Jeffrey Epstein's Brother Renews Conspiracy Theories About Death

Jeffrey Epstein's brother has renewed a theory that the convicted sex offender did not die by suicide, but was murdered, more than four years after his death.

During an appearance on U.K. TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored on Tuesday, Mark Epstein raised a number of questions about how his brother died in August 2019, repeating speculation his death was ordered by powerful figures.

On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found hanged in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Guards attempted to resuscitate him before he was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

New York Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson performed an autopsy of financier Epstein on August 11, 2019, concluding that the cause of death was hanging and the manner of death suicide.

That autopsy was observed by Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein's brother. Baden disputed Sampson's conclusion, telling the press that breakages of Epstein's hyoid bone, close to the Adam's apple, were "extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation."

Sampson responded, stating the Medical Examiner's Office stood by its findings. "I stand firmly behind our determination of the cause and manner of death for Mr. Epstein. The cause is hanging, the manner is suicide," she said.

"The actual pathologist who did the autopsy did not determine that it was a suicide. They couldn't," Mark Epstein told Piers Morgan on Tuesday. "They said it looked more like a homicide. But on the initial death certificate on cause of death it said pending, meaning pending further investigation."

Questions About Epstein Investigation

Mark Epstein went on to state that "a few days later, [then U.S. Attorney General] Bill Barr claimed it was a suicide. And the chief pathologist of New York, who did not see the body, claims it's a suicide. So the question becomes, what investigating was done in a matter of days to make them come out with that determination?

"It turns out that because it was called a suicide, there doesn't seem to have been an investigation. Because if you declare somebody died by suicide, there's really nothing to investigate. The only question about a suicide is how did they do it."

Newsweek has contacted the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York and the U.S. Department of Justice via email for comment.

Jeffrey Epstein's death and the circumstances leading up to it were the subject of two separate investigations by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department and the FBI. Photos from the autopsy were published by 60 Minutes in January 2020.

However, Mark Epstein still has questions. "The EMTs that went to the prison [when Jeffrey Epstein died] were never questioned, the hospital personnel were never questioned, we can't seem to find the medical record, we can't get the 911 call," he told Morgan. "If this was a suicide, why are all these things hidden?"

Mark Epstein said that "for four yours, we were trying to find out what position his body was in when he was found. Because that's very telling. But we couldn't find out because they moved his body, after he was found, to the infirmary of the prison.

"When the EMTs were called and they got to the prison, he was already dead in the infirmary. Understand something—he had been dead for at least two hours before he was found. That's what the autopsy showed. And that's not a question, that's a fact. He could have been dead for six hours. But at least two.

"Now, they said in the DOJ report that finally came out that he was found hanging. They said he was in a seated position with his legs extended in front of him and when he was tied to the top bunk, and when they either cut him or tore him down, his buttocks [were] an inch to an inch-and-a-half off the ground, which if you picture that it means basically, his entire body weight or the bulk of his body weight was hanging by the neck. Yes, there was probably some weight on his feet and the end of his legs, but the bulk of his body was hanging.

"The mark on his neck left by the ligature is in the middle of his neck and goes straight back. If he was hanging as they said, the ligature would have slid up, high up under his chin, and then went up back sort of behind his ears, up to the whatever he was tied to. The ligature mark on his neck is inconsistent to the way they described him."

Mark Epstein further stated that where the blood had pooled in his brother's body after he had died raised room for suspicion in his eyes.

"When a person dies, their blood isn't circulating anymore," he explained. "And what happens is the blood starts to settle in the body to the lowest point. Gravity just takes the blood through the tissues. So you get a pooling of the blood under the skin, which is why they tell you to never move a dead body, because they can tell a lot of things.

"If you find a dead body laying on its face and the back has that lividity of pooled blood, that means the body died on its back and somebody eventually turned it over. So if you picture the way they described Jeffrey as hanging, well he should have lividity in the back of his leg and in his buttocks, which was the lowest part of his body."

Access to Jeffrey Epstein

When asked who he believes was responsible for his brother's death, Mark Epstein deemed it a "good question," before discussing the unnamed prisoners he alleges may have had contact with Jeffrey Epstein in the tier he was held in.

"Bill Barr said that no one went into or out of that tier, so he concluded it was a suicide," Mark Epstein said. "But there were something like 11 or 12 other prisoners on that tier that could have went in and killed him. Now if another prisoner killed him, why would they go to the extent to cover it up?"

"If it was just another prisoner that killed Jeff, why would they not just find out who was and prosecute him for murder?" he asked. "There doesn't seem to be a reason to cover that up. Also, we can't get a list of who were those prisoners that were already on the tier. I know one was [Nicholas] Tartaglione, who was Jeff's tier cellmate for a while.

"Now the question becomes, who was on the tier that night, when were they put there, and when were they transferred out? Because I was told that after the death, a number of prisoners were transferred off of that tier to other places."

Jeffrey Epstein 'Silenced' Theory

Asked if he believed his brother's death was ordered by somebody who would have wanted to silence him, Mark Epstein responded: "Yes, that's what I think happened. And then you have to question out of the powerful people he knew, who would have the ability to pull something like this off? That's another question...

"Who would have the ability to have the Justice Department come up with this, pardon my language, this bull**** report? In the Justice Department report, it just says that he was declared dead by the pathologist, but that's not true. It was declared undetermined by the pathologist that did the actual report."

Years after his death, Jeffrey Epstein has dominated headlines in recent days following the release of documents including the names of former associates, employees, friends and victims of deceased financier.

The names were unsealed from a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged trafficking victim, against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend. Maxwell, 62, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in December 2021 of helping him recruit and sexually abuse underage girls.

Many of those whose names appear in the documents released aren't accused of wrongdoing or have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings or news accounts. Despite persistent assertions across social media, the documents released on are not a Jeffrey Epstein "client list."

As had been expected, a host of political figures have been named in the list of dozens of people, including former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. Both have denied any wrongdoing in their past dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.

Along with those figures have been the names of several celebrities, whose inclusion, in some cases, is based merely on conversations relayed by a Jeffrey Epstein accuser as she recounted his ties to the rich and famous.

A number of stars have been erroneously added to the mix of Jeffrey Epstein's associates by some social media users who have falsely targeted a number of celebrities as part of an apparent campaign to link them to his crimes.

Comedians Jimmy Kimmel, Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler have spoken out to deny any involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, despite unfounded assertions to the contrary.