The Untold Story of Jeffrey Epstein's Death and His Final Days in Jail

Source: New York Times

The Untold Story of Jeffrey Epstein’s Death and His Final Days in Jail

By Charles Homans, Steve Eder, Jan Ransom and Michael Rothfeld Visual analysis and graphics by Helmuth Rosales, Aric Toler and Katherine Chui Photographs by Andrew Moore and Cait Oppermann
June 16, 2026

Late in the afternoon of July 6, 2019, about a dozen F.B.I. agents and New York Police Department officers gathered at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, waiting out of view of the tarmac so as not to spook their quarry. The day before, they received an email informing them that a private jet would be arriving at 5:20 p.m. Attached to the email was an arrest warrant for its lone passenger, Jeffrey Epstein.

Returning from Paris, Epstein was making plans on his phone: a trip to his private island in the Caribbean, a documentary interview with Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former adviser. When the plane touched down, customs agents boarded to check the passports of Epstein and the plane’s two pilots. Then they escorted Epstein into the terminal, where an F.B.I. agent and a detective told him he was under arrest. ... Epstein appeared shocked. He managed to send one last message to Bannon: “All canceled.” ... Bannon wrote back immediately. “you r not coming in?” There was no reply. ... As the F.B.I. agents drove Epstein to Manhattan, he asked two questions. “Is this sex trafficking?” “Is this about underage?” It was.

The F.B.I. and federal prosecutors had quietly opened a new investigation eight months earlier into Epstein’s activities in New York, focusing on victims who had not been interviewed in his decade-old sex-crimes case in Florida. While Epstein was abroad, he was indicted under seal on charges of trafficking minors for sex. If found guilty, he faced up to 45 years in prison — a sentence far worse than the 13 months he had served in Palm Beach after a plea deal in 2008.

“Oh, this is bad,” he said aloud as he was booked into federal custody. “This is really bad.”

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-death-final-days.html