The Epstein Conspiracy Legend Grows

...Fueled by Stalled Promise to Release Docs

Epstein, MLK, and JFK: Amid the Trump administration’s bold commitment to transparency, a tangled web has ensued, fueling longstanding conspiracy theories.

As the legend grows, the public is left wondering: What’s really in those files, and why do they stay buried, even now?

Read on for details.

The Beginning

The Epstein saga and conspiracy theories launched in 2005 when Palm Beach, Florida, police began an investigation into the wealthy financier after a woman reported he had molested her 14-year-old daughter.

The probe uncovered a sprawling trafficking empire allegedly involving dozens of underage girls at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion and New York townhouse. In 2008, Epstein was arrested the first time. He was allowed to plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. And instead of a lengthy prison term, Epstein received what many considered a shockingly lenient 13-month sentence. Not only that, but much of it was served on work release, allowing him six days a week outside jail.

The sweetheart deal, brokered by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, sparked the first wave of conspiracy theories: was Epstein’s wealth and elite connections shielding him from real justice? Did he know too much about rich and famous clients?

After his release in 2009, Epstein resumed his high-flying life, hobnobbing with the rich and famous—former presidents, royalty, billionaires—seemingly unbothered by federal scrutiny. And his famous associates seemed unbothered by his scandalous conviction.

As I reported on my TV program Full Measure, the FBI apparently wasn’t even monitoring Epstein as he allegedly built his trafficking network. It wasn’t until July 2019 that he was arrested for a second time—not by the FBI, but by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, acting on citizen tips about suspicious activity at a Miami airport. The federal charges that followed accused him of abusing dozens of minors, paying victims to recruit others into his orbit.

Conspiracy Theory Part Deux

Then came August 10, 2019. The conspiracy theories were about to launch into the strastosphere. In a plot straight from a movie, Epstein was found dead in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. It was officially ruled that he’d committed suicide by hanging himself. There was near-universal alarm that such an important and high-profile defendant who was supposed to be monitored by 24/7 cameras and on suicide watch, could have killed himself under the nose of his prison watchers.

The timing—just weeks after his arrest—fueled rampant speculation. Two guards tasked with watching Epstein had supposedly fallen asleep, cameras that would have captured what happened mysteriously malfunctioned at precise moments, and a subsequent Justice Department investigation found no evidence of foul play.

Many in the public were unconvinced. Was Epstein silenced to protect his powerful “clients”? No concrete proof of a hit has emerged, but the questions persist, amplified by his ties to powerful political figures.

Meantime, the FBI and Department of Justice confiscated troves of documents, videos, and evidence from Epstein’s properties including what’s been termed “Epstein Island,” also known as Little Saint James, located in the U.S. Virgin Islands, about two miles off the southeastern coast of St. Thomas. It’s a small, 71.6-acre private island. Epstein also owned Great Saint James, a 161-acre island he bought in 2016.

With all of the evidence in official hands, victims, the public, and journalists expected a flood of revelations. Instead, much of it seemed to just vanish into bureaucratic limbo.

Some documents surfaced in civil suits, and also in the 2021 trial of Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She’s now serving 20 years in prison for trafficking-related charges.

But the juiciest details—videos seen being hauled off the Island by FBI agents, a fabled “client list”—apparently stayed locked away, deepening the conspiracy narrative. As The Washington Post noted in July 2024, no single “client list” has ever been referenced in legal filings, yet the idea persists that the government is hiding explosive names. It has long been said that Epstein kept records regarding his famous clients.

Transparency Promise

Enter Trump 2.0. During his 2024 campaign, Trump vowed to unseal the Epstein files, alongside those of JFK and MLK.

On January 23, days after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order to declassify the JFK assassination files, later adding Epstein to the list.

Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly took up the cause with enthusiasm. On February 21, she told Fox News’ John Roberts that the Epstein files were “sitting on my desk right now,” promising a release “very soon.”

The hype peaked on February 27, when Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly handed binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to pro-Trump influencers at the White House. Cameras rolled as figures waved them triumphantly.

But the excitement fizzled fast.

The binders, posted online by the DOJ later that day, contained flight logs and a redacted address book—material that had already been public for years from Maxwell’s trial. No new bombshells, no “client list.”

Bondi shifted blame to the FBI’s New York field office, claiming in a letter to Director Patel that they were improperly withholding “thousands of pages.” That led to a face-off of sorts: Bondi demanded all outstanding records by 8 a.m. on February 28. Patel vowed on X there’d be “no cover-ups.”

But after Bondi told Sean Hannity of Fox News on March 7 that a “truckload” of files had arrived, the public trail went cold. No official updates since, just whispers from DOJ insiders to some in the media that releases are stalled due to “prosecutorial cases”—a vague-sounding reason that’s only thickened the conspiracy fog.

Bloomberg’s Details: Behind the Scenes Flurry?

Bloomberg reports that “An army of FBI agents and FOIA analysts have been holed up in the bureau’s sprawling Central Records Complex in Virginia as they process thousands of pages of Jeffrey Epstein files.”

Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold notes that “Bondi also directed [FBI Director] Patel to conduct an investigation into why the FBI didn’t turn over all of the records she’d requested. She asked the FBI director to provide her with ‘a “comprehensive report of your findings and proposed personnel action within 14 days.’”

The 14 day period has long since passed.

“It’s unclear if the report was completed or delivered,” writes Leopold. “An FBI spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.”

However, Leopold’s sources offer a glimmer of hope and progress. He writes that “about two weeks ago, FBI employees received a directive to begin working uninterrupted on the Epstein records…hundreds of FBI employees…have been working furiously to meet Bondi’s demands. They’ve been holed up in offices at the bureau’s sprawling Central Records Complex in Winchester, Virginia, a 256,000 square-foot facility that houses two billion pages of physical FBI records, and an older building a few miles away…many of the workers have clocked more than 100 hours of work over the most recent two-week pay period, including a marathon session last weekend.”

MLK and JFK

Meantime, the JFK files, partially released earlier this month, offered little new, per Fox News—numerous experts say they found no smoking gun, leaving observers puzzled why the records were held secret past their 2017 statutory deadline for release. (There are some analyses that highlight “new” information, such as this one at the Center for Politics.)

When so many formerly withheld files contain nothing particularly noteworthy or previously unknown, it leads us to ask: Are we being played?

Meanwhile, the MLK files also remain unreleased to date.

Epstein’s legend, though, continues to loom largest. The public and even some insiders wonder: Are there truly prosecutions brewing, or is this another chapter in a legendary cover-up? And since powerful interests have worked hard to keep the documents from the public’s eyes for this long, are we really to believe that the most damning evidence even still exists—that the bad actor would let it sit there, just waiting for Trump to get back into office and release it all? Or would it have been long ago spirited away, along with details of Epstein’s untimely demise in prison?

All signs point to the likelihood that we will see some new Epstein evidence at some point. But with no official timeline for release announced, the Epstein conspiracy grows, proving once again: the less we know, the more we suspect.

Read Sharyl Attkisson’s national bestseller: Follow the $cience: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails.