JAIL guards at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan lockup used a fake body to dupe reporters after his death, newly unsealed files claim.
According to internal records, staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center staged the apparent ruse due to a massive media presence following Epstein’s suicide in August 2019.
Jail guards at Jeffrey Epstein’s lockup allegedly used a fake body to dupe reporters after his deathCredit: AP:Associated Press
Police officers pictured in 2019 covering a medical examiner car outside New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital, where Jeffrey Epstein’s body was transported to from prisonCredit: Reuters
Internal records released in the latest batch of Epstein files detail how officers tricked the many journalists outside the prison where Epstein was inCredit: Department of Justice
A supervisor reportedly told FBI agents that officers devised the plan to mislead journalists gathered outside the jail – and Epstein’s real body was quietly driven out of the prison.
The files allege guards arranged boxes and sheets to resemble a human body and loaded the decoy into a white van marked as belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Reporters then followed the vehicle as it left the prison.
Meanwhile, Epstein’s actual corpse was allegedly placed into a separate black vehicle that departed the facility “unnoticed,” allowing officers to transport the corpse privately.
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One interview note states that because of the “large news media presence,” staff devised a plan to “thwart” reporters.
According to the document, officers “used boxes and sheets to create what appeared to be a human body, which was put into the white OCME vehicle which the press followed, allowing the black vehicle to depart unnoticed with EPSTEIN’s body.”
The records say the alleged deception followed a warning from an official about the scale of the media crowd.
He reportedly told guards he would arrive at the loading dock with a black vehicle to remove the body separately.
The newly released material forms part of a tranche of around three million documents that include details on how officers responded in the hours after Epstein’s death.
After he was pronounced dead at hospital, his body was returned to federal custody at the prison while arrangements were made for its transfer to the medical examiner.
Other sections describe how officers were stationed at a secure facility linked to the jail, where Epstein’s body was guarded while fingerprinting and other procedures were carried out.
The files also highlight a handwritten note found in Epstein’s cell, which investigators said was “difficult to read” and was not treated as a suicide note by the medical examiner.
The note appeared to list grievances about jail conditions, including complaints about food, showers and bugs.
Epstein was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre on sex trafficking charges when he was found unresponsive in his cell early on August 10, 2019.
Epstein’s cell was pictured in disarray after his body was removedCredit: 60 Minutes/CBS
His cell was taped off after he was found unresponsiveCredit: 60 Minutes/CBS
He was being detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower ManhattanCredit: Getty – Contributor
Guards attempted CPR before he was rushed to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging, a conclusion that has been repeatedly questioned following multiple failures inside the jail.
Those included guards falling asleep on duty, missed welfare checks at 3am and 5am, and malfunctioning surveillance cameras outside his cell.
Investigators later confirmed at least two cameras were not functioning properly that night, leaving critical gaps in visual monitoring and preventing officials from establishing a definitive timeline of Epstein’s final moments.
It comes as newly released FBI files also raise fresh questions about activity near Epstein’s cell on the night he died.
Surveillance footage reportedly shows a mysterious orange figure moving toward his prison area, potentially contradicting the long-standing official account.
An FBI report noted that at 10.39pm on August 9, 2019, agents observed that “a flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs – could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier.”
The inspector general appeared to disagree, writing: “Inmates are currently on lockdown, it is possible someone is carrying inmate linen or bedding up.”
Both assessments clash with public statements made by senior officials at the time.
Former US attorney general Bill Barr claimed he reviewed the footage and confirmed no one entered Epstein’s prison area.
Forensic experts have suggested the orange figure may have been another inmate.
Retired NYPD sergeant Conor McCourt told CBS: “Based on the limited video, it’s more likely a person in an [orange] uniform.”
Video forensic expert Jim Safford and colleagues added: “To say that there’s no way that someone could get to that, the stairs up to his room, without being seen is false.”
Another mystery plaguing experts and conspiracy theorists is a suspicious missing minute from the tapes.
Around 11 hours of “full raw” CCTV footage was released.
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But forensic analysis soon showed the video was edited numerous times over several hours – with a minute missing.
The time code on the screen jumped forward just before it struck midnight.
