October 2026
2.9 Jeffrey Epstein
- Law and releases:
- The Epstein Files Transparency Act (PL 119-38) was signed 19 Nov 2025 after a 427–1 House vote.
- DOJ had released about 3.5M pages by 30 Jan 2026 (DOJ). The library was last updated 11 Sept 2026 (DOJ Epstein Library).
- The redaction report appeared in the Federal Register on 27 Aug 2026 (FR) [V].
- In Phang v. DOJ, Judge Sullivan found redactions unjustified and DOJ appealed (The Hill) [V-s].
- Schedules: WSJ (2023) reported entries for CIA Director William Burns, Larry Summers, Noam Chomsky and others (WSJ). NYT (May 2023) reported Thiel's scheduled 2014 meetings, some marked tentative (NYT archive). A Sept 2014 schedule in House Oversight documents names Thiel, Barak and Staley (index) [V]. A scheduled entry doesn't prove a meeting took place.
- Barak/Carbyne: Haaretz (2019) showed Epstein funded part of Barak's stake in Reporty, later renamed Carbyne. Forbes (Feb 2026) and the Miami Herald (Mar 2026, from DOJ-released records) report: $1M from Epstein's Southern Trust to a Barak holding company in March 2015; an Indyke email saying "I thought we did not want your name associated with this investment"; Carbyne contracts with Miami-Dade police, the Florida Highway Patrol and others; and Axon's $625M acquisition of Carbyne (2025), with no mention of Epstein in Axon's filings. Barak's lawyer disputes calling the investment "secret" (Haaretz, Forbes, Miami Herald) [V-s].
- Intelligence claim: the Daily Beast (2019) quoted Acosta saying Epstein "belonged to intelligence." In his 19 Sept 2025 House Oversight interview, Acosta denied saying it and said no agency approached him (Newsweek) [V]. Status: unproven allegation.
- "Occult": no documentary basis was found [U]. I searched the reporting and nothing beyond speculation about the island structure turned up.