Epstein was murdered in prison, says brother

MOSCOW - Mark Epstein, the brother of American financier Jeffrey Epstein allegedly involved in sex trafficking, on Thursday expressed the belief that he had not committed suicide in his prison cell but had been killed by the federal government, reported Sputnik.

"When I first heard he was dead from suicide, I had no reason to doubt it. So, I accepted that. But then, after the autopsy, and after Billboard made that asinine statement, I said this was not a suicide... Well, that's a scary thought that you can be killed in prison by the government," Mark said in an interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson, when asked whether he believed in his brother's suicide.

Mark cited a doctor attending the autopsy as saying that Jeffrey's death did not "look like a suicide" but was rather "a homicide". It was Chief Pathologist Barbara Samson who declared suicide to be the cause of Jeffrey's death, Mark recalled, noting that Samson herself had not attended the autopsy. Mark expressed the belief that Samson's decision had prompted the authorities to stop the investigation into the cause of death.

"When they call it a suicide, they stop investigating, because if there's a suicide, there's really nothing to investigate... Case closed. So, that's how they can just sort of cover it up. They never did an investigation. They didn't interview the EMTs (emergency medical technicians) that were called to the jail. They never interviewed the hospital personnel where his body was shipped," Mark told Carlson.

Mark added that he had not been able to reach Samson to ask her questions about the death of Jeffrey, with Carlson saying that she had refused to speak to him as well. The media host recalled Samson's statement in which she declared the death to be a suicide because Jeffrey had previously tried to kill himself, to which Mark replied that Jeffrey's attorney said his brother had been attacked by his cellmate but refused to report it because "he was afraid of retaliation".

Mark also said that it "makes no sense" that Jeffrey had killed himself just days before his hearing for a possible bail, adding that he "could see if he went for bail and it was denied" then he "can see him taking himself out", but "not a few days before".

Jeffrey's brother also cited some of his own sources as saying that cell blocks had been left unlocked on the night of Jeffrey's death. Moreover, he stated that some other procedures had also been violated, including the shipping of the body, adding that there were a lot of inconsistencies between the facts and the autopsy report, in particular with regard to the circumstances of Jeffrey's death.

Last month, a US federal judge ordered the release of nearly 200 names tied to the Epstein case, including accusers and witnesses. Epstein, a convicted sex criminal, died in 2019 while awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. Authorities claim that Epstein committed suicide, although his death has been the subject of scrutiny and conspiracy.

Epstein, who worked in the financial sector, maintained ties to a number of celebrities and public officials. Epstein owned private islands in the Caribbean Sea, where he would frequently fly associates, fuelling speculation about potential criminal activities there. - BERNAMA