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An unlabeled video<\/span> from the most recent release of Jeffrey Epstein files<\/a> from the Department of Justice<\/a> is circulating on social media. While the 12-second video purports to show Epstein\u2019s suicide in his prison cell, the preceding document<\/a> in the production makes clear that it did not originate from the DOJ itself.<\/p>\n \u201cCame across a purported video of Epstein’s suicide (leaked by anonymous source),\u201d the email reads, referencing an attachment and linking to a Google Drive file. \u201cIs this real???\u201d<\/p>\n WIRED spoke with the owner of the phone number listed on the website included in the email\u2019s signature. Ali Kabbaj, who identified himself as an independent journalist, said that he found the video on the dark web and sent it to federal investigators in 2021 for confirmation. He says he never got a reply.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m shocked I\u2019m in these files,\u201d he told WIRED.<\/p>\n The video first surfaced when Drop Site News shared it on X<\/a> as \u201ca 12 second video from 4:29 am on the day Jeffrey Epstein died.\u201d While this latest round of Epstein files aren\u2019t yet on the DOJ\u2019s website, they had apparently guessed the link by following the URL formatting of previous releases. WIRED identified the email associated with the video by following that same formatting to view the preceding file.<\/p>\n The link to the video file on the DOJ\u2019s website now seems 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 contents as \u201crendering 3D graphics.\u201d DOJ did not return an immediate request for comment on why the link was no longer working, but over the weekend the department removed several other files<\/a> from its website for additional review and redaction.<\/p>\n In a June 2023 report<\/a> on Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s time in prison, the DOJ\u2019s Office of the Inspector General concluded that there was no video camera in Epstein\u2019s cell. Indeed, on the night Epstein died, \u201c\u200b\u200brecorded video evidence \u2026 for the SHU area where Epstein was housed was only available from one prison security camera due to a malfunction of MCC New York\u2019s Digital Video Recorder system that occurred on July 29, 2019.\u201d New York City\u2019s chief medical examiner ruled Epstein\u2019s death a suicide in August 2019.<\/p>\n Still, conspiracy theories have followed Epstein\u2019s death, fueled in part by the circumstances of what video evidence is available. In July, the DOJ released what it described as \u201cfull raw\u201d surveillance footage from the prison camera that was operational. As WIRED first reported, metadata indicated that the footage had instead been modified<\/a>. Further WIRED analysis revealed that the video was in fact two clips that had been stitched together, cutting out nearly three minutes<\/a> of footage in the process.<\/p>\n The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires that the DOJ publish all unclassified records in its possession related to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein. So far, the files the DOJ has released include photos of Epstein\u2019s island home and Manhattan townhouse, Epstein associates including Ghislaine Maxwell and former US president Bill Clinton, and various travel records and grand jury materials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n