
I honestly hadn't thought about this angle at all, but it makes sense. These crooks always look for "help" from the cops.
Revealed: Epstein cultivated relationship with CBP officer, causing US investigation
Guardian review of US justice department files reveals Epstein interacted with six CBP officers. The officer investigated denied any knowledge of trafficking underage girls
Federal investigators examined Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who worked at the St Thomas airport to which Epstein regularly flew on his private planes before traveling by boat or helicopter to his private island, newly released documents reveal.
As part of that investigation, which did not result in any charges, investigators also issued subpoenas related to three additional CBP officers working at the Cyril E King airport (STT) on St Thomas, documents show. The Guardian also identified two other CBP officers on St Thomas and in Florida who were in contact with Epstein, based on emails and text messages between Epstein, his staff and the officers. It does not appear the FBI ever investigated those two officers.
The FBI in New York opened a preliminary investigation in October 2019 after receiving a report that a long-serving CBP agricultural inspector “had ongoing friendship with Mr Epstein … while working for CBP Pre-Clearance in Saint Thomas for over 7 years”. The email establishing the investigation into the agricultural inspector, Timothy “Bill” Routch, is among the millions of files related to Epstein’s crimes that were released by the Department of Justice (DoJ) this month.
Federal authorities interviewed Epstein’s longtime pilot about the convicted sex offender’s contacts with CBP agents.
US Customs and Border Protection is the federal law enforcement agency tasked with overseeing the entrance of people and goods through US ports of entry, including airports. It claims to be “uniquely situated to deter and disrupt human trafficking”, and is one of the four primary US agencies tasked with enforcing federal anti-trafficking law.
In July 2019, federal prosecutors in New York indicted Epstein on charges of sex trafficking minors as young as 14 in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. Following Epstein’s death by suicide in jail in August 2019, the attorney general of the US Virgins Islands – an unincorporated territory of the US that includes St Thomas and Epstein’s private islands, Little St James and Great St James – filed suit against his estate, alleging that Epstein “trafficked and sexually abused women and underage girls” on those private islands, using “private planes, helicopters, boat and automobiles to transport victims to, from and within the Virgin Islands”.
No CBP officer was ever charged for crimes related to Epstein, and the Guardian has not seen any evidence to suggest that CBP officers had direct knowledge or involvement in Epstein’s crimes. The FBI interviewed Routch and subpoenaed credit reports about him and three other CBP officers, but it is not clear whether the investigation went any further. The release of the government’s investigative files on Epstein has been delayed, redactions are inconsistent, and it is not clear how many more files will be made public.
Routch acknowledged interacting with Epstein “in the course of [his] employment”, visiting Epstein’s island, and being investigated by the FBI. He disputed many of the details contained in FBI and CBP documents. In emails with the Guardian, he characterized the FBI investigation as “a wild goose chase”, and said: “All my encounters were of a business nature … I never [witnessed] anything remotely related to trafficking.”
Epstein emailed and texted with CBP officers, invited them to his island, visited with them at the airport, and frequently sought to determine who was going to be on duty when he was traveling through STT, the released files show. Some officers received financial advice, others, small gifts, and employment opportunities. One officer was invited to perform the steel pan drums on Little St James on multiple occasions; Epstein tasked his assistant with helping another with an interest in accounting to find mentorship. That agent solicited Epstein for a “hard-money loan”, though he told the Guardian the loan never materialized.
Epstein also raised complaints about less-than-friendly treatment from other CBP officers with his friendly agents, twice eliciting promises from supervisors to look into the perceived ill treatment.
The Guardian contacted CBP and the Department of Homeland Security for comment. After publication, a spokesperson for CBP said: “Any claims of misconduct are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action will be taken as necessary.”
In March 2016, Jeffrey Epstein was burdened with logistical headaches. Eight years after pleading guilty to charges of child sexual exploitation, the billionaire continued to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, regularly travelling between his homes in New York, Florida, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands on a fleet of private jets.
Travel between the mainland US and his compound on Little St James was complicated. Flights to St Thomas were treated like domestic flights, but flights departing St Thomas for a US airport had to clear customs and immigration control.
Epstein and his personal pilot, Larry Visoski, typically expedited this process by “pre-clearing” in St Thomas. Pre-clearance is a longstanding CBP program that allows travelers to go through CBP inspections at certain overseas airports rather than upon arrival. Emails between Epstein and Visoski suggest that they preferred to pre-clear whenever possible and that Epstein was often personally involved in those arrangements.
But on 1 March 2016, something went awry. About an hour out from Teterboro airport in New Jersey, a popular airport for private and corporate jets in close proximity to Manhattan, Visoski received a satellite call from his wife. A CBP officer had just called her as Visoski’s emergency contact and was threatening Visoski with some kind of fine. Visoski made contact with the Teterboro CBP officer, who told Visoski that he could “NOT let my passengers deplane and to bring the aircraft directly to the customs building upon arrival”, the pilot later recalled.
Visoski informed the CBP officer by satellite phone that he had pre-cleared customs in STT and eventually received what he described as “a sincere apology”. Epstein pursued the issue, however, seeking further information about CBP procedures at other airports and asking Visoski to get the name of the CBP officer’s supervisor.
Just two weeks later, another hiccup occurred. Upon arriving at the airport in Newark, New Jersey – and despite pre-clearing at STT – a CBP officer required Epstein’s passengers to pass through immigration control.
Darren Indyke, Epstein’s longtime lawyer, sent a formal complaint to the Department of Homeland Security’s private aircraft support office, noting that “in the course of N212JE’s numerous flights between St Thomas and Teterboro, and St Thomas and West Palm Beach, there has been a lack of uniformity in the clearance and pre-arrival requirements imposed by local CBP offices at each of those locations, and, at times, by different CPB officers within them”. Indyke followed up on 23 May and appears to have scheduled a conference call with staff from private aircraft support on 25 May.
But while Indyke was going through official channels, Epstein was taking a more direct approach. The billionaire emailed James Heil, a supervisory CBP officer based on St Thomas. “One off the passengers . a woman with an asylum application pending, work authorization and a social secirity card, was asked for her passport and in it given a B 2 tourist visa,” Epstein complained. (Epstein’s communications are littered with punctuation and spelling errors.) “The other passenger was stamped in as well , though they did not change her departure date.”
Heil offered to reach a supervisor “up there”, and said: “I apologize that you are experiencing these issues again.” It’s not clear what actions, if any, Heil took from there. Heil did not respond to queries from the Guardian.
Heil had been in direct communication with Epstein since at least 2014, documents show. An email from one of Epstein’s assistants suggests Heil was scheduled to visit Little St James by boat on 28 February 2014, though it’s not known whether the visit took place. Epstein regularly emailed or texted Heil about issues he had going through customs at various airports or to see if Heil was going to be on duty when he planned to depart STT.
The correspondence appears friendly. Epstein texted Heil a message of thanks on Christmas Day 2014. “It was my pleasure,” Heil responded the next day. “Feel free to utilize my not-so-insignificant IQ anytime, and also feel free to connect via social media. (We Brooklyn Boys stick together.)”
“Atta boy,” Epstein responded.
At one point during their text exchanges, Epstein, perhaps jokingly, invited Heil to “stop by at my house and I’ll make you an egg cream”. There is no evidence Heil took him up on the offer. On Christmas Eve 2016, Epstein texted Heil: “Just landed with your xmas cannolis . Where can I deliver them.” Heil was off work, so Epstein had his driver deliver the treats to Heil’s home. Twice, Epstein appears to have offered to bring Heil “something” from the mainland.
Epstein also regularly raised issues that he encountered with airport customs at STT and other US airports, and Heil said he was working to liaise with CBP officers in Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey on Epstein’s behalf. At times, Epstein discussed with Visoski whether they should ask Heil to approve overtime – in an apparent effort to arrange for Epstein to get pre-cleared outside of CBP’s regular hours.
In November 2016, Epstein texted Heil that one of his agents had been “nasty”. “I will speak to him!” Heil responded. “I will handle it, formally.”
Records of Epstein’s direct interactions with the six CBP officers are mingled amid the bold-faced names that have dominated coverage of Epstein’s circle of influence. A memorandum of Epstein’s May 2013 schedule, included in an email to Indyke, records appointments with Mort Zuckerman, Leon Black, Bob Kerrey, Joel Klein, Joi Ito, Woody and Soon Yi Allen, and Tom Pritzker – as well as “Customs Agent Bill Routch”.
Routch is the first CBP officer to appear in the files, chronologically. Epstein appears to have begun contacting him in late 2012 and invited him to visit Little St James “for coffee” on 21 May 2013. Routch acknowledged visiting the island but said it was to perform an agricultural inspection of some trees.
In 2014, Epstein made contact with Heil as well as another agent, Jeff McNally, whom Visoski had flagged as being “nice”. McNally was scheduled for lunch on Little St James in May 2014, according to an email from one of Epstein’s assistants, though it is not known whether he attended. McNally did not respond to queries from the Guardian.
In 2015, Epstein got the name of another agent, Glen Samuel, from Heil, and asked Samuel to perform steel pan drumming on the island. Emails from Epstein’s assistants show that Samuel was scheduled to perform on the island at least twice, and that in 2016 he proposed offering regular lessons to Epstein’s “guests”. It’s unclear if the lessons ever occurred. Samuel did not respond to queries from the Guardian.
Epstein had received assurance from Heil that Samuel was allowed to undertake outside employment, but Samuel appears to have declined payment. “Mr. Samuel says he does not intend to charge you,” one of Epstein’s assistants wrote in an email. “He considers you a friend and was doing this for you. If you wish to give him something, he is appreciative, but there is no fee.”
Heil also appears to have introduced Epstein to Gerardo (Gerry) Martinez, a CBP supervisor at the airport in Palm Beach, Florida. The files show regular communication between Epstein and Martinez throughout 2018, with Epstein often flagging his arrival at the airport and seeking to meet. Epstein also complained to Martinez after “your guys busted my balls” when he told CBP agents he was carrying $3,000 in cash but actually had $11,800. Epstein repeatedly followed up with questions about the regulations on carrying currency between the US Virgin Islands and mainland US, with Martinez sending the question “all the way to chief counsel”.
In March 2019, Epstein appears to have asked Martinez for help or advice in obtaining a new passport, writing: “can i call you , ? not sure =hat to do, i need to get a new passport with the sex identifier on =t. is it ok to travel back and forth to the Virigi= islands without a valid passport?” Epstein made three attempts to meet with Martinez at the airport in the ensuing weeks, though it’s not clear if they met or why Epstein would turn to a CBP officer for help obtaining a passport.
Martinez acknowledged interacting with Epstein when reached by the Guardian by phone, but did not immediately respond to further queries.
Epstein was arrested at Teterboro airport on federal sex-trafficking charges on 6 July 2019, after flying in from Paris.
The emails provide extensive communication between Epstein and a St Thomas CBP agent, Alford Richards, with whom Epstein arranged more than a dozen meetings between 2015 and 2019. It is not clear how many actually occurred.
The emails show that Richards and Epstein first spoke about finance in August 2015, while Richards was working at the airport. Epstein had his assistants follow up, emailing Richards a link to Khan Academy, an online education company, as well as the billionaire’s advice that Richards start with “basic finance courses first”. Richards initially communicated with Epstein’s assistants, seeking further instruction on finance and investments, but was soon emailing regularly with Epstein himself.
“I’m in action mode right now and have dedicated everyday to getting there,” he wrote to Epstein about his plans for “financial freedom” in October 2015, after a meeting at Epstein’s helicopter hangar. “I only take advice from you and every time we speak i take every thing literal and go out and do it. I know this is the COST I must endure to get where I want to get and I will ‘never’ give up.”
In an interview, Richards acknowledged his numerous interactions with Epstein, including through meetings at Epstein’s office and on his private island “a couple of times”, but sought to minimize the extent of the relationship. “It wasn’t anything in-depth,” Richards said. “It’s like, hey, this guy is rich, let me hear his opinions.” Epstein was well-known on the island as a billionaire, and Richards was “just trying to get some financial insight”, he said.
By email, Epstein counseled Richards to take accounting courses and had one of his assistants try to find Richards “hand-on experience” in accounting with a company on the island, through part-time work, an internship, or some kind of mentoring. The assistant contacted multiple local companies with which Epstein did business on Richards’ behalf.
Much of the advice Epstein gave was “stuff I already found out by reading my books”, Richards said, but it “felt good that little me, who is no one” was getting financial tips from a billionaire. The internship “never came to fruition”, he said. “He’d give me like, vague tips, and then that was it,” Richards said. “I just wanted some hints and to get better at my finances.”
Early in their interactions, Epstein tasked Richards with finding out whether the fuel supplier for commercial airlines at STT would also sell to him, calling it a “good project” for Richards. Richards made inquiries and responded within a day. (Richards recalled the incident and said Epstein’s request had been “over my head” and “out of my league”.) The pair shared links to articles about investment prospects (in Belize, bitcoin, immigration detention centers, and local real estate) and Richard’s shared a number of business proposals with Epstein. They regularly arranged to meet around Epstein’s travel schedule.
In June 2017, Epstein and Richards discussed a forthcoming auction of local real estate. Soon thereafter, Epstein emailed Richards: “as you have asked me for hard money loan , please ask your supervisor if we can continue this converation.”
Guardian review of US justice department files reveals Epstein interacted with six CBP officers. The officer investigated denied any knowledge of trafficking underage girls
Federal investigators examined Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who worked at the St Thomas airport to which Epstein regularly flew on his private planes before traveling by boat or helicopter to his private island, newly released documents reveal.
As part of that investigation, which did not result in any charges, investigators also issued subpoenas related to three additional CBP officers working at the Cyril E King airport (STT) on St Thomas, documents show. The Guardian also identified two other CBP officers on St Thomas and in Florida who were in contact with Epstein, based on emails and text messages between Epstein, his staff and the officers. It does not appear the FBI ever investigated those two officers.
The FBI in New York opened a preliminary investigation in October 2019 after receiving a report that a long-serving CBP agricultural inspector “had ongoing friendship with Mr Epstein … while working for CBP Pre-Clearance in Saint Thomas for over 7 years”. The email establishing the investigation into the agricultural inspector, Timothy “Bill” Routch, is among the millions of files related to Epstein’s crimes that were released by the Department of Justice (DoJ) this month.
Federal authorities interviewed Epstein’s longtime pilot about the convicted sex offender’s contacts with CBP agents.
US Customs and Border Protection is the federal law enforcement agency tasked with overseeing the entrance of people and goods through US ports of entry, including airports. It claims to be “uniquely situated to deter and disrupt human trafficking”, and is one of the four primary US agencies tasked with enforcing federal anti-trafficking law.
In July 2019, federal prosecutors in New York indicted Epstein on charges of sex trafficking minors as young as 14 in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. Following Epstein’s death by suicide in jail in August 2019, the attorney general of the US Virgins Islands – an unincorporated territory of the US that includes St Thomas and Epstein’s private islands, Little St James and Great St James – filed suit against his estate, alleging that Epstein “trafficked and sexually abused women and underage girls” on those private islands, using “private planes, helicopters, boat and automobiles to transport victims to, from and within the Virgin Islands”.
No CBP officer was ever charged for crimes related to Epstein, and the Guardian has not seen any evidence to suggest that CBP officers had direct knowledge or involvement in Epstein’s crimes. The FBI interviewed Routch and subpoenaed credit reports about him and three other CBP officers, but it is not clear whether the investigation went any further. The release of the government’s investigative files on Epstein has been delayed, redactions are inconsistent, and it is not clear how many more files will be made public.
Routch acknowledged interacting with Epstein “in the course of [his] employment”, visiting Epstein’s island, and being investigated by the FBI. He disputed many of the details contained in FBI and CBP documents. In emails with the Guardian, he characterized the FBI investigation as “a wild goose chase”, and said: “All my encounters were of a business nature … I never [witnessed] anything remotely related to trafficking.”
Epstein emailed and texted with CBP officers, invited them to his island, visited with them at the airport, and frequently sought to determine who was going to be on duty when he was traveling through STT, the released files show. Some officers received financial advice, others, small gifts, and employment opportunities. One officer was invited to perform the steel pan drums on Little St James on multiple occasions; Epstein tasked his assistant with helping another with an interest in accounting to find mentorship. That agent solicited Epstein for a “hard-money loan”, though he told the Guardian the loan never materialized.
Epstein also raised complaints about less-than-friendly treatment from other CBP officers with his friendly agents, twice eliciting promises from supervisors to look into the perceived ill treatment.
The Guardian contacted CBP and the Department of Homeland Security for comment. After publication, a spokesperson for CBP said: “Any claims of misconduct are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action will be taken as necessary.”
In March 2016, Jeffrey Epstein was burdened with logistical headaches. Eight years after pleading guilty to charges of child sexual exploitation, the billionaire continued to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, regularly travelling between his homes in New York, Florida, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands on a fleet of private jets.
Travel between the mainland US and his compound on Little St James was complicated. Flights to St Thomas were treated like domestic flights, but flights departing St Thomas for a US airport had to clear customs and immigration control.
Epstein and his personal pilot, Larry Visoski, typically expedited this process by “pre-clearing” in St Thomas. Pre-clearance is a longstanding CBP program that allows travelers to go through CBP inspections at certain overseas airports rather than upon arrival. Emails between Epstein and Visoski suggest that they preferred to pre-clear whenever possible and that Epstein was often personally involved in those arrangements.
But on 1 March 2016, something went awry. About an hour out from Teterboro airport in New Jersey, a popular airport for private and corporate jets in close proximity to Manhattan, Visoski received a satellite call from his wife. A CBP officer had just called her as Visoski’s emergency contact and was threatening Visoski with some kind of fine. Visoski made contact with the Teterboro CBP officer, who told Visoski that he could “NOT let my passengers deplane and to bring the aircraft directly to the customs building upon arrival”, the pilot later recalled.
Visoski informed the CBP officer by satellite phone that he had pre-cleared customs in STT and eventually received what he described as “a sincere apology”. Epstein pursued the issue, however, seeking further information about CBP procedures at other airports and asking Visoski to get the name of the CBP officer’s supervisor.
Just two weeks later, another hiccup occurred. Upon arriving at the airport in Newark, New Jersey – and despite pre-clearing at STT – a CBP officer required Epstein’s passengers to pass through immigration control.
Darren Indyke, Epstein’s longtime lawyer, sent a formal complaint to the Department of Homeland Security’s private aircraft support office, noting that “in the course of N212JE’s numerous flights between St Thomas and Teterboro, and St Thomas and West Palm Beach, there has been a lack of uniformity in the clearance and pre-arrival requirements imposed by local CBP offices at each of those locations, and, at times, by different CPB officers within them”. Indyke followed up on 23 May and appears to have scheduled a conference call with staff from private aircraft support on 25 May.
But while Indyke was going through official channels, Epstein was taking a more direct approach. The billionaire emailed James Heil, a supervisory CBP officer based on St Thomas. “One off the passengers . a woman with an asylum application pending, work authorization and a social secirity card, was asked for her passport and in it given a B 2 tourist visa,” Epstein complained. (Epstein’s communications are littered with punctuation and spelling errors.) “The other passenger was stamped in as well , though they did not change her departure date.”
Heil offered to reach a supervisor “up there”, and said: “I apologize that you are experiencing these issues again.” It’s not clear what actions, if any, Heil took from there. Heil did not respond to queries from the Guardian.
Heil had been in direct communication with Epstein since at least 2014, documents show. An email from one of Epstein’s assistants suggests Heil was scheduled to visit Little St James by boat on 28 February 2014, though it’s not known whether the visit took place. Epstein regularly emailed or texted Heil about issues he had going through customs at various airports or to see if Heil was going to be on duty when he planned to depart STT.
The correspondence appears friendly. Epstein texted Heil a message of thanks on Christmas Day 2014. “It was my pleasure,” Heil responded the next day. “Feel free to utilize my not-so-insignificant IQ anytime, and also feel free to connect via social media. (We Brooklyn Boys stick together.)”
“Atta boy,” Epstein responded.
At one point during their text exchanges, Epstein, perhaps jokingly, invited Heil to “stop by at my house and I’ll make you an egg cream”. There is no evidence Heil took him up on the offer. On Christmas Eve 2016, Epstein texted Heil: “Just landed with your xmas cannolis . Where can I deliver them.” Heil was off work, so Epstein had his driver deliver the treats to Heil’s home. Twice, Epstein appears to have offered to bring Heil “something” from the mainland.
Epstein also regularly raised issues that he encountered with airport customs at STT and other US airports, and Heil said he was working to liaise with CBP officers in Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey on Epstein’s behalf. At times, Epstein discussed with Visoski whether they should ask Heil to approve overtime – in an apparent effort to arrange for Epstein to get pre-cleared outside of CBP’s regular hours.
In November 2016, Epstein texted Heil that one of his agents had been “nasty”. “I will speak to him!” Heil responded. “I will handle it, formally.”
Records of Epstein’s direct interactions with the six CBP officers are mingled amid the bold-faced names that have dominated coverage of Epstein’s circle of influence. A memorandum of Epstein’s May 2013 schedule, included in an email to Indyke, records appointments with Mort Zuckerman, Leon Black, Bob Kerrey, Joel Klein, Joi Ito, Woody and Soon Yi Allen, and Tom Pritzker – as well as “Customs Agent Bill Routch”.
Routch is the first CBP officer to appear in the files, chronologically. Epstein appears to have begun contacting him in late 2012 and invited him to visit Little St James “for coffee” on 21 May 2013. Routch acknowledged visiting the island but said it was to perform an agricultural inspection of some trees.
In 2014, Epstein made contact with Heil as well as another agent, Jeff McNally, whom Visoski had flagged as being “nice”. McNally was scheduled for lunch on Little St James in May 2014, according to an email from one of Epstein’s assistants, though it is not known whether he attended. McNally did not respond to queries from the Guardian.
In 2015, Epstein got the name of another agent, Glen Samuel, from Heil, and asked Samuel to perform steel pan drumming on the island. Emails from Epstein’s assistants show that Samuel was scheduled to perform on the island at least twice, and that in 2016 he proposed offering regular lessons to Epstein’s “guests”. It’s unclear if the lessons ever occurred. Samuel did not respond to queries from the Guardian.
Epstein had received assurance from Heil that Samuel was allowed to undertake outside employment, but Samuel appears to have declined payment. “Mr. Samuel says he does not intend to charge you,” one of Epstein’s assistants wrote in an email. “He considers you a friend and was doing this for you. If you wish to give him something, he is appreciative, but there is no fee.”
Heil also appears to have introduced Epstein to Gerardo (Gerry) Martinez, a CBP supervisor at the airport in Palm Beach, Florida. The files show regular communication between Epstein and Martinez throughout 2018, with Epstein often flagging his arrival at the airport and seeking to meet. Epstein also complained to Martinez after “your guys busted my balls” when he told CBP agents he was carrying $3,000 in cash but actually had $11,800. Epstein repeatedly followed up with questions about the regulations on carrying currency between the US Virgin Islands and mainland US, with Martinez sending the question “all the way to chief counsel”.
In March 2019, Epstein appears to have asked Martinez for help or advice in obtaining a new passport, writing: “can i call you , ? not sure =hat to do, i need to get a new passport with the sex identifier on =t. is it ok to travel back and forth to the Virigi= islands without a valid passport?” Epstein made three attempts to meet with Martinez at the airport in the ensuing weeks, though it’s not clear if they met or why Epstein would turn to a CBP officer for help obtaining a passport.
Martinez acknowledged interacting with Epstein when reached by the Guardian by phone, but did not immediately respond to further queries.
Epstein was arrested at Teterboro airport on federal sex-trafficking charges on 6 July 2019, after flying in from Paris.
The emails provide extensive communication between Epstein and a St Thomas CBP agent, Alford Richards, with whom Epstein arranged more than a dozen meetings between 2015 and 2019. It is not clear how many actually occurred.
The emails show that Richards and Epstein first spoke about finance in August 2015, while Richards was working at the airport. Epstein had his assistants follow up, emailing Richards a link to Khan Academy, an online education company, as well as the billionaire’s advice that Richards start with “basic finance courses first”. Richards initially communicated with Epstein’s assistants, seeking further instruction on finance and investments, but was soon emailing regularly with Epstein himself.
“I’m in action mode right now and have dedicated everyday to getting there,” he wrote to Epstein about his plans for “financial freedom” in October 2015, after a meeting at Epstein’s helicopter hangar. “I only take advice from you and every time we speak i take every thing literal and go out and do it. I know this is the COST I must endure to get where I want to get and I will ‘never’ give up.”
In an interview, Richards acknowledged his numerous interactions with Epstein, including through meetings at Epstein’s office and on his private island “a couple of times”, but sought to minimize the extent of the relationship. “It wasn’t anything in-depth,” Richards said. “It’s like, hey, this guy is rich, let me hear his opinions.” Epstein was well-known on the island as a billionaire, and Richards was “just trying to get some financial insight”, he said.
By email, Epstein counseled Richards to take accounting courses and had one of his assistants try to find Richards “hand-on experience” in accounting with a company on the island, through part-time work, an internship, or some kind of mentoring. The assistant contacted multiple local companies with which Epstein did business on Richards’ behalf.
Much of the advice Epstein gave was “stuff I already found out by reading my books”, Richards said, but it “felt good that little me, who is no one” was getting financial tips from a billionaire. The internship “never came to fruition”, he said. “He’d give me like, vague tips, and then that was it,” Richards said. “I just wanted some hints and to get better at my finances.”
Early in their interactions, Epstein tasked Richards with finding out whether the fuel supplier for commercial airlines at STT would also sell to him, calling it a “good project” for Richards. Richards made inquiries and responded within a day. (Richards recalled the incident and said Epstein’s request had been “over my head” and “out of my league”.) The pair shared links to articles about investment prospects (in Belize, bitcoin, immigration detention centers, and local real estate) and Richard’s shared a number of business proposals with Epstein. They regularly arranged to meet around Epstein’s travel schedule.
In June 2017, Epstein and Richards discussed a forthcoming auction of local real estate. Soon thereafter, Epstein emailed Richards: “as you have asked me for hard money loan , please ask your supervisor if we can continue this converation.”
Richards responded on 31 July 2017: “I spoke with my supervisor & was told that conversations on such a matter is ok, however, if I was to actually procure a hard money loan from you. It could or may be interpreted in a awkward way if I had to process you for official CBP travel business and the full terms of the transaction is not known or understood by certain individuals.”
Richards said that the request for a “hard-money loan” – a type of short-term loan typically used in real estate transactions – was not serious, but the result of him trying to “naively speak the jargon of a person that knows what they’re saying but not really knowing”. No actual loan was made, he said.
Richards said he never saw any hint of Epstein’s alleged crimes, which he described as “horrible” and “disgusting”.
“I just knew he was rich, and he had some issues with the law years ago,” he said. “To be associated with him is horrible, and I’m not that type of person. I can’t believe I actually was speaking to this horrible person, but you never know people’s life.”
On 30 August 2019, Routch stepped into his supervisor’s office in North Charleston, South Carolina, where he had worked since leaving the US Virgin Islands in 2016. “He respectfully requested to speak in confidence, closed the door, and appeared to be concerned, worried, and a bit shaken, about federal investigators looking into his past,” according to a CBP memo documenting the meeting.
It was just a few weeks since Epstein’s suicide in a New York City jail cell, and Routch had learned that a woman he had previously dated had alerted the FBI that Routch was “a known associate of Jeffery Epstein, had ongoing friendship with Mr. Epstein, and that while working for CBP Pre-Clearance in Saint Thomas for over 7 years, and assisted Mr Epstein for conducting human trafficking of underage females”, the memo states.
Asked how the woman would have known about this, Routch responded: “Everyone knew I was friends with Jeffery Epstein … I have been to his house, been on his boat, and flew in helicopter for whale watching.”
The memo was forwarded to the CBP Watch Commander, and then to an investigator with DHS’s inspector general’s office. The FBI opened a preliminary investigation on the matter on 10 October 2019.
The Guardian has not seen any evidence in the files to support the complainant’s allegation that Routch had direct knowledge or involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
Routch disputes the account of the opening of the investigation provided in the CBP memo. In emails to the Guardian, he claimed that there had never been any report by a woman to the FBI, and that instead his supervisor “fabricated a story to send to the FBI to glorify himself”.
“In the course of my employment I ran into Mr Epstein several times,” he said. “All my encounters were of a business nature … I never [witnessed] anything remotely related to trafficking.
“I have done nothing wrong,” he added.
Routch also told the Charleston Post and Courier this week he did not have a close relationship with Epstein.
In May 2020, federal prosecutors obtained subpoenas for credit checks on Routch.
A July 2020 email memorialized notes from an initial conversation between federal prosecutors and attorneys for Visoski, who was asked about Epstein’s contact with Routch. Visoski did not recall Routch, though he acknowledged having his contact information in his phone, but he named Heil, McNally and Samuel as CBP officers with whom Epstein had some kind of relationship. “Some inspectors would delay JE for a while, whereas McNally and Heil wouldn’t give him a hard time,” the notes state.
Federal prosecutors went on to subpoena credit reports for Heil, McNally and Samuel. There is no indication in the files that they ever investigated Richards or Martinez.
The FBI and federal prosecutors interviewed Visoski about Epstein’s interactions with CBP officers in November 2020. Visoski related Epstein’s practice of making “small talk” with CBP officers during pre-clearance and said he had given “one or two helicopter rides to CBP officers to EPSTEIN’s private island”, according to an FBI memo. Visoski also disclosed that Epstein had asked him to call a CBP officer “approximately 20 times” when he was arriving at STT after the CBP office closed, to ask whether it could remain open to process their plane. The officer “denied their request 80% of the time”, Visoski said.
The memo suggests that investigators were investigating CBP’s potential awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity.
“Sometimes EPSTEIN would be traveling with a female who had a foreign passport,” it states. “EPSTEIN would argue with CBP that this did not pose a CUSTOMS issue and that it was an immigration issue only … Some passengers on EPSTEIN’s plane were college students with a letter from their college stating their purpose for travel. When questioned by CBP, EPSTEIN would intervene and argue about the fact that the plane had not left United States territory. Sometimes a CBP officer would take the passenger into another room to be interviewed … VISOSKI was not aware of any special benefits or gifts given to any CBP officers. VISOSKI had no knowledge of any CBP officer assisting EPSTEIN in trafficking underage passengers.”
Routch was interviewed by the FBI and an agent from the DHS’s inspector general office on 7 April 2021. The memorandum of the interview provides insight into Epstein’s correspondence with individuals so far removed from his normal, elite circles.
Routch disputes much of what is contained in the memo, including the sequence of events that led to the investigation and the number of visits he made to Epstein’s island. He alleged that a CBP officer present during the interview “threaten[ed] me with physical violence” and that he was denied the right to have a union representative present during the interview.
Routch “thought it was a good idea to maintain contact with EPSTEIN because of his status, wealth and influence”, according to the memo. He “overly exaggerated” the relationship to others, showing people that he had Epstein’s contact in his phone, especially after his death. “It was an ego boost … because not everyone can say they know a billionaire,” according to the memo. He had not actually been whale watching on Epstein’s helicopter, though he may have lied about having done so to exaggerate the relationship, according to the memo.
According to the memo, Routch described ingratiating himself with Epstein through “mak[ing] sure he was being treated with fairness and respect by non-white US CBP personnel”, but said he never offered or received any special favors. Routch, who is white, told investigators that there was a “great deal of racial tension” in the Virgin Islands, and that “the ‘blacks’ disrespect the local white population”, prompting his concern for Epstein’s treatment. He said Epstein wanted to buy new computers for the CBP offices, as well as turkeys for CBP staff, but was told by a supervisor that they could not accept gifts.
Routch denied any knowledge or involvement with trafficking underage girls, but said he was aware of Epstein’s criminal conviction and that he assumed that “eastern European women who took commercial flights to the USVI” were heading for Epstein’s island, according to the memo. When he visited the island for lunch in 2013, he claimed to see “three or four ‘nice’, ‘beautiful’ women swimming and having fun” but “did not notice anything unusual nor did he notice anybody who appeared to be in trouble”.
“EPSTEIN always had older ladies with him, maybe in their 20s or 30s,” he said.
According to the memo, Routch visited Little St James a second time in 2014 or 2015 to inspect some trees Epstein had imported for spider mites.
By email, Routch insisted that only one visit occurred. “We had lunch and we discussed trees he was importing,” Routch wrote. Routch suggested that the FBI may have misconstrued a single visit as two; the memo clearly refers to two visits, a few years apart.
Routch “was aware of EPSTEIN’s conviction involving the abuse of minors but supported EPSTEIN because he was a good guy”, according to the memo. He said he had also “heard” that Epstein may have been framed by a secretary.
Ultimately, he told the FBI, he “stood by EPSTEIN as he would any friend, even though he was, in reality, more of an acquaintance”.
Richards said that the request for a “hard-money loan” – a type of short-term loan typically used in real estate transactions – was not serious, but the result of him trying to “naively speak the jargon of a person that knows what they’re saying but not really knowing”. No actual loan was made, he said.
Richards said he never saw any hint of Epstein’s alleged crimes, which he described as “horrible” and “disgusting”.
“I just knew he was rich, and he had some issues with the law years ago,” he said. “To be associated with him is horrible, and I’m not that type of person. I can’t believe I actually was speaking to this horrible person, but you never know people’s life.”
On 30 August 2019, Routch stepped into his supervisor’s office in North Charleston, South Carolina, where he had worked since leaving the US Virgin Islands in 2016. “He respectfully requested to speak in confidence, closed the door, and appeared to be concerned, worried, and a bit shaken, about federal investigators looking into his past,” according to a CBP memo documenting the meeting.
It was just a few weeks since Epstein’s suicide in a New York City jail cell, and Routch had learned that a woman he had previously dated had alerted the FBI that Routch was “a known associate of Jeffery Epstein, had ongoing friendship with Mr. Epstein, and that while working for CBP Pre-Clearance in Saint Thomas for over 7 years, and assisted Mr Epstein for conducting human trafficking of underage females”, the memo states.
Asked how the woman would have known about this, Routch responded: “Everyone knew I was friends with Jeffery Epstein … I have been to his house, been on his boat, and flew in helicopter for whale watching.”
The memo was forwarded to the CBP Watch Commander, and then to an investigator with DHS’s inspector general’s office. The FBI opened a preliminary investigation on the matter on 10 October 2019.
The Guardian has not seen any evidence in the files to support the complainant’s allegation that Routch had direct knowledge or involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
Routch disputes the account of the opening of the investigation provided in the CBP memo. In emails to the Guardian, he claimed that there had never been any report by a woman to the FBI, and that instead his supervisor “fabricated a story to send to the FBI to glorify himself”.
“In the course of my employment I ran into Mr Epstein several times,” he said. “All my encounters were of a business nature … I never [witnessed] anything remotely related to trafficking.
“I have done nothing wrong,” he added.
Routch also told the Charleston Post and Courier this week he did not have a close relationship with Epstein.
In May 2020, federal prosecutors obtained subpoenas for credit checks on Routch.
A July 2020 email memorialized notes from an initial conversation between federal prosecutors and attorneys for Visoski, who was asked about Epstein’s contact with Routch. Visoski did not recall Routch, though he acknowledged having his contact information in his phone, but he named Heil, McNally and Samuel as CBP officers with whom Epstein had some kind of relationship. “Some inspectors would delay JE for a while, whereas McNally and Heil wouldn’t give him a hard time,” the notes state.
Federal prosecutors went on to subpoena credit reports for Heil, McNally and Samuel. There is no indication in the files that they ever investigated Richards or Martinez.
The FBI and federal prosecutors interviewed Visoski about Epstein’s interactions with CBP officers in November 2020. Visoski related Epstein’s practice of making “small talk” with CBP officers during pre-clearance and said he had given “one or two helicopter rides to CBP officers to EPSTEIN’s private island”, according to an FBI memo. Visoski also disclosed that Epstein had asked him to call a CBP officer “approximately 20 times” when he was arriving at STT after the CBP office closed, to ask whether it could remain open to process their plane. The officer “denied their request 80% of the time”, Visoski said.
The memo suggests that investigators were investigating CBP’s potential awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity.
“Sometimes EPSTEIN would be traveling with a female who had a foreign passport,” it states. “EPSTEIN would argue with CBP that this did not pose a CUSTOMS issue and that it was an immigration issue only … Some passengers on EPSTEIN’s plane were college students with a letter from their college stating their purpose for travel. When questioned by CBP, EPSTEIN would intervene and argue about the fact that the plane had not left United States territory. Sometimes a CBP officer would take the passenger into another room to be interviewed … VISOSKI was not aware of any special benefits or gifts given to any CBP officers. VISOSKI had no knowledge of any CBP officer assisting EPSTEIN in trafficking underage passengers.”
Routch was interviewed by the FBI and an agent from the DHS’s inspector general office on 7 April 2021. The memorandum of the interview provides insight into Epstein’s correspondence with individuals so far removed from his normal, elite circles.
Routch disputes much of what is contained in the memo, including the sequence of events that led to the investigation and the number of visits he made to Epstein’s island. He alleged that a CBP officer present during the interview “threaten[ed] me with physical violence” and that he was denied the right to have a union representative present during the interview.
Routch “thought it was a good idea to maintain contact with EPSTEIN because of his status, wealth and influence”, according to the memo. He “overly exaggerated” the relationship to others, showing people that he had Epstein’s contact in his phone, especially after his death. “It was an ego boost … because not everyone can say they know a billionaire,” according to the memo. He had not actually been whale watching on Epstein’s helicopter, though he may have lied about having done so to exaggerate the relationship, according to the memo.
According to the memo, Routch described ingratiating himself with Epstein through “mak[ing] sure he was being treated with fairness and respect by non-white US CBP personnel”, but said he never offered or received any special favors. Routch, who is white, told investigators that there was a “great deal of racial tension” in the Virgin Islands, and that “the ‘blacks’ disrespect the local white population”, prompting his concern for Epstein’s treatment. He said Epstein wanted to buy new computers for the CBP offices, as well as turkeys for CBP staff, but was told by a supervisor that they could not accept gifts.
Routch denied any knowledge or involvement with trafficking underage girls, but said he was aware of Epstein’s criminal conviction and that he assumed that “eastern European women who took commercial flights to the USVI” were heading for Epstein’s island, according to the memo. When he visited the island for lunch in 2013, he claimed to see “three or four ‘nice’, ‘beautiful’ women swimming and having fun” but “did not notice anything unusual nor did he notice anybody who appeared to be in trouble”.
“EPSTEIN always had older ladies with him, maybe in their 20s or 30s,” he said.
According to the memo, Routch visited Little St James a second time in 2014 or 2015 to inspect some trees Epstein had imported for spider mites.
By email, Routch insisted that only one visit occurred. “We had lunch and we discussed trees he was importing,” Routch wrote. Routch suggested that the FBI may have misconstrued a single visit as two; the memo clearly refers to two visits, a few years apart.
Routch “was aware of EPSTEIN’s conviction involving the abuse of minors but supported EPSTEIN because he was a good guy”, according to the memo. He said he had also “heard” that Epstein may have been framed by a secretary.
Ultimately, he told the FBI, he “stood by EPSTEIN as he would any friend, even though he was, in reality, more of an acquaintance”.
Feb 21, 2026
Epstein Files
Even though these pictures are heavily redacted, and the enlargements are blurry, they're very graphic.
Big Trigger Warning
We have to get this shit out in the open, and the people who're responsible for it have to be put away for a very long time.
And we can do it all simultaneously with burning down the Epstein Class as a whole. We've allowed people with enormous wealth to become almost totally bulletproof. That has to end.
Tax billionaires
and centimillionaires
out of existence
Feb 18, 2026
The View From Outside
Kinda pisses me off that we have to go abroad to find a little traction on this Epstein shit - especially when I have to go to a news outlet sponsored by people who'd just as soon see us all fry. But here we are.
UN panel says Epstein abuses may constitute ‘crimes against humanity’
Experts say newly recently released documents show the need for an independent investigation into Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.
A group of United Nations experts have suggested that abuses carried out by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could meet the definition of crimes against humanity.
On Tuesday, the independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released a statement in response to the millions of files released by the United States government related to criminal investigations into Epstein.
They explained that the records tell a story of dehumanisation, racism and corruption.
“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the experts wrote.
The UNHRC panel called for an investigation into allegations around Epstein and his associates, who include prominent figures in global politics, business, science and culture.
They added that the revelations from the files suggest a “global criminal enterprise”.
“All the allegations contained in the ‘Epstein Files’ are egregious in nature and require independent, thorough, and impartial investigation, as well as inquiries to determine how such crimes could have taken place for so long,” the experts said.
The latest condemnation follows the January 30 release of 3.5 million pages of files from the US government’s records on Epstein.
The files were required to be released as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation signed into law in November.
The act gave the US government 30 days to publish all of its Epstein-related documents in a searchable format, obscuring information only to protect victims’ privacy.
But the 30-day deadline came and went, with only a partial release of the files. Even the January 30 publication has been criticised as incomplete, with reports indicating that there could be more than 6 million files in the government’s possession.
The newly released documents have revealed new details about Epstein’s relationships with influential figures, but few have faced accountability.
Critics have argued that Epstein himself faced scant legal consequences for the sex crimes he perpetuated. He reached a plea deal in Florida in 2008, wherein he pleaded guilty to soliciting a child for prostitution and sex trafficking, but he only served 13 months in custody.
He was in jail in 2019, facing federal charges, when he died by suicide in his cell.
Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been sentenced to more than 20 years for her role in the sex trafficking scheme.
In Tuesday’s statement, the experts on the UN panel slammed the heavy redactions in the Epstein files that appear to shield the identities of powerful figures.
“The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations, has left many survivors feeling retraumatized and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting’,” the UN experts said.
Their criticism echoes similar accusations in the US. Lawmakers there have argued that the administration of President Donald Trump, a former friend of Epstein, has defied the November law by redacting documents beyond the guidelines set out by Congress.
The experts also noted that there appeared to be “botched redactions that exposed sensitive victim information”. They added that more must be done to ensure justice for the survivors.
“Any suggestion that it is time to move on from the ‘Epstein files’ is unacceptable. It represents a failure of responsibility towards victims,” they said.
Experts say newly recently released documents show the need for an independent investigation into Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.
A group of United Nations experts have suggested that abuses carried out by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could meet the definition of crimes against humanity.
On Tuesday, the independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released a statement in response to the millions of files released by the United States government related to criminal investigations into Epstein.
They explained that the records tell a story of dehumanisation, racism and corruption.
“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the experts wrote.
The UNHRC panel called for an investigation into allegations around Epstein and his associates, who include prominent figures in global politics, business, science and culture.
They added that the revelations from the files suggest a “global criminal enterprise”.
“All the allegations contained in the ‘Epstein Files’ are egregious in nature and require independent, thorough, and impartial investigation, as well as inquiries to determine how such crimes could have taken place for so long,” the experts said.
The latest condemnation follows the January 30 release of 3.5 million pages of files from the US government’s records on Epstein.
The files were required to be released as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation signed into law in November.
The act gave the US government 30 days to publish all of its Epstein-related documents in a searchable format, obscuring information only to protect victims’ privacy.
But the 30-day deadline came and went, with only a partial release of the files. Even the January 30 publication has been criticised as incomplete, with reports indicating that there could be more than 6 million files in the government’s possession.
The newly released documents have revealed new details about Epstein’s relationships with influential figures, but few have faced accountability.
Critics have argued that Epstein himself faced scant legal consequences for the sex crimes he perpetuated. He reached a plea deal in Florida in 2008, wherein he pleaded guilty to soliciting a child for prostitution and sex trafficking, but he only served 13 months in custody.
He was in jail in 2019, facing federal charges, when he died by suicide in his cell.
Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been sentenced to more than 20 years for her role in the sex trafficking scheme.
In Tuesday’s statement, the experts on the UN panel slammed the heavy redactions in the Epstein files that appear to shield the identities of powerful figures.
“The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations, has left many survivors feeling retraumatized and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting’,” the UN experts said.
Their criticism echoes similar accusations in the US. Lawmakers there have argued that the administration of President Donald Trump, a former friend of Epstein, has defied the November law by redacting documents beyond the guidelines set out by Congress.
The experts also noted that there appeared to be “botched redactions that exposed sensitive victim information”. They added that more must be done to ensure justice for the survivors.
“Any suggestion that it is time to move on from the ‘Epstein files’ is unacceptable. It represents a failure of responsibility towards victims,” they said.
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