The Department of Justice on Monday released a fake video that purported to show convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s death by his own hands. The clip was part of the latest batch of files the Trump Administration released related to Epstein, but was later taken down without an explanation from the department.
The fake video apparently made it into the FBI’s Epstein files because someone had emailed it to the bureau with a query asking if it was real. According to analysis by Wired magazine, the 12-second video appeared to match footage uploaded to YouTube in 2019 with a description that read “rendering 3D graphics”; other outlets, including the BBC, said they had traced the video back to footage posted on the platform in 2020. A document that was posted just before the video in the Department of Justice’s initial release includes a message from outside the government asking if the video is real, Wired wrote.
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The Department of Justice did not respond to a request from TIME on Tuesday about why the footage was removed, or why it was released in the first place.
The fake footage was shared widely on social media Monday and has been cited as an example of the challenges the Department of Justice has faced as it works to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law on Nov. 19, giving the department 30 days to make public all of its case files about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Senior leaders at the agency have expressed difficulty with complying with the law, which requires reviewing hundreds of thousands of documents and redacting information that could compromise the privacy of victims or ongoing investigations. Critics have accused the agency of engaging in a cover-up for not releasing all of the files by the deadline, and for some of its redactions.
Some of Trump’s allies had spent years stoking conspiracy theories that Epstein, who apparently died by suicide in his cell in August 2019, was murdered in advance of his trial on sex-trafficking charges. Now, the team Trump put in charge of the FBI and the Department of Justice has had to face the skepticism some of them helped foment.
In July, the FBI and Department of Justice released a report that concluded Epstein had died by suicide. That report said investigators had reviewed 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence and found “no incriminating ‘client list’” and no evidence that would warrant new criminal charges. The review found that Epstein harmed over 1,000 victims and said that sensitive information about those victims is included in the case materials. “One of our highest priorities is combatting child exploitation and bringing justice to victims,” the report states. “Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends.”
On the Department of Justice website, the thousands of files released so far are posted under the headline “Epstein Library.” The files include grand jury transcripts, as well as photos from Epstein’s New York City townhouse and private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and of various public figures who appeared at events with Epstein.
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