Jeffrey Epstein's Brother: 'Who Had Him Killed?'

Mark Epstein isn't buying the official Justice Department explanation for the death of his older brother, Jeffrey Epstein, in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

Mark Epstein, a property developer, told The Guardian that he got a rare call from his brother in July 2019, the night before Jeffrey Epstein flew back to New York from Paris. Since their mother died 15 years earlier, the brothers hadn't kept in regular contact. The call in 2019 would be the last time Mark Epstein would speak with his brother.

Barely a month after stepping off his plane at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and being arrested, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell. The Department of Justice ruled it suicide.

Mark Epstein told The Guardian his brother believed he had been granted immunity from federal prosecution under the terms of a 2007 plea deal and had no idea he was going to be taken into custody.

At the time of his death, Jeffrey Epstein was facing federal sex trafficking charges and was under psychological observation after a suicide attempt.

A Justice Department report found prison officials guilty of negligence, misconduct, and job performance failures, but did not find evidence that the disgraced financier's death was anything other than suicide.

Mark Epstein said he doesn't accept the report's findings and called for a "full investigation."

"If you look at all the evidence, including the autopsy, the photographs of his body, the bulls*** DOJ report that is filled with inaccuracies, you would never come up with the conclusion that this was a suicide — but based on what?" he told The Guardian.

The Epstein story is a complex web of sexual, political, and financial corruption that has ruined countless lives and destroyed illustrious reputations. Victims of the sex trafficker, who were often underage, have received approximately $150 million from Epstein's $580 million estate in restitution.

The recent release of documents from a 2017 defamation lawsuit brought by victim Virginia Giuffre against Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell named former President Bill Clinton, the United Kingdom's Prince Andrew, and a number of other powerful men.

Maxwell was convicted in late 2021 for recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein between 1994 and 2004. She is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida prison.

The release of the documents generated fresh interest in Epstein's life and also sparked theories that the circumstances surrounding his death were covered by officials.

The convicted sex offender was reportedly not on suicide watch and was alone in his cell the day he died. The two corrections officers who were assigned to guard Epstein that day were later charged with falsifying prison records; those charges were ultimately dropped in 2021 shortly after Maxwell was convicted.

According to Mark Epstein, it's plausible that another prisoner could have entered his brother's cell and killed him, telling The Guardian that he's been made aware that not all the cell doors were locked that night.

The DOJ report contradicts that theory, as cellmates who could have seen Epstein's cell door said they did not see anyone go in.

A camera positioned at Epstein's cell door was also not recording the night he died.

Then-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr denounced "serious irregularities at this facility," days after Epstein's death, and vowed to "get to the bottom of what happened."

"There will be accountability," Barr said at the time.

In November 2019, Barr told The Associated Press that he could "understand people who immediately, whose minds went to sort of the worst-case scenario because it was a perfect storm of screw-ups."

Mark Epstein doesn't believe the official narrative that his brother died by his own hand, however.

"The question is, Who had him killed?" he asked.