A false video purporting to show Jeffrey Epstein committing suicide in his jail cell is circulating on social media after it was discovered in a massive Justice Department document dump.
A grainy 12-second clip shows a white-haired man wearing an orange prison jumpsuit kneeling on the floor of his cell and appearing to try to suffocate himself. The video is timestamped at 4:29 a.m. on August 10, 2019, just two hours before Epstein’s body was found with a noose around his neck at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Facility.
But the clip has been posted on YouTube since 2020, and the original poster noted in the caption that they made the video by “rendering 3D graphics.” A government official also confirmed to the New York Post that the clip was faked. The information has since been removed from the Ministry of Justice website.
Authorities say Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019. /Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
Social media sleuths pieced together a trove of Epstein documents released Friday to pinpoint the video’s origins.
The video appears to come from a letter written by an individual to investigators in an attempt to confirm its authenticity.
“Dear Investigators, Saw a video purportedly of Epstein’s suicide (leaked by an anonymous source),” the person wrote, along with a link to the YouTube video. “Is this true???”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Epstein’s death while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges has long been the center of controversy and conspiracy.
In July, the Justice Department further fueled the frenzied speculation by releasing nearly 11 hours of CCTV footage from the Metropolitan Correctional Institution on the day of Epstein’s death to support the theory that he committed suicide.
However, the footage, which is said to be complete and unedited, is missing a full minute from 11:59 p.m. to 12 a.m., which Attorney General Pam Bondi explained was caused by nightly system resets. A later forensic analysis by Wired found that the “missing minute” actually lasted 2 minutes and 53 seconds.
The much-sought-after minute came two months later during another crash, debunking Bundy’s claims. There is little in the video other than guards working near Epstein’s cell.
President Donald Trump, a longtime friend of Epstein’s, continued to distance himself from the convicted sex offender on Monday, claiming “everyone was nice to the guy.”
“He’s around. He’s all over Palm Beach and other places,” he told reporters. “I actually kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago.”