The Epstein files – The Verge

Trump fires US attorney general Pam Bondi

2026-04-03T05:59:59-04:00

Pam Bondi, US attorney general, during a swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 24, 2026. | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Taking a break from calling Bruce Springsteen a boring loser on Thursday, Donald Trump followed that up with another Truth Social post saying "loyal friend" Pam Bondi will transition to a yet-to-be-announced job in the private sector.

CNN, The New York Times, and Fox News all reported that Bondi, a figure in the TikTok takeover, pressuring tech companies to block ICE-tracking apps, and the Epstein files release, has been fired. Her departure closely follows the ousting of former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem last month, as deputy attorney general Todd Blanche will now serve as acting AG.

Donald Trump:

Pam Bondi is a Great Ame …

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Jeffrey Epstein saw promise in Bitcoin — and its far-right supporters

2026-03-05T15:47:19-05:00

The tranche of Jeffrey Epstein emails and files released on January 30th tie the infamous pedophile, sex trafficker, and influence peddler to elite figures across the tech industry. The world of cryptocurrency is no exception. Epstein's connections are intriguing, disturbing - and worth mapping closely.

With his interest first piqued as early as 2011, Epstein was ahead of the game on crypto. The financier understood it as a tool for clandestine payments and shady international finance, and found prominent community members more than willing to welcome him. Bitcoin wasn't even invented until 2009, which means all of Epstein's crypto connect …

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Why are Epstein’s emails full of equals signs?

2026-02-15T10:22:35-05:00

Many of the emails released by the Department of Justice from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein are full of garbled symbols like:

Or:

The scrambled text is so ubiquitous that it's spurred conspiracy theories that it could be some kind of code. But as believable as it might be that a cabal of elite sex traffickers would communicate in a secret language, the reality is probably more boring: The symbols are likely artifacts from the way the Department of Justice converted the emails to PDFs.

"The glyphs and symbols are probably some artifact of a poor conversion process," said Chris Prom, professor and archivist at the University of Il …

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Jikipedia turns Epstein’s emails into an encyclopedia of his powerful friends

2026-02-14T17:59:00-05:00

Lesley Groff, Epstein’s executive assistant. | Image: Jmail

The folks behind Jmail are at it again with a clone of Wikipedia that turns the treasure trove of data in Epstein's emails into detailed dossiers on his associates. Entries include known visits to Epstein's properties, possible knowledge of Epstein's crimes, and laws that they might have broken. The reports are dense, listing how many emails they exchanged with Epstein, basic biographical information, and details about how they're connected.

Beyond that, there are entries for the properties Epstein owns, detailing how they were acquired and the alleged activities that took place there. There are also entries for his business dealings, incl …

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4chan’s creator says ‘Epstein had nothing to do’ with creating infamous far-right board /pol/

2026-02-13T16:10:09-05:00

The close timing of Jeffrey Epstein coming into contact with 4chan founder Chris 'moot' Poole and the launch of the "politically incorrect" message board /pol/ that became a breeding ground for QAnon and the white supremacist alt-right movement was coincidental, says Poole. In a statement given to The Verge, Pool writes, "The decision to add the board was made weeks beforehand, and the board was added almost 24 hours prior to a first, chance encounter at a social event."

Speculation about the timing arose after emails found in the millions of documents released by the Department of Justice showed Epstein and venture capitalist Boris Nikolic …

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What’s in the Epstein files? For Tiktokers, a content gold mine

2026-02-13T17:26:02-05:00

On TikTok, creators are combing through the Epstein files for views and clout. | Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

"where are you? Are you ok , I loved the torture video," reads one email, allegedly sent by Jeffrey Epstein in 2009. The reply, from a redacted address, states: "I am in china I will be in the US 2nd week of may."

Her face hovering over a screenshot of the exchange, a TikTok creator claims the timing aligns with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's schedule, before speculating that the word "torture" could refer to documented abuses of Palestinian detainees. The video has drawn close to 700,000 views.

Another TikTok pushes back. Netanyahu met Chinese officials in Jerusalem - not Beijing - during that period, the second creator notes …

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Jeffrey Epstein might not have created /pol/, but he helped carry out its mission

2026-02-13T16:03:36-05:00

The Epstein files have revealed more about the pedophile’s relationship to 4Chan. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

On October 24th, 2011, Jeffrey Epstein was emailing back and forth with Boris Nikolic, a biotech venture capitalist who would later be named as a backup executor of Epstein's will. The two appeared to be discussing a meeting Nikolic had helped arrange between Epstein and "moot," the screen name for Christopher Poole, who created the platform 4chan in 2003. Nikolic asked Epstein if he liked moot, and Epstein wrote back that he liked him a lot, thought he was very bright, and had driven him home.

All of these emails were published for the first time alongside 3.5 million other documents in the latest (delayed) release of Epstein files by the …

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Jeffrey Epstein’s digital cleanup crew

2026-02-10T15:52:25-05:00

In between hobnobbing with royalty and world leaders and abusing children and young women, Jeffrey Epstein appears to have been googling himself regularly. Across several batches of documents related to the convicted sex offender made public, we see Epstein shoot off emails to associates, complaining that his digital footprint includes factual information about his crimes.

i want the google page cleaned (November 5th, 2010)

mike „ can you olcan up my wiki page (April 18th, 2011)

Any way to clean up my wiki page (September 17th, 2013)

Epstein regularly directed his gripes at Al Seckel, a fixer type who appears over and over in Epste …

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The Jeffrey Epstein Fortnite account is fake

2026-02-06T14:02:23-05:00

Fortnite developer Epic Games says the account some people believed to be linked to Jeffrey Epstein is a "ruse." In a reply on X, the developer writes, "an existing Fortnite account owner changed their username" to "littlestjeff1," an alias spotted in several emailed receipts from YouTube in the Epstein files.

The email suggests that "littlestjeff1" may have been connected to Epstein's YouTube account, prompting online sleuths to search for the username on other platforms. Users later uncovered a "littlestjeff1" account on Fortnite, along with a 2019 email that mentions purchasing VBucks in Fortnite - though the sender and recipient are red …

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How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo

2026-02-13T16:09:08-05:00

The boys’ club | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

He might be dead, but it sure seems like Jeffrey Epstein won.

Sure, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors. Sure, he died in jail. (I am not going to wade into the debate about how.) But he subscribed to a racist, misogynist ideology that meant rich white men like him could do whatever they liked. And it seems he took measures to spread it.

The latest tranche of Epstein documents made it obvious. Consider all the "contrarians" and "anti-woke" warriors who show up in the latest dump: Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Larry Summers, Steve Bannon, and of course, Donald Trump. With apologies to George Carlin: It's a big club, and the …

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