Jeffrey Epstein's chilling final message sent hours before his death uncovered
Jeffrey Epstein sent a final eerie message to a close confidant, saying he was 'just hanging around' hours before taking his own life.
The prophetic note was handed to author Michael Wolff before the paedophile, who had been friends with Prince Andrew, was found dead in his cell. The writer claimed the disgraced financier contacted him through a lawyer on the night before he was found hanged in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York in August 2019.
'I believe that I got the last message from him before he died,' Wolff said. 'And this came through one of his lawyers on a Friday evening. He died on Saturday morning. His message to me hours before this happened was, and it was just in response to me asking how he was, and he said, 'Still hanging around.''
The convicted sex trafficker, who was close to Prince Andrew and many other powerful men, knew Wolff well and had asked him in 2014 if he would consider writing a book about him. The author declined.
A 2023 report by the US Department of Justice concluded Epstein died by suicide, but the circumstances surrounding his death have long fuelled conspiracy theories, with critics insisting he may have been murdered to silence him. Donald Trump, a former friend of Epstein, vowed during his White House campaign to release the so-called 'Epstein files'.
But on Monday, the Justice Department said there was no evidence Epstein kept a list of clients or that he had been murdered, sparking fury among Trump's base. The news triggered a backlash from MAGA supporters, who targeted Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to deliver on promises that the full truth would be revealed.
For Wolff, who spoke on The Daily Beast Podcast, Epstein's death remains a mystery. 'He could not, as described, have killed himself,' he said. 'As the circumstances presented, he could not have been murdered.'
Asked for his own theory, he added: 'I don't know.' Suspicion that Epstein's death was a cover-up has continued, with many alleging he was silenced to protect powerful associates named by his victims. Among those linked to Epstein were Andrew, former President Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump.
In 2017, Wolff interviewed Epstein while researching his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Epstein reportedly told him: 'I was Donald's closest friend for 10 years.' Although Trump's team dismissed the claim as 'false smears' and 'election interference,' the former president has publicly acknowledged knowing the Wall Street financier.
In a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, Trump said: 'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.'
Responding to Wolff's comments, Trump's communications director Steven Cheung launched a blistering attack on the author. He told the Daily Beast: 'Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s*** and has been proven to be a fraud.
"He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain."
Wolff also claimed that Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign chief, once joked to Epstein. The closure of the FBI's investigation into Epstein came just weeks after Elon Musk claimed Trump's name appeared in the long-awaited files on the sex offender, which will no longer be released.
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They returned just one single count of soliciting prostitution. July 2006 - The case is referred to the FBI by the Florida Palm Beach police who were unhappy with how the case was handled. 2007 - Epstein's lawyers meet with Miami's top federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta, who would later become the Secretary of Labor in the Trump administration. They secretly negotiate the 'deal of a lifetime'. June 2008 - After pleading guilty to two prostitution charges, the millionaire was sentenced to 18 months in a low-security prison in exchange for prosecutors ending their investigation into his sex acts with minors and give him immunity from future prosecution related to those charges. In reality, Epstein was able to work from his office six days a week while supposedly incarcerated at the jail. July 2008 - Accusers learned of the deal for the first time. July 2009 - Epstein is released from jail five months early. July 2018 - The Miami Herald publishes investigative journalist Julie K. Brown's exposé on Epstein's long history of alleged sexual abuse and news of the 'deal of a lifetime' after Acosta was made Labor Secretary. February 2019 - The justice department opens an internal review into Epstein's plea deal. July 7, 2019 - Epstein is arrested after his private jet lands at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport from Paris. At the same time, federal agents break into his Manhattan townhouse where they uncovered hundreds of photographs of naked minors. July 8, 2019 - Epstein is charged with sex trafficking charges which detail how he created a network of underage girls in Florida and New York, paying girls as young as 14 to provide 'massages and sex acts.' The charges carry a sentence of up to 45 years in prison. July 11, 2019 - More than a dozen women, not previously known to law enforcement, came forward to accuse him of sex abuse. July 24 - Epstein was found unconscious in his cell after an apparent suicide attempt. 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