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Daily Mail
31-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Mystery orange blob on the last jail footage of Jeffrey Epstein before he 'hanged himself' sparks new questions over his death
Forensic experts are questioning the US government's account of what happened on the last night of Jeffrey Epstein's life, after a new review of CCTV footage uncovered a mystery orange shape near his prison cell hours before he died. Nearly 11 hours of video from outside the cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York was finally released this month - six years after the paedophile financier was found dead. After he was found unresponsive in his jail cell on August 10, 2019, coroners at the time ruled that Epstein had hanged himself. But a new analysis carried out by CBS News has raised questions over whether this assessment was correct. In the 11-hour clip, which is already facing accusations of being doctored, a shadowy, orange object could be seen moving up the stairs to Epstein's cell block at the New York prison at around 10.40pm the night before he was found dead. While federal investigators initially concluded that the blob, which can only be seen briefly, was a corrections officer 'carrying linen or inmate clothing', forensic experts told CBS that it may have actually been another inmate. Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, told the broadcaster: 'Based on the limited video, it's more likely a person in an [orange] uniform.' Trump's administration is already under fire for allegedly doctoring the supposedly 'raw' footage using Adobe Premiere Pro from two clips. One of the clips was originally four hours and 19 minutes long, but it had nearly two minutes and 53 seconds cut out. The cut occurs at 11:58:58 pm - which is mere milliseconds before there is a one-minute gap in the tape. The second clip resumes at midnight on the dot. Attorney General Pam Bondi blamed the gap on a 'nightly system reset.' Though the timing may suggest overlap, the metadata shows that the file was modified multiple times on May 23, 2025, over a span of more than three hours, contradicting the notion that this was 'raw' footage. WIRED pressed the DOJ for comment on the edits, and a spokesperson replied in minutes, saying 'Refer you to the FBI'. The FBI then declined to comment. The latest confusion over the tape comes after the Mail revealed that Maxwell was grilled about Prince Andrew during her nine-hour meeting with the US Deputy Attorney General. The 63-year-old convicted sex-trafficker - a former close friend of the Duke of York - answered all questions 'honestly and truthfully' as she was quizzed about Andrew and 'more than 100 different people' connected to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, her former boss and ex-lover. While it is not known exactly what Maxwell said about the Duke, this is the first time she has ever been formally questioned about him. A source said: 'This is the first time anyone has asked Ghislaine about any of the men. Donald Trump with then-girlfriend and future wife Melania Knauss, financier Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club in February 2000 'She told the truth and didn't back away from any questions. She wants the truth to come out.' Andrew has always vehemently denied claims by Virginia Giuffre that she was sex-trafficked to him by Epstein when she was just 17. The Prince paid Ms Giuffre a multi-million-pound sum to settle a civil suit with no admission of wrongdoing. Ms Giuffre committed suicide earlier this year. Maxwell is serving 20 years in Tallahassee Federal Prison in Florida for procuring and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. This week's extraordinary two-day meeting with US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took place on the orders of Donald Trump, who has found himself embroiled in a huge political row by promising - and then failing - to release the full Epstein Files. The family of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre demanded answers after President Donald Trump admitted he knew the billionaire pedophile 'stole' Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago resort. The president claimed on Tuesday that the convicted sex offender took Giuffre when she was just 16 years old and working as a locker room attendant at the spa at his Florida estate. He told the Daily Mail that is why he had a falling out with Epstein. Giuffre's family now says it was 'shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been "stolen" from Mar-a-Lago. 'It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell 's criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey "likes women on the younger side... no doubt about it,' they said in a statement. 'We and the public are asking for answers; survivors demand this.' The family also hit out at Congress for considering to get Maxwell to testify about Epstein's crimes. 'If our sister could speak today, she would be most angered by the fact that the government is listening to a known perjurer. A woman who repeatedly lied under oath and will continue to do so as long as it benefits her position,' the statement read. 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life for the extraordinary violence and abuse she put not just our sister Virginia through, but many other survivors, who may number in the thousands. A predator who thought only of herself, she destroyed the lives of girls and young women without conscience...' the family said. Giuffre was one of the most prominent and vocal accusers of Epstein and Maxwell before she took her own life at the age of 41 earlier this year. She has said she was recruited by Maxwell into Epstein's sex ring in 2000 as a teenager working as a locker room attendant at the spa at Mar-a-Lago. Trump seemed to confirm those reports in his remarks aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. 'Everyone knows the people that were taken,' he told reporters. 'People were taken out of the spa hired by him.' 'I didn't know that. And then when I heard about it, I told him, I said, "Listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa. I don't want you taking people," the president continued. 'And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, "Out of here."' Trump officially banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in 2004. But before that, both Epstein and Maxwell were photographed partying at the Palm Beach social club including with Trump's then-girlfriend Melania. Trump has offered a number of reasons over the years for his falling out with Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He previously said he cut off contact with Epstein because he was a 'creep.' Other reports say the two men fell out over an oceanfront Palm Beach property that was being sold out of bankruptcy that each man wanted. But now the president's one-time friendship with the financier is coming under renewed scrutiny after the Trump administration denied reports that Epstein kept a list of rich and powerful people for whom he trafficked young girls. The president has now been accused of a cover-up and has been facing questions about his relationship with Epstein ever since.
The Sun
31-07-2025
- The Sun
Mystery orange figure is seen near Epstein's cell night before his death – as police video expert gives bombshell theory
A MYSTERIOUS orange figure has been spotted lurking around Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell the night before his death. Surveillance footage showing Epstein's final moments has thrown up more questions than answers with police video experts now revealing a bombshell new theory. 7 7 7 A pixelated orange patch can be seen in the CCTV video, released by the US Department of Justice earlier this month. It appears to stand still for several seconds The shadowy object moves up the stairs and as it gradually appears taller as it stays in shot for several seconds. It then heads in the direction of Epstein's cell block at the Metropolitan Correctional Center at around 10:40pm. Just hours later, the 66-year-old convicted sex trafficker was found hanged inside the cell with his death ruled a suicide. Officials initially said the orange person was a prison guard carrying "linen or inmate clothing" up the stairs. A report into the findings at the time concluded the figure was the "last time any CO [corrections officer] approached the only entrance to the SHU tier in which Epstein was housed". Forensic experts who have analysed the video in recent weeks have a different take on the figure. They told CBS News as part of an investigation into the jail footage that the figure may have actually been an inmate. Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, agrees that the orange would be from a prison jumpsuit. Epstein prison CCTV is finally RELEASED 6yrs after paedo's 'suicide'…as probe 'reveals whether financier killed himself' But he believes the figure is clearly wearing the outfit rather than just holding it. This theory would go against the FBI's conclusions that no one entered or exited Epstein's cell as they were not caught on camera. Experts say this is so hard to prove due to the cameras not being positioned perfectly. The staircase is almost completely out of view as is the actual entrance to Epstein's cell, analysis found. Video forensic expert Jim Safford and four fellow respected voices in the field argued: "To say that there's no way that someone could get to that, the stairs up to his room, without being seen is false." Another mystery plaguing experts and conspiracy theorists is a suspicious missing minute from the tapes. Around 11 hours of "full raw" CCTV footage was released but forensic analysis soon showed the video was edited numerous times over several hours - with a minute missing. The time code on the screen had jumped forward just before it struck midnight. 7 7 When attorney General Pam Bondi was questioned about the video a few weeks ago, she claimed the Bureau of Prisons told her it was an antiquated process that occurred every night when the recordings automatically reset. Several other discrepancies from the night of the depraved peadophile's death have fuelled speculation for years now. Epstein was found unresponsive by guards in his cell who quickly performed CPR before he was rushed to hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly after with it ruled as suicide by hanging - which was later challenged by his own lawyers. The jail had been told Epstein should have a cellmate, and that a guard must check on him every 30 minutes. But on the night he died, his cellmate was transferred and not replaced. Two guards fell asleep at their desks - and later falsified their records - as it was revealed that Epstein was not checked on as often as required. Meanwhile, two cameras in front of Epstein's cell malfunctioned on the evening - while another had its footage found "unusable". Protocol was also broken by removing Epstein's body from his cell and failing to photograph it as it was found. The Bureau of Prisons mandates that suicide scenes be treated with the "same level of protection as any crime scene in which a death has occurred". Epstein's death came just two weeks after another apparent suicide attempt when he was found unconscious with a bedsheet twisted round his bruised neck. I came face-to-face with Epstein - I'm convinced he DIDN'T kill himself By Chief Foreign Reporter, Katie Davis JEFFREY Epstein's "overly self-confident nature" has made a lawyer who represented his victims doubt whether he took his own life. Spencer Kuvin, who met Epstein several times, said the shamed criminal never thought he had done anything wrong - and arrogantly believed he wouldn't be jailed. He told The Sun: "From the times I met him and deposed him, and sat in mediations with him, he never, ever struck me as someone who questioned whether he had done anything wrong. "He was always overly self-confident in what he had done and his belief that he had never done anything inappropriate at all, ever. "There was never any inclination that he ever felt he wasn't going to get out. "He always felt 'this is something I got to go through, I'll be out of here in a flash, it's not a big deal'. "So it was rather surprising to me when he died in jail." When asked whether he thought Epstein was murdered, Mr Kuvin said: "I don't know. I'm not one for wild speculation. "I deal in reality and proof and evidence. "And what I could tell you is that the evidence is circumstantial but overwhelming that it was not suicide." 7
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Yahoo
Mysterious ‘Orange Shape' Raises More Questions About Epstein Footage
Experts say there are flaws with the official explanation for why a shadowy figure moved in the direction of Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell the night he died. A mysterious 'orange shape' was recorded ascending the stairs to where Epstein's cell was located, which federal investigators previously concluded was a corrections officer carrying up 'linen or inmate clothing' on Epstein's final night alive. Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, told CBS News he disagrees with the conclusion reached by the DOJ's Office of Inspector General. 'It's more likely it's a person in an [orange] uniform,' he said. More specifically, a person wearing an orange inmate jumpsuit. CBS reported that other forensics experts were also 'skeptical' of the conclusion reached by federal investigators. There is a great deal of importance in who—or what—that grainy orange figure is. It traveled up the stairs to Epstein's cell block around 10:40 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019, and is the last recorded movement in the direction of Epstein's cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center before his body was discovered by guards the next morning. CBS reports that a second camera's recording could provide crucial evidence, but is being withheld by investigators. It also noted that the corrections officers on duty failed to follow protocol that required check-ins every 30 minutes on Epstein, who was on suicide watch and temporarily had no cellmate. The network reported that the staircase leading to Epstein's cell block could be ascended without being recorded by a security camera, as the majority of the stairs are out of its view. CBS reported this contradicts claims by investigators and Trump officials, including Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, who asserted that the security camera would have recorded anyone who walked up the stairs. 'To say that there's no way that someone could get to that, the stairs up to his room, without being seen is false,' the video forensics expert Jim Stafford told CBS. Four other experts in the field reportedly agreed with Stafford's assessment. The Office of the Inspector General addressed the theories explored by CBS in a statement to the network. 'The OIG appreciates the careful review of our report,' the statement reads. '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. As CBS notes, nothing in its analysis changed or modified the OIG's conclusions or recommendations.' Officials in the Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, have said that all evidence points to Epstein's cause of death being suicide. Still, debate over whether the alleged sex trafficker died via suicide or was murdered—as his brother, Mark, and many MAGA figures believe—has become the most oft-discussed conspiracy theory in America. Adding fuel to conspiracies is President Donald Trump's relationship with Epstein. He reportedly wrote Epstein a personal letter and drew him a doodle to celebrate the disgraced financier's 50th birthday in 2003. In 2017, Epstein told a biographer—in a recording first obtained by the Daily Beast—that Trump was his 'closest friend.' The duo were photographed smiling together on numerous occasions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but Trump has denied that he ever wrote Epstein a birthday letter. Trump has pushed America to move on from its Epstein craze, but scrutiny into the case—and the president's ties to the world's most infamous sex offender—continues to ramp up by the day. Fervor regarding Epstein reignited on July 7, when a memo written by the DOJ and FBI determined that Epstein died via suicide and that there was no so-called 'Epstein list' that implicated his rumored clients. The memo, made public mere months after Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that an Epstein client list was sitting on her desk, split MAGA in two. A deeper look into the circumstances around Epstein's death followed. Tuesday's report by CBS noted that 'raw footage' from the night of Epstein's death was not actually raw. Experts pointed out that the footage had a computer cursor and an onscreen menu at one point, a telltale sign that the footage was actually a screen recording. Also being scrutinized is the so-called 'missing minute,' when the operating security camera nearest to Epstein's cell stopped recording one minute before midnight. Bondi has explained the mystery minute as the result of a nightly reset of an outdated security system. However, a high-level source told CBS that federal agencies have 'unedited copies of the video, and those copies do not have a missing minute.' Solve the daily Crossword
