An orange shape was spotted on surveillance footage near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell on the final night of his life — and forensic experts are questioning the federal government’s explanation of the mysterious object.
The shadowy object, seen in video obtained and reviewed by CBS News, moves up the stairs to Epstein’s cell block at the Metropolitan Correctional Center around 10:40 p.m. the night before the 66-year-old convicted sex trafficker was found hanged.
Federal investigators previously concluded the pixelated blob was a corrections officer “carrying linen or inmate clothing,” but forensic experts who spoke to the network as part of an investigation into the jail video now suspect it may have actually been a jumpsuit clad inmate.
“Based on the limited video, it’s more likely a person in an [orange] uniform,” Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, told CBS.
Epstein was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019 and an official autopsy, as well as a joint DOJ-FBI probe, found that the disgraced financier killed himself by hanging.
But the forensic experts who spoke to CBS News believe there are significant flaws in the Justice Department’s official review of the convicted sex trafficker’s death.
While the FBI claimed surveillance cameras would have captured anyone entering or exiting the area where the billionaire was held, footage released by the DOJ revealed that the staircase is almost entirely out of view, the outlet’s analysis found.
The entrance to Epstein’s cell is also outside the camera’s field of view.
“To say that there’s no way that someone could get to that, the stairs up to his room, without being seen is false,” video forensic expert Jim Safford told CBS, with his view shared by four other leading experts.
The footage also doesn’t appear to be raw, with the outlet reporting it’s likely a screen recording — evidenced by a cursor and menu visible on the screen. The video feed also skipped ahead a full minute just before midnight, and its aspect ratio abruptly shifted.
The Office of the Inspector General responded to the theories raised by CBS, stating they have not modified or changed their conclusion based on the recent analysis into the sexual predator’s death.
“Our comprehensive assessment of the circumstances over the weeks, days, and hours before Epstein’s death included the effects of the longstanding, chronic staffing crisis in the [Bureau of Prisons] and the BOP’s failure to provide and maintain quality camera coverage within its facilities,” the statement to the outlet read.
“As CBS notes, nothing in its analysis changed or modified the OIG’s conclusions or recommendations.”
A furor and fresh wave of public fascination over Epstein’s death erupted earlier this month when the DOJ confirmed there was no evidence he was murdered in his lockup — despite years of conspiracy theorists claiming otherwise — just weeks after being charged with sex trafficking dozens of girls.
The Justice Department and FBI also said, via their investigation, that Epstein didn’t have an incriminating “client list.”
President Trump has since urged Americans to stop wasting “time and energy” on the disgraced financier.
Last week, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell for two days of questioning about the case, with her attorney publicly angling for a pardon or sentence commutation from the president.
Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison as Epstein’s accomplice.
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