“An alleged video of Epstein’s suicide (leaked by anonymous source) obtained,” the email reads, referencing an attachment and linking to a Google Drive file. “Is this real???”
WIRED spoke to the owner of the phone number listed on the website included in the email’s signature. Ali Kabbaj, who identified himself as an independent journalist, said he found the video on the dark web and sent it to federal investigators in 2021 for confirmation. He says he never received any reply.
“I’m shocked I’m in these files,” he told WIRED.
The video first surfaced when Drop Site News shared it on X as “12-second video taken at 4:29 a.m. on the day of Jeffrey Epstein’s death.” Although this latest round of Epstein files is not yet on the DOJ’s website, they apparently anticipated the link by following the URL formatting of previous releases. WIRED identified the emails associated with the video by following the same formatting as when viewing the previous file.
The link to the video file on the DOJ’s website now appears to be broken, but the footage appears to match a video that appeared on YouTube in 2019. The person who uploaded the video describes its content as “featuring 3D graphics.” The DOJ did not immediately return a request for comment on why the link no longer worked, but over the weekend the department removed several other files from its website pending additional review and revision.
In a June 2023 report on Jeffrey Epstein’s time in prison, the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General concluded that there was no video camera in Epstein’s cell. Indeed, on the night Epstein died, “due to a malfunction of MCC New York’s digital video recorder system on July 29, 2019, recorded video evidence for the SHU area where Epstein was held was available only from a prison security camera.” The Chief Medical Examiner of New York City ruled Epstein’s death a suicide in August 2019.
Nevertheless, conspiracy theories have emerged following Epstein’s death, driven in part by the circumstances of the available video evidence. In July, the DOJ released “full raw” surveillance footage from the jail cameras that were turned on. As WIRED first reported, metadata indicated that the footage had been modified. Further WIRED analysis revealed that the video was actually two clips that were stitched together, cutting approximately three minutes of footage in the process.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the DOJ to publish all declassified records it has related to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein. So far, the files the DOJ has released include photos of Epstein’s island home and Manhattan townhouse, photos of Epstein associates including Ghislaine Maxwell and former US President Bill Clinton, and various travel records and grand jury materials.
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