Video of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell during suicide attempt destroyed, prosecutors say
- Officials saved wrong footage from different part of jail, with no backup available because of ‘technical errors’
- Missing footage deepens ‘air of mystery’ around disgraced financier’s death, says one of Epstein’s lawyers
Video footage of the area around Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell on a day he apparently tried to kill himself “no longer exists”, federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday.
Officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York believed they had preserved footage of guards finding Epstein after he appeared to have attempted suicide, but actually saved a video from a different part of the jail, prosecutors said.
The FBI also has determined that the footage does not exist on the jail’s backup video system “as a result of technical errors”, Assistant US Attorneys Maurene Comey and Jason Swergold wrote in a court filing.
The revelation came despite assurances prosecutors made that jail officials were preserving the footage at the request of a defence lawyer for Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer who shared a cell with Epstein in July when the wealthy financier was after discovered with bruises on his neck and then placed on suicide watch.
Nothing about Jeffrey Epstein’s prosecution and death in federal custody surprises or could surprise me at this point
Epstein later hanged himself on August 10 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, officials said.