What specific emails between Elon Musk and Jeffrey Epstein are included in the DOJ release and where can they be read?
Executive summary
The Department of Justice’s recent tranche of roughly three million pages of Jeffrey Epstein records includes a discrete set of email exchanges between Elon Musk and Epstein spanning roughly 2012–2013; news organizations report the collection contains 16 direct emails between Musk and Epstein and multiple related messages from Epstein’s assistant and associates [1] [2] [3]. The exchanges include logistics and scheduling about visiting Epstein’s private island, a SpaceX visit in February 2013, and questions from Musk about “the wildest party” on the island; the underlying documents were published as part of the DOJ release available via the Justice Department’s public document portal referenced in contemporaneous reporting [4] [5] [3].
1. What the emails say in plain terms — calendar, logistics and invitations
The emails reported by multiple outlets show Epstein and Musk trading notes about scheduling visits to Epstein’s Little Saint James island and to Musk’s workplace: several messages ask which nights would be “the wildest party” on Epstein’s island and coordinate dates for a January or New Year’s visit in late 2013 [6] [3]. In one reported November 2012 exchange Epstein asked how many people Musk would want transported by helicopter, and Musk replied it would be only himself and his then-wife Talulah Riley — a line that appears in news summaries of the DOJ files [5] [4]. Separate threads describe Epstein and or his assistant planning a visit to SpaceX on Feb. 25, 2013, with Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff emailing Musk copies of “all 3 girls passports” in connection with that planned visit, according to the documents surfaced by Fortune and others [2].
2. Scale and provenance — how many Musk–Epstein messages and where they appear in the dump
Time reported the batch contains 16 emails exchanged between Musk and Epstein in 2012–2013, and other outlets characterize additional related messages involving Epstein’s associates that reference Musk and his brother Kimbal [1] [7]. The messages are part of the DOJ’s publication of millions of pages connected to federal investigations of Epstein; reporters note this latest release increased the publicly available corpus to roughly 3.5 million pages and was posted on the DOJ’s document site in late January 2026 [3] [5].
3. Where to read the emails — the primary source and news reproductions
The original materials were released by the U.S. Department of Justice and made available through its public document portal as part of the mandated disclosure; major outlets link to and excerpt the specific emails in their reporting while advising readers that the DOJ site is the primary source for the documents [3] [5]. Readers seeking the raw files should consult the DOJ’s published Epstein document collection (as indexed in the January 2026 release) and the specific case-related folders journalists referenced; contemporaneous articles from Time, Fortune, The Guardian and others reproduce key passages and provide document identifiers and context [1] [2] [8].
4. What the documents do not prove — visitation and culpability remain unclear
News coverage uniformly notes that appearing in these emails does not equate to criminal conduct and that it is not clear from the DOJ release whether Musk ever visited Epstein’s island or participated in illicit activity there; multiple outlets emphasize the records show planning and invitations but do not establish attendance or wrongdoing [6] [3] [9]. Reports also document that by 2012 Epstein had a 2008 conviction for solicitation of prostitution, which contextualizes why these communications drew scrutiny, but the documents themselves do not by themselves establish criminal collaboration between Musk and Epstein [1] [9].
5. Responses, disputes and gaps — Musk’s reaction and missing context
Elon Musk reportedly acknowledged the emails are genuine while arguing they can be misinterpreted and characterizing press focus as a distraction, and subsequent reporting cites Musk’s statements and spokesperson comments disputing any close relationship [1] [10]. Journalists and survivors’ advocates have criticized the DOJ release as incomplete and flagged redactions and missing materials; several outlets and lawmakers have demanded fuller disclosure because documents were temporarily inaccessible at times and because the tranche may still omit many pages from Epstein-related investigations [3] [11].