By Ashley Pemberton
Footage “proving” paedophile Jeffrey Epstein took his own life has finally been released six years after he was found dead.
Video from CCTV cameras shows a grey-haired Epstein in an orange jump suit being led to his cell by a guard at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City in August 2019.
The pair move down a small flight of stairs and walk across the common area as they walk to the cell. Other than the guard leaving, no one walks across the common area towards Epstein’s cell or away from it.
CCTV footage doesn’t show Epstein’s cell door, but it would capture anyone walking to it, the Justice Department said.
The footage was caught between 7.40pm on August 9 and 10am the next day. The disgraced financier was found hanged in jail on the 10th, sparking conspiracy theories that he was bumped off.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino had previously pledged to release the footage to end all debate surrounding the death by proving “no one was there in Epstein’s cell but him.”
It comes as the FBI said it found no evidence that Epstein maintained a 鈥渃lient list鈥 or was a victim of foul play in his death, Axios reported.
A review ordered President Donald Trump concluded Epstein was not blackmailing prominent political and business leaders, according to a memo detailing the findings seen by the American news website.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre with bedsheets around his neck on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, provoking intense public scrutiny and numerous conspiracy theories.
Bongino was among those who questioned the official version of how he died, as was FBI director Kash Patel. Both have subsequently said Epstein committed suicide.
The joint investigation by the FBI and the US Department of Justice trawled through hours of footage of Epstein鈥檚 prison cell between him being locked in his cell and him being found unresponsive.
The two page memo said: 鈥淭he FBI enhanced the relevant footage by increasing its contrast, balancing the colour and improving its sharpness for greater clarity and viewability.
鈥淭he FBI鈥檚 independent review of this footage confirmed that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at around 10:40 pm on August 9, 2019, until around 6:30 am the next morning, nobody entered any of the tiers in the SHU.”
It added: “This systematic review revealed no incriminating 鈥榗lient list.鈥 There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.鈥
It was previously reported the CCTV footage outside the cell had been lost.
The theory that Epstein鈥檚 crimes also implicated government officials, celebrities and business leaders 鈥 and that someone killed him to conceal them 鈥 spread online.
And Elon Musk added fuel to the fire last month when he suggested Trump himself was 鈥渋n the Epstein files鈥 and suggested the White House was preventing the release of further details in a Tweet he later deleted.
But the latest investigation found no 鈥渆vidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties鈥.
The memo states the video supports a medical examiner鈥檚 finding that the financier committed suicide, a ruling that was supported by the DoJ during President Trump鈥檚 first term.
Epstein ran one of the most prolific sex trafficking rings in history with girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
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