Epstein files: transparent, incompetent or a cover-up?

Despite the Trump administration’s claims, the Epstein scandal is not over because victims have not received justice and most of the files have not been released, writes Kiran Moodley.

The Epstein files are here, thanks to the most transparent President in US history (he wasn’t forced into publishing them), and therefore, this saga is over. Well, that’s the line from the Trump administration.

But it’s not over and nor should it be. The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of the King, shows just that. For the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, there is no closure until there is accountability, justice. Andrew, accused of misconduct in public office, has always denied any wrongdoing.

The files point to a global network of individuals happy to be close to Epstein, even if, as Donald Trump apparently told police back in 2006, “everyone has known” about his crimes.

It’s not over because the victims have not received justice, yes. But it’s also not over because the files have not been released.

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‘Something doesn’t add up’

Last year, the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a memo saying that they had conducted an exhaustive review of all files relating to Jeffrey Epstein and that they had more than 300 GB of data. We at The FourSight questioned that.

Since then, Congress forced the DOJ to release all the data. That has totalled around 300 GB.

Epstein survivors: How long do we have to wait for justice to be served?

But dig into the files, and something doesn’t add up. We’ve known for years that Epstein was obsessed with surveillance and data, and had cameras around his properties. We know that authorities collected computers, hard drives and servers after searches of his Florida home in the 2000s, as well as of his New York townhouse and private island following his 2019 arrest.

In emails from June 2020, investigators at the FBI and New York District Attorney’s Office talk about storage devices with a capacity of up to 50 TBs. Five years later, more emails discuss “approximately 14.6 terabytes of archived data” to process. Lower than in 2020, but still massive compared to the latest release of files.

In fact, if that’s the amount of data they have on Epstein, but have only released 300 GB, that means just two per cent of the actual Epstein data has been released. Epstein survivors have told Channel 4 News that they believe that the Trump administration has failed to meet their request to release all the files.

We managed to find video from the released documents of Epstein in his Palm Beach office. But we haven’t seen any other surveillance footage from around his New York property - and the 2,500 video and audio files we have uncovered from the files only add up to 60 GB in total. Is there more out there?

Incompetence

Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General, said at the end of January that the files that had not been released were ones containing “personally identifying information of victims”, as well as any depiction of child abuse, anything that would jeopardise active investigations and “anything that depicts or contains images of death, physical abuse or injury”.

So is that the answer? Or - as some politicians and critics say - is this incompetence at handling the data? Or even a deliberate, co-ordinated cover-up? Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, quizzed the Attorney General Pam Bondi, pictured below, about why, within the files, there was nothing indicating why charges were not brought against Epstein’s co-conspirators. So what is missing?

There is no doubt that handling so much data is a challenge. The Epstein files reveal that very fact, with emails providing a glimpse of the struggles between US investigators and prosecutors in 2020.

“We’re sifting through more than a million documents without much rhyme or reason” one email reads.

Another offers a vivid analogy: “Imagine if we had seized papers from approximately 100,000 filing cabinets in a dozen different office buildings” then they “just got dumped in one big pile”, “documents got separated” and “those larger than about 100 pages couldn’t be opened”. “That’s what we’ve got, just electronically.”

The start of justice?

For survivors, whatever the reasons behind the rather chaotic nature of the roll-out, this has been gruelling. Not least because while some co-conspirators have been redacted, victims have not. Bondi was pressed on this at the congressional hearing. She did say she was deeply sorry for what victims had been through, but she refused to look them in the eye when asked to.

Andrew’s arrest is momentous, but is it the start of justice?

The lack of police activity in the US is a cause for concern for victims. And Andrew’s arrest does not match up with the July 2025 memo from the FBI and DOJ that said “we did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties”.

Journalist Tara Palmeri, pictured above, the host of The Tara Palmeri Show and the author of the newsletter “The Red Letter” told me, regarding the victims: “I think it was really disheartening at first when they saw the way the files were being released. But the fallout around the world, not in the US, has given them hope that there may be some accountability here. There might be international pressure at the very least.”

And regarding the lack of any developments in the US regarding Epstein’s crimes, Palmeri said: “I mean it’s embarrassing for this country. Supposedly, you know, the shining light of democracy and yet here we are not even able to trust our nation to provide security because isn’t that the Department of Justice’s role in a country, to provide security to victims and to actually adjudicate and prosecute when there are complaints?”

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