WASHINGTON — Federal investigators and prosecutors failed Epstein’s survivors for decades. That is the conclusion of a majority staff report the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released on Tuesday, closing a 15-month investigation into how the cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were handled.
For the report, committee staff reviewed financial records and documents from the Department of Justice and the Epstein estate. They also conducted 19 transcribed interviews and depositions. The witnesses ranged from former Attorney General William P. Barr to Hillary R. Clinton. Maxwell was deposed too.
“The federal government has failed the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes for decades.”
Epstein, Comer added, “operated with impunity, shielded and enabled by powerful connections and a justice system that repeatedly failed his victims.”
What the report found
The sharpest criticism lands on a deal struck in Florida in 2007. Prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida chose not to seek a federal indictment. Instead, Epstein pleaded guilty to lesser state charges under a non-prosecution agreement. His sentence was 18 months in jail. He got extensive work-release privileges — time out of jail during which, the report says, the abuse continued — and he was released early. Survivors were not told about the agreement, the committee said.
The report also covered Epstein’s death in custody in New York in 2019. Understaffing and dysfunction at the facility meant correctional officers on both shifts missed at least 12 rounds and three inmate counts on the night he died, leaving nearly eight hours without adequate supervision, according to the report.
More recent handling drew criticism too. After Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in 2025, the Justice Department failed to communicate adequately about its document releases and did not sufficiently protect survivors, the committee said, adding that deficient redactions exposed survivors’ sensitive personal information.
Banks and travel companies were faulted as well. Financial institutions held substantial information about Epstein’s criminal history and repeatedly flagged transactions as high risk, yet addressed those risks late or not at all, the report said. It said American Express agents allowed Epstein to use fraudulent decoy flights and refundable or dummy itineraries to transport foreign women across borders to his residences.
What the committee wants next
The report asks the Justice Department to interview or re-interview key witnesses. It names Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff, saying investigators should question her further about her potential knowledge of, and role in, his criminal activity.
It also says the department should investigate sexual assault allegations that Sarah Kellen, a longtime Epstein assistant and survivor, made against two men — former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai — during her transcribed interview with the committee. Those are allegations reported by the committee, not findings against either man.
Other recommendations include a process for survivors and their representatives to see their own files in unredacted form, closer scrutiny of non-prosecution agreements, and a Treasury Department review of whether financial institutions met their reporting obligations. The committee also urged Congress to pass Comer’s Survivor’s Voice Protection Act, H.R. 10389, which would let witnesses and survivors of sexual crimes speak freely despite nondisclosure agreements.
On President Donald Trump, the report said the committee’s review of documents from the estate, the U.S. Virgin Islands, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and the Justice Department did not identify any documents implicating him in criminal activity related to Epstein and Maxwell, and that witnesses examined did not say he was involved.
Democrats call the report incomplete
Ranking Member Robert Garcia issued a statement calling the Republican report incomplete and misleading. “Oversight Republicans have released a report based on an incomplete investigation and zero public hearings on Jeffrey Epstein,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the Justice Department “continues to illegally withhold over 2.5 million pages of documents,” that Maxwell’s transfer has not been investigated, and that Attorney General Todd Blanche has yet to testify. Democrats said they intend to hold public hearings and question men who associated with Epstein, including Trump.