Jeffrey Epstein’s Ties to CBP Agents Sparked a DOJ Probe

American prosecutors and federal law enforcement spent more than a year examining links between Jeffrey Epstein and Customs and Border Protection agents stationed in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), according to newly released Justice Department documents.

As The Guardian and The New York Times reported, emails, text messages and investigative files show that Epstein maintained friendships with several officers, entertaining them on his island and offering to take them on whale-watching excursions in his helicopter. He even brought a cannolis for Christmas Eve. In turn, Epstein would take his complaints about his treatment by other CBP and federal officers to certain officers. Most of the interactions described in the filings took place years after Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crime charges in Florida in 2008.

CBP agents were never charged with any Epstein-related crimes, and at least one later retired from the agency with a pension, suggesting the government ultimately found no wrongdoing. The documents, however, describe patterns of behavior — two of the agents referred to Epstein as a “friend” — that a government ethics expert described as inappropriate and possible violations of federal guidelines. They also contain grand jury subpoenas that specifically name the officers and require the recipients, which were largely financial services companies, to assist federal prosecutors who were investigating allegations of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

CBP and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which led the investigation into Epstein, did not respond to requests for comment.

For years, Epstein allegedly brought countless women and girls as young as 12 to his private island, Little Saint James, according to a 2020 complaint filed by the former USVI attorney general. Epstein often flew to and from the U.S. Virgin Islands on his private jet.

In order to leave the USVI for other parts of the United States, Epstein’s plane had to be cleared by the CBP, according to a November 2020 FBI interview report with Epstein’s personal pilot, Larry Visoski.

Visoski told the FBI that some passengers were students with letters from their schools explaining why they were traveling. Other times, according to the report on Visoski’s interview, Epstein traveled with a woman who had a foreign passport. If CBP officers began questioning these passengers, Visoski said, Epstein would intervene and start arguing with the officers.

Visoski, however, told the FBI that Epstein made an effort to be friendly with CBP agents, sometimes asking Visoski to collect the agents’ contact information. (In an email to a CBP officer, Epstein wrote, “As you know, I have a lot of respect for people who are just doing their job.”) Over the years, emails and text messages show that various CBP officers were trying to contact Epstein, either directly or through Visoski or other associates. Sometimes Epstein sent the agents to Little Saint James.

In May 2014, for example, Visoski emailed Epstein: “As I was going through customs at STT, our kind person gave me his cell contact. The pilot added that the “nice person” would be available to visit Little Saint James that week. Visoski also attached the person’s contact information. The next day, the manager of Epstein’s island estate emailed Epstein to let him know that the person, a CBP officer, would be picked up Wednesday for lunch. (It is unclear whether this lunch ever took place.)

Emails from 2015 and 2016 show that Epstein would ask another officer, Glen Samuel, to come to Little Saint James to play steel pan drum — a side gig that Samuel informally announced at one point on his Facebook page. In an email thread from January 2015, Epstein asked an associate to clarify Samuel’s rate. The associate responded: “Mr. Samuel says he has no plans to charge you. He considers you a friend and was doing this for you. If you would like to give him anything, he is grateful, but there is no charge.” Samuel did not respond to a request for comment.