Jeffrey Epstein's victims demand answers about the investigation into his death, Gloria Allred wrote in a new letter to the DOJ
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
- The Justice Department hasn't released its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's death.
- Gloria Allred, who represents 20 Epstein victims, asked the DOJ inspector general for answers.
- Epstein's victims "deserve to be told the truth about how and why the justice system failed them again," she wrote in a letter.
More than three years after his death, Jeffrey Epstein's victims still want to understand how he was allowed to die.
In a March 2 letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, attorney Gloria Allred, who represents 20 of Epstein's accusers, asked for an update on the long-running investigation into his death.
"Many of Mr. Epstein's victims question how and why the system failed to prevent the death of Jeffrey Epstein," Allred wrote in the letter. "Victims have been promised answers but after years of waiting for those answers, they have yet to receive them."
Epstein died in August 2019 in the custody of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a now-shuttered federal jail in Manhattan, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death not sparked theories about whether he was murdered and was a blow to his many victims.
Epstein had escaped justice before, with a 2007 plea deal that gave him a light sentence even after law enforcement concluded he had sexually abused more than 30 girls.
To his many accusers, death in jail — whether homicide or suicide — was another evasion of justice.
Horowitz launched an investigation into the circumstances of Epstein's death soon after he was found dead in his jail cell. But more than three years later, a report on its results has not been released.
"It is unfair that the victims of Jeffrey Epstein continue to be denied the knowledge of the conditions which existed at MCC that led to Mr. Epstein's death," Allred wrote. "The victims of Mr. Epstein deserve to be told the truth about how and why the justice system failed them again."
A representative for the Justice Department inspector general's office didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about Allred's letter. The office previously declined to comment when asked about the status of the investigation.
Allred, who provided Insider with the letter, said in an interview that Horowitz is in a position to replace speculation about Epstein's death with hard facts.
"For many people, the death was suspicious, to say the least," Allred said. "Others have their own conclusions about what happened to Mr. Epstein. But the speculation needs to be replaced by facts and evidence by the IG."