Epstein guards suspected of falsifying logs, source says

NEW YORK — A person familiar with the probe of Jeffrey Epstein’s death at a federal jail says guards are suspected of falsifying log entries to show they were checking on inmates in his unit every half hour, when they actually weren’t.

Epstein is believed to have killed himself early Saturday at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he was awaiting trial in a sex trafficking case.

Surveillance video reviewed after the death showed guards never made some of the checks noted in the log, according to the person familiar with the investigation.

The person wasn’t authorized to disclose information and spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

The Justice Department said earlier Tuesday that two guards assigned to watch Epstein had been placed on administrative leave.

First of many expected lawsuits filed

Those details came amid new developments Wednesday in the fight over Epstein’s estate, with a woman filing a lawsuit claiming he forcibly raped her when she was a teenager in 2002.

Jennifer Araoz sued Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and three unnamed members of his staff — the first of many lawsuits expected to be filed by Epstein’s accusers as a new state law went into effect Wednesday that opens up a one-year window for victims of long-ago sex crimes to take legal action.

“Today is my first step toward reclaiming my power Jeffrey Epstein and his enablers stole from me,” Araoz said. The AP names alleged victims of sexual offenses only if they consent to being identified, as Araoz has done.

The lawsuit accuses Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit teenage girls and providing “organizational support to Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.”

Maxwell’s publicist and lawyers did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. She previously denied wrongdoing.

Reconstruction team

The federal Bureau of Prisons has sent a suicide reconstruction team to the jail where Epstein took his own life to analyze how and why it happened.

That’s according to a Justice Department official who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday. The person wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The official said the team of psychologists arrived Tuesday. They are expected to reconstruct the scene, analyze why Epstein took his own life and look at how it happened.

The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general are investigating Epstein’s death. The official says Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen is being briefed by the FBI every three hours.

Guards placed on leave

The Justice Department says two guards assigned to watch Epstein when he killed himself in jail have been placed on administrative leave.

The department said in a statement Tuesday that the warden has also been temporarily reassigned to an office post pending the outcome of two investigations. Both the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general are investigating Epstein’s death.

Attorney General William Barr has expressed outrage that Epstein was able to take his own life Saturday while under the care of the federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Justice Department says the warden of another facility in upstate New York has been named the acting warden at MCC. The department said it will take additional personnel action as warranted.

‘Rip up’ old plea agreement

A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee says the Justice Department should “rip up” a decade-old plea agreement that protects some of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates from being prosecuted for their alleged role in supplying him with teenage girls.

The 2008 deal allowed Epstein to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by pleading guilty to lesser state charges. It also shields several of his associates from prosecution.

Federal prosecutors said when they charged Epstein that the Florida deal doesn’t apply to prosecutors in New York.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who heads the panel’s oversight subcommittee, asked Barr to confirm it is no longer binding following Epstein’s suicide.

A Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity says Barr has recused himself from any review of the 2008 plea deal involved in the federal investigation into Epstein.

Inquiries intensified

Amid revelations about Epstein’s death, authorities have intensified inquiries into what went wrong at the jail and who could still face charges in his case.

A person familiar with the matter says Epstein was supposed to have been checked on by a guard about every 30 minutes. But investigators have learned those checks weren’t done for several hours before Epstein was found Saturday.

That person wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Additionally, Serene Gregg, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3148, tells The Washington Post that one of the guards assigned to Epstein’s unit wasn’t a correctional officer, but a fill-in who had been pressed into service.

In the criminal case, authorities are seemingly turning their attention to those who knew about Epstein’s penchant for underage girls.