As I reported in March, after a botched rollout of what Attorney General Pam Bondi described as “Phase 1” of the release of the Epstein files, FBI Director Kash Patel ordered around 1,000 FBI special agents to team up with the bureau’s FOIA personnel at an FBI facility in Winchester, Virginia to prepare the Epstein files for public release.

The army of agents from the New York and Washington field offices, along with FOIA officers, were instructed on how to review and apply redactions to the documents.

Over the summer, I filed a wide-ranging FOIA request for those directives, as well as communications between agency personnel pertaining to their review of the files and the taxpayer dollars spent on the marathon two-month process. I then sued the FBI to compel release of the documents.

Just this morning I got the partially redacted records from the FBI. They mostly consist of emails that provide a look behind the scenes as agents and other FBI personnel started to work on the documents. The bureau withheld more than 161 pages citing ongoing law enforcement proceedings and other FOIA exemptions.

The emails reveal the special training given to FBI personnel working on what it called the “Epstein Transparency Project.” In some instances they referred to it as the “Special Redaction Project.” The training entailed PowerPoint slide presentations and video instruction on how to review the files.

Click here to view the documents (page 11)

The records I got also reveal the number of hours the FBI devoted to the project, which required some agents to work nights and weekends. The FBI paid personnel from various divisions, including counterintelligence and international operations, $851,344 in overtime for working on the Epstein files between March 17 and March 22, according to the documents. FBI personnel clocked in a total of 4,737 hours of overtime between January and July. Of that, more than 70% occurred during the month of March while personnel reviewed the Epstein files, the documents show.

Click here to view the documents (page 23)

‘Boxes’

In an email on March 10, FBI personnel from the Office of General Counsel and the bureau’s Information Management Division discussed pending FOIA requests for Epstein-related records and digitizing and redacting “physical files” and the bureau’s “commitment to transparency.”

Click here to view the documents (page 12)

Another email describes categories of videos the FBI reviewed related to certain Epstein files, which includes “search warrant execution photos,” “street surveillance video” and “aerial footage from FBI search warrant execution.”

A couple of weeks later, an email sent from the Information and Management Division said the office “continues discussions with DOJ and is awaiting clarification regarding additional criteria for the next phase of this project.”

“We continue to scope and update workflow processes and training material based on those discussions,” the March 22 email says. “Updated training materials and workflow guidance is expected for dissemination later tonight.”

The next day another email was sent to FBI personnel reviewing the Epstein files advising them to “stand by.”

“We have identified more files requiring Phase l review. Please continue to refresh as files will be populated momentarily,” the email said.

The emails indicate FBI personnel were continuously checking out Epstein files to review and redact.

On March 24, an email sent to FBI personnel said “Phase 1 redactions are complete” and “Phase 2” was being prepared for “final delivery to DOJ.”

“Phase 2 review of the new criteria provided by DOJ was approximately 75.2% complete,” the email said. “Upon completion of Phase 2,” the Information Management Division “will provide a copy of all see-through redaction files for DOJ review.”

Bureau personnel also reviewed videos. According to an April 15 email, one of the videos was from the New York City jail where Epstein was found dead a month after his arrest in 2019 on sex trafficking charges. (The DOJ publicly released 11 hours of the prison video in July.)

 

Click here to view the documents (page 18)

That same day, Parry sent an email to other FBI personnel that said Patel “asked for status of all remaining Epstein-related reviews.”

 

Click here to view the documents (pages 18 and 19)

On May 2, an FBI employee from the New York field office sent an email and attached a document titled, “Epstein Overview FINAL” that summarized their work. The FBI withheld a copy of the attachment.

 

Click here to view the documents (page 20)

Got a tip for a document you think I should request via FOIA? Send me an email: [email protected] or [email protected]. Or send me a secure message on Signal: @JasonLeopold.666.

Jason Leopold is Senior Investigative Reporter at Bloomberg.

Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an American news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Markets, Bloomberg.com, and Bloomberg's mobile platforms. (Wikipedia.)