FBI concluded Jeffrey Epstein wasn't running a sex trafficking ring for powerful men, files show

[Omaha Steve]

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 Epstein’s bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the world’s 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 Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didn’t depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

An examination of Epstein’s 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]

1. What load of bullshit

Anything that comes from this maladminstration is a lie

[FakeNoose]

2. Was this before or after Bill Barr destroyed the evidence?

Asking for a country....

[underpants]

3. Captives don't have to be told what's expected of them.

[Ritabert]

4. Whitewashing at its finest.

[._.]

5. Seriously?

Not your fathers FBI..

[quaint]

19. It's J. Edgar Hoover's on steroids.

[MLWR]

6. So, I guess all those politicians in Europe who are resigning from their posts

just want to "spend more time with their families."

[patphil]

7. Just one more example of the FBI's lack of credibility under Trump.

The victims tell a different story.

[raccoon]

8. It's now official that there ain't a cow in Texas.

[AZJonnie]

9. That is what I've also concluded after carefully watching the whole story unfold

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]

11. I have to ask...

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]

23. Yes I have, and yes I have paid a considerable attention to details, though I may've missed something

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]

14. Did you forget the sarcsm thingy?

[bluestarone]

16. First thing i thought of after reading your post

Don't ever hire YOU as a lawyer.

[AZJonnie]

24. Yes, I suppose I'd be as terrible at it as 17 years worth of federal prosecutors across 5 POTUS terms (nt)

[usonian]

10. And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime

Bullshit.

[oldmanlynn]

12. I can't believe the AP would report that

Obviously, they’re taking something from the DOJ that’s been whitewashed and reporting on it as if it’s all true

[Pas-de-Calais]

13. Bovine Excrement!

[catrose]

15. Not Borowitz or The Onion

[SunSeeker]

17. The same FBI that found no evidence of sexual abuse by Bret Kavanaugh.

Because they didn't interview anyone!

It's easy to find nothing if you look for nothing.

[malthaussen]

18. The FBI might very well have concluded this.

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]

20. Sounds more like they aren't incorruptible.

[malthaussen]

21. I won't quibble. n/t

[yaesu]

22. This is the type of BS we can expect from the newly revamped Fascist Bureau of Intimidation. nt

[Vinca]

25. Let me guess. It was just a different kind of chapter of the Boy Scouts and they were working on a merit badge.

[purr-rat beauty]

26. Wait, what? They're gonna push this bullshit?

They truly are that stupid to think we are that stupid

[Escape]

27. We need the names of the FBI people who said this...

...Their exact names and positions in their departments.

[Scrivener7]

28. Sure, Jan.