John,

When Congress released the Epstein files, COURIER didn't wait for permission. We built The Cover-Up — the first publicly searchable database of the Epstein files — so anyone could follow the money, investigate the network, and see for themselves what the government tried to bury.

Now our National Correspondent Camaron Stevenson has obtained internal DOJ communications that crack the case wide open.

What he found is staggering: FBI Director Kash Patel closed the entire Epstein investigation after agents reviewed less than 7% of the case files — and the review took just a few hours.

This is exactly the reporting COURIER exists to do. But we can't keep digging without you.

If you want us to keep following this story wherever it leads, chip in $25 or whatever you can today.

Here's what Camaron uncovered:

FBI Director killed Epstein case after review of less than 7% of investigation files

By Camaron Stevenson, National Correspondent

Internal communications from the Department of Justice reveal that the decision to close the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein was made after a narrowly focused review of less than 7% of the case files, centered entirely on photo and video evidence.

FBI Director Kash Patel tasked agents in March 2025 to "determine if there are any images of individuals on any videos which should be considered for prosecution," according to emails published as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The resulting review examined an estimated 400,000 of the 6 million files compiled against Epstein and did not include financial documents, personal communications, or a majority of witness testimony.

The review was conducted by an agent working out of the DOJ's Southern District of New York office and completed within a few hours of the request. It supposedly found no evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and his now-convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The internal memo sheds new light on the agency's abrupt decision to end its investigation into Epstein's multi-billion dollar sex trafficking operation, and adds context to the public memo on the matter that many derided as woefully insufficient. In the analysis, the agent emphasized that their determinations were made exclusively based on visual evidence, and even that was limited to investigations specific to the SDNY.

The review omitted all surveillance footage, for example, as the 2019 search warrant executed at Epstein's properties only authorized confiscation of evidence related to crimes committed within the preceding 20 years. Witness testimony was also severely limited: anything other than on-camera interviews with the Palm Beach Police Department was not considered.

The language in Patel's official FBI memo announcing the closure of the investigation mirrors the internal analysis almost identically, and a reexamination of the text suggests the video and image elements were the only determining factors.