House Panel Rebukes DOJ’s Handling Jeffrey Epstein Case

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The GOP-led committee released a 136-page report on its 15-month investigation.

In a 136-page report summarizing the conclusions of its 15-month Jeffrey Epstein probe, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee rebuked the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein case and recommended that the department renew its investigation of Epstein’s associates.

The House Committee Report:

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today released a majority staff report titled, “A Review of the Federal Government’s Mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell Criminal Investigations.” The report culminates the Committee’s 15-month investigation, which included 19 transcribed interviews and depositions with key witnesses, the release of documents from the Department of Justice and the Epstein estate, and an extensive review of financial records.

The report details how Epstein and Maxwell’s network facilitated the recruitment, control, and abuse of young women. It also exposes how Epstein cultivated relationships with powerful individuals and leveraged those connections to establish financial and social legitimacy. Additionally, the report documents the federal government’s decades-long failure to hold Epstein accountable for his crimes and deliver justice for survivors.

The report offers several recommendations to deliver long-overdue justice for survivors and prevent the federal government from repeating these failures. Among its recommendations, the report calls on Congress to pass Chairman Comer’s legislation, which would ensure survivors can speak freely about sexual abuse, even if they previously signed confidentiality agreements. The report also recommends that the Department of Justice interview or re-interview key witnesses, further investigate allegations of criminal activity involving Epstein’s associates, and provide survivors with unredacted access to their records.

“The federal government has failed the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes for decades. The House Oversight Committee conducted a review of the federal government’s mishandled investigations to bring transparency to the American people and accountability for survivors. Epstein operated with impunity, shielded and enabled by powerful connections and a justice system that repeatedly failed his victims. Governments at every level and powerful institutions must meet their legal obligations to identify these crimes, stop perpetrators, and deliver justice for survivors,” said Chairman Comer.

“The evidence we uncovered makes clear that the Department of Justice must interview or re-interview key witnesses, investigate Epstein associates accused of criminal activity, and ensure survivors have access to their records. Congress must also pass legislation protecting the ability of individuals with knowledge of sexual abuse and survivors to speak freely about these crimes, regardless of nondisclosure agreements. We cannot undo the horrific harm inflicted on these women. But we must ensure that allegations of criminal activity are thoroughly investigated, survivors are protected, and those responsible are held accountable. The failures of the past must not be repeated,” concluded Chairman Comer.

Read the report here. Key findings and recommendations include:

The federal government has failed survivors for decades.

The Committee finds that the crimes Epstein committed after 2005 could have been prevented—and justice served—if not for failures by federal investigators and prosecutors in South Florida and Washington, D.C.
Rather than pursue a federal indictment and fully investigate allegations in other states, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Southern District of Florida entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with Epstein in 2007, allowing him to evade federal prosecution in exchange for pleading guilty to lesser state charges. Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in jail, received extensive work-release privileges during which he continued to abuse women, and was released early. Federal prosecutors also failed to inform survivors of the NPA, undermining their ability to pursue civil claims or publicly expose Epstein’s crimes.
While some of these failures reflected poor judgment by the USAO, others appeared to stem from Epstein’s pervasive influence and far-reaching connections, potentially including two attorneys employed by the office.
After Epstein was arrested in 2019, he died in custody at a Bureau of Prisons facility in New York. Understaffing and systemic dysfunction contributed to correctional officers on both shifts missing at least 12 rounds and three inmate counts on the night of his death. This resulted in nearly eight hours without adequate supervision of Epstein and other inmates.
Following enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to adequately communicate about document releases and failed to sufficiently protect survivors. Deficient redactions exposed survivors’ sensitive personal information.

The Department of Justice must take further action to advance transparency and justice for survivors.

DOJ should ensure investigators interview or reinterview key witnesses to advance justice for survivors of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes. For example, DOJ should further question and investigate Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, regarding her potential knowledge of and role in facilitating Epstein’s criminal activity.
DOJ must further investigate sexual assault allegations Sarah Kellen, a longtime Epstein assistant and survivor, made against two powerful men—Philip Levine, the former Mayor of Miami Beach from 2013 to 2017, and Frédéric Fekkai, a French celebrity hairstylist—during her transcribed interview with the Committee.
DOJ should establish an appropriate process for Epstein survivors and their representatives to access their personal files and records in unredacted form.
Non-prosecution agreements must be subject to rigorous scrutiny to ensure they serve the interests of justice rather than enable and empower criminals.
DOJ and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices must rigorously enforce policies designed to prevent conflicts of interest in federal investigations and prosecutions.

Financial institutions failed to act on clear indicators of human trafficking and immigration fraud.

U.S. and foreign government authorities failed to identify indicators of human trafficking and immigration fraud. Institutions such as American Express enabled this activity, with company agents allowing Epstein to use fraudulent decoy flights and refundable or dummy itineraries to transport foreign women across borders directly to his residences.
Financial institutions possessed substantial information about Epstein’s criminal history and repeatedly identified transactions and activities presenting heightened compliance risks. Yet they failed to adequately address those risks, in some cases reporting them years later after Epstein’s 2019 arrest, due to Epstein’s personal connections, wealth, and influence.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) should review whether financial institutions are meeting their reporting obligations designed to detect and prevent suspicious activities, including money laundering and human trafficking.

Congress must pass legislation to prevent the weaponization of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence survivors of sexual abuse.

Epstein and powerful individuals in his orbit weaponized NDAs to silence survivors and conceal criminal activity.
Congress should pass the Survivor’s Voice Protection Act (H.R. 10389), introduced by Chairman Comer, to ensure witnesses and survivors of sexual crimes are not deterred from speaking freely by nondisclosure agreements. The legislation also establishes accountability for trusted individuals by requiring them to report suspected grooming behavior to law enforcement to help protect minors. This bill would also define grooming behavior for the first time in federal law.

Democrats must put survivors—not politics—first.

During the Committee’s investigation, Committee Democrats were obsessed with trying to implicate President Trump and insinuate that he was involved in the crimes of Epstein and Maxwell. Their unfounded witch hunt continued without regard for the interests of survivors, even though the facts gathered during this investigation do not suggest President Trump is implicated in any of Epstein’s crimes.
The consensus of every witness examined before the Committee was that President Trump––to their knowledge––was not involved in any crimes committed by Epstein and Maxwell.
During the Committee’s review of documents from the Estate, U.S. Virgin Islands, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and the DOJ, the Committee did not identify any documents that would implicate President Trump in any criminal activity related to Epstein and Maxwell.

Below are transcripts of interviews and depositions from the investigation: