Jeffrey Epstein spent more than half a decade under Drug Enforcement Agency scrutiny as part of a covert investigation examining him and 14 associates over questionable financial movements potentially tied to narcotics trafficking, according to reports on newly surfaced Justice Department files.
“DEA reporting indicates the above individuals are involved in illegitimate wire transfers which are tied to illicit drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City,” the 2015 document says. Spanning 69 pages and stamped “law enforcement sensitive,” the memo has been extensively redacted — stripping out the 14 co-targets’ identities along with key investigative specifics.
Reagan-era taskforce enlisted
The paperwork reportedly stems from DEA agents approaching an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Fusion Center in Virginia, requesting cross-agency intelligence on Epstein and others tied to an active criminal case.
Created under Ronald Reagan to combat exploding cocaine imports, the taskforce established its Virginia Fusion Center in 2009 as a hub for inter-agency intelligence coordination.
Launching any DEA case demands proving a drugs link exists, a law enforcement source told CBS News, noting that tapping the Fusion Center indicated investigators viewed this as a “significant” operation rather than basic information gathering.
Case documentation includes a DEA reference number showing the matter opened on December 17, 2010 in New York. A “judicial pending” notation from the 2015 memo reportedly confirms the investigation was still running five years after launch.
One law enforcement source told CBS News this “judicial pending” designation typically means agents were seeking court permission for search warrants or comparable investigative tools.
Another source suggested it could indicate someone connected to the case had already been arrested, however CBS reported it couldn not determine which interpretation was accurate given the blanked-out names throughout the document.
Sex trafficking prosecutors kept in dark
A completely separate 2018 probe by Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District eventually put Epstein behind bars in a downtown federal lockup after his July 2019 arrest on sex trafficking allegations.
Sources involved in that case told CBS the prosecutors were not aware of the earlier DEA investigation.
Epstein remained in custody awaiting trial when he died in August 2019. Authorities determined he took his own life.
Web of international probes revealed
According to the report, the DEA paperwork exposes multiple other investigations with Epstein connections that were previously unknown publicly — including an Immigration and Customs Enforcement case in West Palm Beach running from 2006 to 2008; a Las Vegas ICE investigation opened in 2009 showing a “pending” status as of January 27, 2010; a Paris-based ICE operation dubbed “Angel Watch” that opened in June 2013 and wrapped within months; plus an FBI investigation launched in 2006 that remained open as of 2015.
Banking information scattered through the document identifies Epstein-linked accounts in Switzerland, France, the Cayman Islands and New York, alongside records of past law enforcement interactions.
Financial analysis tracked approximately $50 million moving through suspicious wire transfers during the 2010-2015 window, though recipient and sender identities have been scrubbed from the records.