Jeffrey Epstein recorded footage from what appeared to be a hidden camera in his home office in Palm Beach, Fla., according to video clips in the vast trove of files recently released by the Justice Department.
The grainy clips, many less than a minute long, provide a clear view of Mr. Epstein’s desk, and some show him sitting behind it. In a handful of videos, other people mill around or sit on the desk. In one, a woman kneels by Mr. Epstein, who has his feet on the desk.
The poor quality of the footage, which was first reported by Channel 4 News in Britain, obscures the identities of most of the people filmed. It is unclear when the footage was recorded, but in 2005, the police raided his Palm Beach home and found a camera hidden inside a clock in Mr. Epstein’s office. They found another near his garage.
Some of Mr. Epstein’s victims have said they believed that he had an extensive network of hidden cameras in his homes in Florida, New York and possibly elsewhere, fueling speculation that he was compiling damaging information about the rich and powerful men with whom he associated.
Mr. Epstein had claimed the hidden office camera was for his security. A detective with the Palm Beach Police Department said in a 2010 deposition that Mr. Epstein had told him that he set it up because he believed someone was stealing from him.
Several years later, in February 2014, Mr. Epstein instructed one of his employees, a pilot in Florida who at times helped set up electronics for Mr. Epstein, to buy “three motion detected hidden cameras.” The employee replied that he had already bought two of the cameras and was installing them inside Kleenex boxes.
In 2019, Mr. Epstein also had at least three surveillance cameras mounted in his bedroom and adjoining rooms in his townhouse in New York, according to photos previously published by The New York Times. A room on the ground floor, with a sign on the door that read “24 Hour Video Surveillance,” contained monitors with video feeds from surveillance cameras.
The presence of the cameras in Mr. Epstein’s living area conflicts with what federal prosecutors in New York said last year. In a memo to top F.B.I. officials, they said they had not found surveillance cameras in Mr. Epstein’s bedroom or anywhere else besides the town house’s entryway.
Jane Bradley is an investigative reporter on the International desk. She is based in London, where she focuses on abuses of power, national security and crime, and social injustices.
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