Jeffrey Epstein’s brother says he doesn’t believe in the existence of blackmail sex tapes, as claimed by some, including an alleged former Israeli spy who accused Epstein of secretly recording powerful men having sex with underage girls for extortion and manipulation.
“Jeffrey was buying islands in the Virgin Islands. He had his own private 727 [jet]. Do you think he needed to make money by extortion?” he continued, while labeling as “far-fetched” rumors that his brother secretly filmed men of influence having sex with underage girls and used the kompromat to blackmail them.
Kompromat Claims
The tapes’ existence was reportedly confirmed by Epstein’s former girlfriend and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, in a meeting with former CBS producer Ira Rosen back in 2016.The purported interaction between Mr. Rosen and Ms. Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein traffic and abuse girls, is described in Mr. Rosen’s book “Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes.”
While Ms. Maxwell would have been well placed to have knowledge of the rumored blackmail tapes given her role as Epstein’s accomplice, she is far from the only one who has remarked on their existence.
In the book “Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” Mr. Ben-Menashe claims that the blackmail operation that Epstein and Ms. Maxwell ran was a more sordid version of the classic “honey-trap” because underage girls were used, making it not just embarrassing but also criminal.
“See, [expletive] around is not a crime. It could be embarrassing, but it’s not a crime,” Mr. Ben-Menashe is cited in the book as saying. “But [expletive] a fourteen-year-old girl is a crime. And he was taking photos of politicians [expletive] fourteen-year-old girls.”
Another alleged Epstein victim, Chauntae Davies, has claimed in the docuseries “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich” that the sex-offender had “a lot of information on people, a lot of blackmail videos.”
The rumored existence of the blackmail tapes has fueled speculation that Epstein did not die of suicide in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial, as is officially claimed, but that he was instead murdered.
While Mark Epstein told the Post he doesn’t believe the tapes exist, he’s convinced his brother’s death was no suicide.
“I’m not here to defend him. What he did was wrong. But that’s not my concern. My concern is that my brother was murdered,” he told the outlet.
Suicide Or Murder?
Jeffrey Epstein, who was awaiting trial on multiple sex trafficking charges, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in August 2019.However, not long after Dr. Sampson ruled Epstein’s death a suicide, Mark Epstein hired forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who was in the room for Epstein’s autopsy, to review the evidence.
Mr. Baden, who was New York City’s chief medical examiner in the 1970s, said at the time that the evidence—in particular multiple fractures found in his neck—suggested Epstein may have been murdered. He added, however, that his observations were not conclusive.
In an interview from prison in January 2023, Ms. Maxwell said she doesn’t believe Epstein’s death was a suicide.
Many people have united in skepticism that Epstein could have taken his own life a mere month after being arrested on sex trafficking charges.
Adding to the mystery around Epstein and the rumored blackmail tapes is the fact that, in 2019, FBI agents testified during Ms. Maxwell’s trial that some evidence “went missing” following a raid on Epstein’s town house.
FDI Special Agent Kelly Maguire recalled during the trial how CDs and other items were found in a locked safe during an initial search of Epstein’s residence but, because agents didn’t have a warrant, they photographed the items and left them there.
The items were gone after the agents returned four days later. Ms. Maguire said during the trial that agents then called Epstein’s lawyer, Richard Kahn, to inquire about the missing items.
The CDs were among the items, which Ms. Maguire said were all accounted for, though she could not confirm that the returned CDs were the same as the ones that had gone missing.
