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Fact check: What federal agencies are retaining Jeffrey Epstein investigation files and where are they stored?
Executive Summary
The available records and reporting show that multiple federal entities hold materials connected to the Jeffrey Epstein investigations, with the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation the principal custodians publicly identified so far. The DOJ has released tens of thousands of pages to the House Oversight Committee and in public postings, while the FBI maintains a large indexed repository of Epstein-related material in its FOIA library known as The Vault; additional records from agencies such as Customs and Border Protection and possibly the IRS and U.S. Attorney’s Offices are referenced in disclosures and reporting, but precise inventories and consolidated storage locations remain partially opaque [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What advocates and committee releases actually claim — a flood of documents, but who holds them?
Public disclosures and committee releases assert that the Department of Justice provided tens of thousands of pages of Epstein-related records to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, with the committee publishing 33,295 pages of material and links for public access; the DOJ’s release included redactions to protect victim identities and child sexual abuse material [1]. News outlets covering the committee release similarly reported the DOJ as the source of the bulk production and noted some contributions from other federal entities, including less than 1,000 pages from Customs and Border Protection’s flight-log materials, indicating that multiple federal components contributed materials to the assembled record even when the DOJ acted as the primary producing agency [2]. Those releases frame the DOJ as the lead custodian for many of the released files, but they do not amount to a comprehensive inventory of all federal holdings.
2. The FBI’s role — an indexed trove and reporting of physical evidence holdings
The FBI maintains an online FOIA library called The Vault that has historically included a dedicated Epstein collection and about 6,700 documents and media items related to Epstein matters, making the Bureau an explicit custodian for a substantial portion of investigatory material [3]. Investigative reporting in October 2025 described a much larger “secret trove” in FBI hands, including hundreds of gigabytes of digital data and seized physical evidence from Epstein properties — inventories listing items such as CDs, recording devices and furniture — suggesting the FBI holds both digital and physical evidence, indexed internally though not fully public [4]. The FBI’s public Vault provides a partial window, while internal indexes and seized-property inventories described in reporting show significantly broader FBI holdings than appear in public FOIA releases.
3. Other federal players — Customs, U.S. Attorneys, IRS and patchwork custodianship
Besides DOJ and FBI holdings, reporting and the committee releases identify Customs and Border Protection as holding flight-log data tied to Epstein’s aircraft, with under 1,000 pages released from CBP in the committee production, indicating agency-specific records can be discrete and stored in agency systems [2]. The Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal prosecutors in New York were long-time handlers of the criminal matters, implying local federal case files and evidence databases are part of the retention picture even where not explicitly enumerated in public releases [5]. Agencies with financial-crime jurisdiction such as the IRS Criminal Investigation have processes for retaining financial and forensic materials and could hold related records, though the provided material does not confirm IRS-CI holdings tied directly to Epstein beyond noting relevant investigative capability [6].
4. Where the files are stored and how the public accesses them — partial transparency and differing repositories
Public access pathways described in releases and reporting include the House Oversight Committee’s published links to DOJ-provided documents and the FBI’s Vault web portal, indicating that publicly releasable materials are stored in agency-managed online repositories [1] [3]. Reporting that describes an internal FBI index and large sets of seized physical items points to parallel on-premises storage: FBI evidence vaults, case-management systems, and digital forensics archives that are not broadly searchable by the public [4]. The disclosures show a mixed model: some materials have been posted online by agencies or committees for public scrutiny, while substantial inventories remain in internal agency systems or evidence storage subject to redaction, grand-jury secrecy, and legal limitations.
5. What remains unresolved, legal fights and transparency pressures
Significant unknowns persist: there is no single, public master inventory cataloging every federal Epstein-related file and its precise storage location across DOJ, FBI, CBP, IRS, or U.S. Attorney case files; media reporting, committee releases, and FOIA indexes provide incomplete and sometimes overlapping snapshots [1] [2] [4]. Legal actions and court orders — including appellate rulings in state grand-jury matters and litigation over withheld federal records — show ongoing disputes about what must be disclosed, and advocacy groups have sued agencies seeking fuller records, highlighting continuing transparency pressure [7] [8]. The combination of public postings, FOIA repositories, internal indexes, and litigation indicates custodianship is spread across agencies and that further court rulings or proactive agency disclosures will determine how much of the remaining inventory becomes public.