Overview More than 20 years after a woman named Maria Farmer first reported Jeffrey Epstein and his associates to the FBI in 1996 for molesting children, the federal government finally arrested Epstein in 2019 for “sex trafficking of minors.” Only five weeks later, this uber-wealthy financier with hordes of friends in high places was dead. In the weeks leading up to Epstein’s death, an array of people predicted that unless Epstein was heavily guarded in prison, he would likely be killed to keep him silent. Several first-hand witnesses had implicated powerful people in Epstein’s child sex crimes, and journalists had reported that Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and was likely engaged in sexual blackmail, a tactic of intelligence agencies like the FBI and CIA. Despite those suspicious circumstances, dozens of media outlets are reporting there’s no evidence of foul play in Epstein’s death based on a recent report by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice—Obama appointee Michael Horowitz. ABC News, for example, claims the report proves “Epstein died by suicide” and “foul play was not possible.” In reality, the Horowitz Report presents more than a dozen facts consistent with the conclusion that Epstein died of a coerced and abetted suicide. Combined with corroborating primary sources like court filings, it is clear that federal officials repeatedly endangered Epstein’s life and systematically mishandled evidence that could incriminate others in his death and sex crimes. The facts—documented below with photos and more than 100 quotes primarily from the Horowitz Report and other government and legal documents—show that the following events took place:
