A newly released Justice Department document shows that Jeffrey Epstein was named in a 2010 Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into suspicious wire transfers linked to narcotics and prostitution activity in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City-an inquiry previously unknown to prosecutors who later brought federal sex-trafficking charges against him.
The 69-page memo, marked "law enforcement sensitive," appears in the Department of Justice's public Epstein files library and outlines a request from the DEA to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Fusion Center in Virginia for intelligence from other federal agencies. The memo states: "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 document lists Epstein and 14 additional targets, though most names remain redacted. The case carries a DEA number indicating it was opened in New York on Dec. 17, 2010, and was described as "judicial pending" at the time the memo was drafted five years later.
According to CBS News, which first reported the memo's contents, a law enforcement source described the matter as a "significant" investigation rather than a routine inquiry. A source told CBS News that for the DEA to open such a case within the OCDETF framework, there would have had to be an established drug nexus.
The memo details approximately:
- $50 million in suspicious wire transfers between 2010 and 2015
- Bank accounts in Switzerland, France, the Cayman Islands, and New York
- Transactions tied to entities including SLK Designs LLC and Hyperion Air
Hyperion Air served as a holding company for Epstein's aircraft. SLK Designs was operated by two women previously named as potential co-conspirators in Epstein's 2008 non-prosecution agreement.
Corporate records show both companies were formed and controlled by Epstein attorney Darren Indyke. An attorney for Indyke previously told CBS News that his client "did not socialise with Mr. Epstein" and rejected as categorically false any suggestion that Indyke knowingly facilitated or assisted in Epstein's crimes. No court has found Epstein's attorneys committed wrongdoing.
The document also appears to have inadvertently failed to redact the name of a Polish fashion model connected to roughly $2 million in transfers. CBS News reported that her attorney requested anonymity and said she was a survivor of Epstein.
The DEA memo references several additional investigations across agencies:
- An Immigration and Customs Enforcement probe in West Palm Beach (2006-2008)
- An ICE inquiry in Las Vegas (opened 2009)
- An ICE case in Paris under "Operation Angel Watch" (opened June 2013)
- An FBI investigation opened in 2006 and still active as of 2015
Prosecutors involved in the 2018 federal sex-trafficking case brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York told CBS News they were unaware of the earlier DEA investigation. Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and died in federal custody the following month. His death was ruled a suicide.
The memo's disclosure comes under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by President Trump on Nov. 19, 2025, requiring public release of relevant files. On Jan. 30, 2026, the DOJ released more than 3 million additional pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos, bringing the total public archive to nearly 3.5 million pages. The department has identified roughly 6 million potentially responsive pages in total.
Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CBS News: "It appears Epstein was involved in criminal activity that went way beyond pedophilia and sex trafficking, which makes it even more outrageous that Pam Bondi is sitting on several million unreleased files."
