The mystery surrounding the 2019 death of Jeffrey Epstein has returned to Capitol Hill after the House Oversight Committee summoned former Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) guard Tova Noel to testify about her actions the night the financier was found dead in a New York jail cell.
According to a letter signed by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Noel has been asked to appear before lawmakers on March 26 as part of an ongoing congressional inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death.
Epstein, a 66-year-old financier facing federal sex-trafficking charges, died on Aug. 10, 2019 inside the Special Housing Unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Federal authorities determined that Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial, though questions about prison supervision and procedural failures have persisted for years.
The committee's renewed interest follows the release of documents and reporting that place Noel's conduct under fresh scrutiny.
According to materials referenced by investigators, Noel allegedly searched Epstein's name online roughly 40 minutes before he was discovered unresponsive in his cell. Financial activity tied to Noel has also drawn attention: reports indicate that her bank alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 2019 after a series of cash deposits were made into her account.
Investigators reportedly flagged 12 separate cash deposits beginning in April 2018, though the details surrounding those transactions have not been publicly explained.
Comer wrote to Noel that the committee believes she possesses information relevant to the investigation. In the letter, the chairman said the request for testimony was based on public reporting, Justice Department documents and material obtained by the committee.
The central question facing investigators remains whether correctional officers assigned to supervise Epstein carried out the required monitoring procedures.
Federal guidelines required that Epstein-who had previously been placed on suicide watch-be checked regularly throughout the night. According to prosecutors, Noel and another correctional officer were responsible for conducting prisoner counts and monitoring the Special Housing Unit.
The Justice Department previously accused the officers of falsifying records to make it appear they had performed required checks.
In a Justice Department statement, prosecutors said the guards had "repeatedly failed to complete mandated counts of prisoners under their watch."
Investigators alleged the officers spent portions of their shifts browsing the internet and moving around the common area instead of conducting scheduled rounds.
According to reports examining Noel's computer activity, the guard's internet searches included browsing for household furniture, and she reportedly slept during part of the shift.
Noel addressed some of those claims during a 2021 deposition.
Asked about searching Epstein's name online, she said: "I don't remember doing that."
She also said during the deposition: "I've never worked in the Special Housing Unit and actually done rounds every 30 minutes."
Criminal charges against Noel and another correctional officer were ultimately dropped, but the allegations surrounding the prison logs and monitoring procedures have remained a focal point of the broader controversy.
Additional documents released by the Justice Department have further complicated the narrative surrounding Epstein's final weeks in custody.
Among them is a psychological evaluation dated July 24, 2019, in which Epstein claimed that his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer facing murder charges, had attempted to kill him.
The report recorded Epstein saying he had "no interest in killing myself."
In the same assessment, Epstein reportedly told evaluators that suicide "would be crazy."
The following day, according to the document, Epstein said he was "too vested" in fighting the charges against him.
He added: "I have a life and I want to go back to living my life."
Those statements have fueled debate about the events leading to Epstein's death and the reliability of official records documenting his final hours.
