WASHINGTON — Victims of Jeffrey Epstein are preparing to meet with House lawmakers on Tuesday amid a deepening congressional probe into the Department of Justice’s handling of the deceased pedophile’s prosecution, which recently included a records request for suspicious financial transactions.
Virginia Giuffre, one of the most outspoken of Epstein’s victims who first sued him in 2015, committed suicide in April following a car crash, but there are allegedly more than 1,000 victims who could reveal new information about Epstein, according to a DOJ memo released in July.
The private, bipartisan meeting with the survivors is the latest effort by the House Oversight Committee to uncover new details about Epstein’s case and comes after a flurry of subpoenas.
Former attorneys general, FBI directors and prosecutors have all been compelled to appear — including ex-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta, who intervened in a state prosecution of Epstein in the mid-2000s, forcing the financier to plead guilty to soliciting a minor and register as a sex offender.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) also sent a letter Sunday to the US Treasury inquiring about suspicious activity reports (SARs) that may have been triggered as part of the investigation into Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked in the missive to turn over all SARs to the committee by Sept. 15.
A joint FBI-DOJ memo released July 6 claimed that there was no incriminating “client list” related to the Epstein case and no remaining evidence that could predicate charging third parties with similar crimes.
The Oversight panel already demanded testimony earlier this year from Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges after being convicted in December 2021.
But her defense attorney David Oscar Markus only agreed to let her sit for a DOJ interview after she was granted limited immunity.
The GOP-led committee also asked for records from Epstein’s estate and as of last month began receiving some documents from President Trump’s Justice Department about the disgraced financier’s federal case.
Oversight lawmakers and committee staff on Sept. 19 will interview Acosta, who helped broker a non-prosecution agreement during the 2008 Florida state case against Epstein that resulted in the financier serving 13 months in federal prison — much of that time on work release.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr has already sat before the panel behind closed doors — and reportedly had “new” details to share about the odd circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell in late July, with full transcripts being released about a month later.
In the interview, the disgraced British socialite emphasized that she never saw Trump, a onetime associate of Epstein’s, “in any inappropriate setting in any way.”
But she also suggested that Epstein may not have died by suicide — despite multiple independent medical and federal investigations determining he hanged himself in his Manhattan jail cell before being tried for his sickening crimes.
Former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have also all been subpoenaed to testify.
Gonzales and Sessions have both agreed to submit written statements rather than appear for depositions.
Former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller have also been issued subpoenas, though Mueller’s deposition was later canceled after his family disclosed the ex-special prosecutor had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease four years ago.
Trump has downplayed the public’s interest in getting answers on the Epstein case but still directed his administration — including Attorney General Pam Bondi — to release “credible” information.
“I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,” the president told reporters on July 15. “It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sordid, but it’s boring, and I don’t understand why it keeps going.”
Maxwell’s lawyers have sought separately to appeal her 2021 conviction to the US Supreme Court this fall.
As of August, the former Epstein madam was moved without explanation to a less secure federal facility in Texas after having served most of her 20-year sentence in a Tallahassee, Fla., lockup.
