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Topics: Crime, Jeffrey Epstein, Sexual Abuse, True crime, US News
Joe Yates
Topics: Crime, Jeffrey Epstein, Sexual Abuse, True crime, US News
This article has been updated following a statement by the Department of Justice.
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault and child sexual abuse which some readers may find distressing.
A letter believed to have been written by Jeffrey Epstein containing what many are describing as a chilling admission made shortly before his death, has been declared a fake by the FBI.
The correspondence, which resurfaced as part of a fresh tranche of Epstein-related records, appears to have been sent by the disgraced financier to former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar - who is currently serving multiple sentences for sexual abuse crimes.
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The envelope was postmarked August 13, 2019 - just three days after the notorious pedophile was found dead by suicide in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
Investigators found it in the jail mail room weeks after Epstein’s death, having been returned from a prison in Arizona marked 'no longer at this address'.
"It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him," wrote an investigator to a prison official in an email that was included in the documents.
"I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?"
The letter begins: "As you will know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home.
"Good luck! We shared one thing … our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they reach their full potential."
The message continued: "Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch’, whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system."
Before signing off: "Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein."
It is unclear exactly who the 'president' referred to in the letter is, but at the time the letter was allegedly written, President Donald Trump was serving his first term.
Trump has repeatedly vehemently denied any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s crimes or any wrongdoing.
However, despite initial claims and suggestions that the letter was authentic, the FBI have since confirmed that the letter itself is a fake and was not written by the late sex offender.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Department of Justice wrote: "The FBI has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE. The fake letter was received by the jail, and flagged for the FBI at the time. The FBI made this conclusion based on the following facts:
"-The writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein’s.
"-The letter was postmarked three days after Epstein's death out of Northern Virginia, when he was jailed in New York.
"-The return address did not list the jail where Epstein was held and did not include his inmate number, which is required for outgoing mail.
"This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual. Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law."
It is the second statement in recent days that calls into question the validity of some documents appearing in the Epstein Files.
In an earlier statement addressing the release of the latest documents, the Department of Justice wrote on X: "The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
"Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.
"Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org
Or if you want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.