By The Blaze. The New York City chief medical examiner said on Friday that they had concluded Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell, in support of the official account of his death. . .

The ruling comes six days after Epstein was found unresponsive in his Manhattan jail cell.

He reportedly tied the bedsheet around his neck with the other end tied to the top bunk of the bed in the cell. He got on his knees and leaned down with enough force to break several bones in his neck.

Epstein was charged with several counts of underage sex trafficking, and the case was widely believed to involve powerful and wealthy people. (Read more from “Medical Examiner Reveals Ruling on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein” HERE)

_________________________________________________

Jeffrey Epstein Autopsy Results ‘Show’ He Hanged Himself in Suicide

By The New York Times. The New York City medical examiner said on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein’s death in a federal jail cell was a suicide, confirming he had hanged himself. . .

But the chief medical examiner in New York City, Dr. Barbara Sampson, ruled out foul play. She released a terse statement saying that, after an autopsy and a “careful review of all investigative information,” she had determined the cause of Mr. Epstein’s death was “hanging” and the manner was “suicide.”

Three of Mr. Epstein’s lawyers, Martin G. Weinberg, Reid Weingarten and Michael Miller, challenged the findings and vowed to conduct their own investigation. (Read more from “Jeffrey Epstein Autopsy Results Show He Hanged Himself in Suicide” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

In an interview with M.L. Nestel published by New York Magazine Wednesday, the former bodyguard of Jeffrey Epstein — the wealthy financier who was found dead in his cell from suspected self-strangulation on Saturday amid a series of unusual circumstances — contradicted statements Nestel said he made to him in a previous, unpublished interview conducted four years ago.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect that he’d try to back away from the assertions he made in our original interview — but he did,” writes Nestel in the lead-in to the interview. “He also seemed, it is safe to say, quite nervous about saying anything at all.”

The disgraced financier’s former bodyguard, former Russian UFC fighter Igor Zinoviev, told Nestel in the follow-up interview that he “never” talked with Epstein about the first case against him, which resulted in the billionaire pleading guilty to underage prostitution charges.

Nestel, who appeared genuinely surprised by the assertion, followed up by reading what he said was a direct quote from Zinoviev in their 2015 interview about Epstein’s relationships with teenage girlfriends: “So many time I tried to stop him. I try to tell tell him my opinion about that. He don’t listen to me. That’s the reason why I’m not working for him no more. I make him do that — to let me go.” . . .

When Nestel stressed that he “definitely” told him previously there were teenage girls involved, Zinoviev said, “No, no. It’s not that. He working like work-release on other stuff. And I just tell him, you know, he would order his girlfriends around, and I told him, ‘Calm down.’ It’s not just teenage girls,” Zinoviev replied. “I never see teenage girls in my life at his house. That’s what it is. That’s a misunderstanding. Completely.” (Read more from “Epstein’s Bodyguard Gives ‘Nervous’ Interview, ‘Backs Away’ From Previous Statements” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

By CNBC. Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke more than once with Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier accused of child sex trafficking, to discuss ways to increase philanthropic spending, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Epstein’s discussions with Gates included at least one meeting, which took place in New York in 2013, while Gates was still Microsoft’s chairman, these people said. It was unclear whether the two also spoke on the phone.

The discussions with Gates occurred years after Epstein served a 13-month sentence for a charge of soliciting an underage prostitute. Epstein was sentenced in 2008 in Palm Beach County.

The revelation is another piece of the rapidly growing mosaic depicting Epstein’s bizarre, confounding influence and ability to get into powerful circles. Gates’ interaction with Epstein is puzzling because the former Microsoft CEO is one of the richest and most influential people in the world. Gates could get philanthropic advice from anyone, and yet he corresponded with Epstein, whose transgressions were well known at the time. (Read more from “Years After Serving Jail Time, Jeffrey Epstein Found a Way to Meet with Microsoft’s Bill Gates to Discuss Philanthropy” HERE)

___________________________________________________

Israeli Politician Ehud Barak Often Crashed at Epstein Apartment Building, Neighbors Say

By The Daily Beast. The residents of 301 East 66th St. always knew Ehud Barak was there by the flashy cars parked outside and burly security guards in the lobby. The former Israeli prime minster’s visits were an open secret among the tenants of the Upper East Side building, which is owned by Jeffrey Epstein’s younger brother.

Several residents of 301 East 66th St. told The Daily Beast they had seen Barak in the building multiple times over the last few years, and nearly half a dozen more described running into his security detail. The building is majority-owned by Epstein’s younger brother, Mark, and has been tied to the financier’s alleged New York trafficking ring.

When asked about his stays at 301 E. 66th Street, Barak told The Daily Beast, “Despite the fact that there was no wrongdoing on my part, and that there is not even the faintest suspicion of wrongdoing on my part, I’m not going to address these questions because in the current political environment in Israel, the mere fact of my response to such a question is churned up as spin in the political game.”

“As a former prime minister I’m accompanied by bodyguards everywhere I go,” he added. (Read more from “Israeli Politician Ehud Barak Often Crashed at Epstein Apartment Building, Neighbors Say” HERE)

___________________________________________________

Ex-Miami Beach Mayor Says He Doesn’t Know How Jeffrey Epstein Got His Phone Numbers

By Miami New Times. To make something of a severe understatement, many questions remain in the wake of accused sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide last weekend. For Miamians, one particular question has gone unanswered: Why did the billionaire’s black book of contacts include 13 phone numbers for former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, a noted friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton?

Reached by text message yesterday, Levine told New Times he wasn’t sure.

“Think I met him possibly only two or three times, but briefly maybe over 15 years ago at events,” Levine wrote. “Never had a friendship or business relationship with him. Don’t remember ever giving him my full contact info but possibly did give him my contact card.”

Some of those 13 phone contacts include numbers for people listed as Levine’s driver and two housekeepers. Asked how Epstein obtained contact information for those people, Levine said he had no idea.

“[W]hen I read it, I was also surprised,” he responded. “I truly just don’t know.” (Read more from “Ex-Miami Beach Mayor Says He Doesn’t Know How Jeffrey Epstein Got His Phone Numbers” HERE)

___________________________________________________

Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Teen Sex Slave’ Gave Foot Rub to the Simpsons Creator Matt Groening

By The Sun. Jeffrey Epstein’s former “teen sex slave” claims she gave the creator of The Simpsons a foot massage but almost vomited over his “crusty” toes, court documents allege.

Hours before Epstein’s suicide on Saturday morning, a US court unlocked court papers from a defamation case filed by alleged victim Virginia Giuffre in 2015.

In the explosive docs, Virginia, who alleges she was abused by the convicted paedophile from the age of 15, claims she met legendary cartoonist Matt Groening, 65, on the wealthy banker’s private jet.

She claims Epstein asked to give The Simpsons creator a foot rub while flying from Carmel, California, to Los Angeles.

Virginia, now aged 35, claims the alleged incident happened around 20 years ago when she was aged 16. (Read more from “Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Teen Sex Slave’ Gave Foot Rub to the Simpsons Creator Matt Groening” HERE)

___________________________________________________

Epstein Traveled to Cuba at Castro’s Invitation, Former Colombian President Says

By Miami Herald. Millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing minors and committed suicide last week in a federal lockup in Manhattan, traveled to Cuba at Fidel Castro’s invitation, according to Colombia’s former president, Andrés Pastrana, who said Wednesday he accompanied him on the trip.

“Amid journalistic revelations about horrifying and reprehensible sex scandals of financier Jeffrey Epstein, a trip of mine on his plane to Nassau, Bahamas has appeared, to transfer to the final destination of Havana, Cuba, invited by President Fidel Castro,” Pastrana said in a statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday. . .

The Colombian politician denied having been at Epstein’s “now infamous” private island in the Caribbean, off the coast of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where the millionaire took famous guests allegedly to have sex with minors.

Flight records show that Pastrana was aboard one of Epstein’s private planes that left on March 20, 2003, from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport headed to Palm Beach International Airport. Pastrana also appears in the manifest of another flight the next day from Palm Beach to Nassau International Airport in the Bahamas.

Records show Epstein, his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, and model executive Jean-Luc Brunel, on both flights. According to the documents, they all returned to Palm Beach, without Pastrana, from the Bahamas on March 23. (Read more from “Epstein Traveled to Cuba at Castro’s Invitation, Former Colombian President Says” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

By Tim Constantine. Epstein had requested a meeting for Friday with the newest member of his legal team. That attorney, David Schoen, a longtime friend of Epstein‘s, could not meet on Friday but said the two had met earlier this month for the specific purpose of Schoen joining the defense team. Schoen says Epstein was “engaged” and “excited” during the meeting and very much looking forward to defending himself. The two were scheduled to meet again this coming week. . .

It isn’t unusual that there would be no camera inside a prisoner’s cell, but in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, cells on Epstein’s wing had video surveillance at the entry to each cell. News reports indicate the camera that would normally record who entered and exited his cell was broken. An amazing coincidence?

. . .Reports indicate Epstein had a cellmate that was a muscle-bound former police officer who now stands accused in four murders and that Epstein was fearful of him. In another amazing coincidence, that cellmate was transferred out just hours before Epstein was found dead. What does that former cellmate know? Have Justice Department officials spoken with him? (Read more about the questionable demise of the facilitator of the pedophile island HERE)
_______________________________________________________

Yes, Epstein’s Pedophile Island Had Dirt on the World’s Most Powerful

By Townhall. If all the other weirdness surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s death in federal custody last weekend had already generated widespread conspiratorial chatter and theories, several emerging reported details will turn up the volume to a low roar. We still have very few real answers, so allegations and rumors are flooding the zone. For example, was at least one of the guards watching over Epstein (and apparently flouting protocols)…not even a real corrections officer?

Breaking News: One of Jeffrey Epstein’s guards was not a full-fledged officer, and he was not checked on for hours in the short-staffed jail where he died https://t.co/HV6am3eQ4Q

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 12, 2019

One of the two people guarding Jeffrey Epstein when he apparently hanged himself in a federal jail cell was not a full-fledged correctional officer, and neither guard had checked on Mr. Epstein for several hours before he was discovered, prison and law-enforcement officials said.

This development could play into the line of thinking that an under-staffed federal prison system, and over-worked employees, are a recipe for oversights, mistakes and abuses. Plus, as some have pointed out, America’s jails and prisons have a suicide problem — and preventing a determined person from harming themselves can be quite difficult. Two questions, though: Even if all of those factors are true, shouldn’t extra attention been paid to arguably the most infamous federal inmate awaiting trial, especially someone who’d already either tried to kill himself or suffered an assault while behind bars? And especially someone who potentially-to-likely had significant dirt on a whole cabal of wealthy and powerful people?

Jeffrey Epstein once bragged to a New York Times columnist about having potentially damaging information on rich, famous and powerful people, including details about their drug use and sexual tendencies. The billionaire and convicted sex offender claimed in an interview last year that a number of influential people had told him their secrets. Epstein revealed the details to columnist James B. Stewart in an interview at the 66-year-old’s Manhattan mansion on August 16 last year. ‘The overriding impression I took away from our roughly 90-minute conversation was that Mr Epstein knew an astonishing number of rich, famous and powerful people, and had photos to prove it,’ Stewart said. ‘The overriding impression I took away from our roughly 90-minute conversation was that Mr Epstein knew an astonishing number of rich, famous and powerful people, and had photos to prove it,’ Stewart said.

NEW: Shrieking heard from Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell the morning he died at Metropolitan Correctional Center https://t.co/aEwiCXdDuA

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 13, 2019

.@DanaPerino is one of the most careful & level-headed analysts/hosts in the business. Based upon our discussion yesterday, she’s on the Epstein conspiracy train — and it’s hard to argue with her. Really interesting segment: https://t.co/isizB8OEDW

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 13, 2019

“Maxwell also said the island had been completely wired for video; the friend thought that she and Epstein were videotaping everyone on the island as an insurance policy, as blackmail.” https://t.co/6R7bIHrROb

— Vicky Ward (@VickyPJWard) August 13, 2019

(Read more from “Reports: ‘Shrieking’ Heard from Epstein’s Cell, ‘Pedophile Island’ Wired with Video for Blackmail?” HERE)

_________________________________________________________

Shrieking Heard from Jeffrey Epstein’s Jail Cell the Morning He Died

By CBS News. On the morning of Jeffrey Epstein’s death there was shouting and shrieking from his jail cell, a source familiar with the situation told CBS News. Corrections officers attempted to revive him while saying “breathe, Epstein, breathe.”

Congress is the latest to start investigating Epstein’s apparent suicide over the weekend, with new reports raising questions about the federal jail where he was being held. One of Epstein’s guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on the night he died was reportedly not a regular corrections officer.

On Monday, Attorney General William Barr criticized the detention center where the disgraced financier was held. “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability,” Barr said. “I was appalled and frankly angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner.” . . .

With Epstein gone, potential co-conspirators involved in his alleged sex-trafficking network are shifting into focus. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is one of four women accused of recruiting underage girls for sex. She’s denied those claims in the past and has not been charged with a crime. Maxwell is said to be Epstein’s ex-girlfriend turned business associate. Her current location is unknown. (Read more from “Shrieking Heard from Jeffrey Epstein’s Jail Cell the Morning He Died” HERE)
_________________________________________________________

Corrections officers falsified reports?

By Mola Lenghi. Corrections officers may have falsified reports saying they checked on Jeffrey Epstein as required by protocol, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation into Epstein’s apparent suicide. The Associated Press quotes a source familiar with the probe as saying surveillance video showed guards never made some of the checks noted in the prison log.

Multiple sources told CBS News that Epstein’s cellmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center posted bail last Friday, leaving Epstein alone in his cell the day before he died. Another source familiar with the investigation said it appears Epstein had been dead one to two hours before he was found. (Read more about the death of the owner of Pedophile Island HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Sometime last summer New York Times columnist James Stewart met Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell over the weekend, at Epstein’s mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss rumors that Epstein was advising Tesla chief Elon Musk following the blowback from Musk’s claim that he was close to a deal to take the company private. Epstein claimed he was advising Musk on finding a new chief executive for the company but said Tesla and Musk would deny if asked. They did. . .

Despite trying, Stewart could not pry specific from Epstein about his work with Tesla. But he did get to hear a lot about sex and drugs. Stewart said:

If he was reticent about Tesla, he was more at ease discussing his interest in young women. He said that criminalizing sex with teenage girls was a cultural aberration and that at times in history it was perfectly acceptable. He pointed out that homosexuality had long been considered a crime and was still punishable by death in some parts of the world…

He said people in Silicon Valley had a reputation for being geeky workaholics, but that was far from the truth: They were hedonistic and regular users of recreational drugs. He said he’d witnessed prominent tech figures taking drugs and arranging for sex (Mr. Epstein stressed that he never drank or used drugs of any kind).

(Read more from “A New York Times Columnist Met Jeffrey Epstein to Talk About Elon Musk and Tesla” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE