On Monday, the Department of Justice published a fabricated video claiming to depict the suicide of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The footage was included in the most recent Epstein-related materials released by the Trump Administration, but was subsequently removed without any statement from the department.
The fraudulent video apparently entered the FBI’s Epstein files after someone emailed it to the bureau asking whether it was authentic. Per analysis by magazine, the 12-second clip appeared to match footage uploaded to YouTube in 2019 described as “rendering 3D graphics”; other outlets, including the , reported tracing the video back to material posted on the platform in 2020. A document released just before the video in the Department of Justice’s initial publication contains a message from outside the government inquiring about the video’s authenticity, according to Wired.
The Department of Justice declined to answer TIME’s inquiry on Tuesday regarding the reasons for the footage’s removal or its initial publication.
The fabricated footage spread extensively across social media on Monday and has been highlighted as an illustration of the difficulties the Department of Justice has encountered in complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. President Trump enacted this legislation on Nov. 19, mandating the department to disclose all case files concerning Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days.
Top officials at the agency have stated that complying with the law is challenging, as it necessitates reviewing hundreds of thousands of documents and censoring details that might jeopardize victim privacy or active investigations. Critics have charged the agency with for failing to release all files by the deadline and for certain redactions.
Certain allies of Trump had long promoted conspiracy theories suggesting that Epstein—who apparently took his own life in his cell in August 2019—was actually murdered before his sex-trafficking trial. Now, the officials Trump appointed to lead the FBI and Department of Justice must confront the doubts they helped create.
In July, the FBI and Department of Justice issued a report concluding that Epstein’s death was a suicide. That stated that investigators examined 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence, discovering “no incriminating ‘client list'” and no proof justifying new criminal charges. The assessment determined that Epstein victimized more than 1,000 individuals and noted that confidential information about those victims appears in the case files. “One of our highest priorities is combatting child exploitation and bringing justice to victims,” the report declares. “Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends.”
On the Department of Justice website, the thousands of documents published to date are organized under the heading “Epstein Library.” The materials comprise grand jury transcripts, along with photographs from Epstein’s New York City residence and private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as images of various public figures who attended events with Epstein.
