The US agency has reportedly not found sufficient proof to corroborate claims that the disgraced financier ‘lent out’ girls to his friends
The FBI has found no evidence indicating that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was running a sex-trafficking ring, the Associated Press has reported.
Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, having been found guilty in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution. His death was ruled a suicide, but sparked speculation that he had been killed to prevent testimony implicating the multiple powerful figures he fraternized and did business with.
Last month, the US Department of Justice released over 3 million pages of documents from the Epstein Estate, some 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images along with the details of his relations with prominent political, business, and tech leaders, including Elon Musk, Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates.
In an article on Sunday, AP reported that after years of scouring Epstein’s bank records and emails and searching his properties, the FBI “found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men.”
Citing a “review of internal Justice Department records,” AP claimed that US federal authorities had recovered proof incriminating solely Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell in the sexual exploitation and abuse of the victims, including underage girls.
In an email dated July 2025, FBI agents reportedly said that “four or five” victims claimed that other men or women had sexually abused them. However, there “was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals,” according to AP.
In February 2025, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Epstein’s “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now.” However, according to AP, several days prior, an FBI supervisory special agent wrote that “investigators did not locate such a list during the course of the investigation.”
Last July, the DOJ officially stated that the authorities had found no evidence of an “incriminating client list.” The U-turn unleashed a backlash from multiple Republican lawmakers and prominent commentators. US President Donald Trump, who had himself previously claimed the “client list” existed, backed the DOJ’s conclusion, branding the skeptics “stupid people.”