Federal investigators initially thought a mysterious orange blob caught on jail surveillance near Jeffrey Epstein's cell on the night before he was found dead may have been an inmate, according to newly released records from the Justice Department.
The records are part of a new batch of Epstein-related files made public by the department and include an FBI observation log that describes what agents saw while reviewing video from inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where the convicted sex offender was being held on federal sex-trafficking charges, the New York Post reported Friday.
In that log, the FBI noted that "a flash of orange" appeared to be moving up the L Tier stairway near Epstein's housing area at 10:39 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019 — hours before Epstein was found hanged in his cell early the next morning.
The FBI log said the orange shape "could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier," the newly released records show.
A separate review of the footage by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General also flagged the orange object but said inmates were on lockdown at the time and suggested it was "possible someone is carrying inmate linen or bedding up the stairs."
The FBI's initial description was not included in the inspector general's final report on Epstein's death, which was released in 2023.
Instead, that report said the orange figure seen on the surveillance video was an "unidentified CO," or corrections officer.
The 2023 inspector general report concluded Epstein died by suicide and detailed multiple failures at the facility, including staffing shortages, missed rounds, and malfunctioning camera recording systems.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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