Epstein affair: in the United States, a parliamentary commission denounces “institutional failures”

A commission of inquiry in the American Congress on Tuesday pointed to “institutional failures” in the legal proceedings against sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, which long allowed them to “evade justice”. Donald Trump, who during the 2024 presidential campaign dangled shattering revelations on this issue to his base, has suffered a blowback, including in his own camp, since his government announced in July 2025 that it had discovered no new element that would justify the publication of additional documents.

The controversy has only swelled since then, and a law passed in Congress forced his government to publish a mass of more than three million pages of the Epstein file. At the same time, a commission led by deputies investigated for more than a year the management of the affair by the justice system and political leaders. “The findings of the investigation clearly demonstrate that Epstein and Maxwell were able to largely escape justice and accountability for so long thanks to their powerful networks and institutional failures,” the commission wrote in its 137-page report.

The commission headed by Republican MP James Comer, a loyal supporter of the American president, denounces in particular an agreement concluded in 2007 between Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers and the federal prosecutor in Florida. The agreement allowed the financier to obtain the dropping of federal charges in exchange for a minimal conviction for acts of prostitution. The prosecutor's use of this agreement "to protect Epstein and his associates...undoubtedly allowed Epstein to continue his horrific acts for years without any recourse."

Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged in July 2019 for sexual exploitation of minors and criminal conspiracy. He was found hanging in his cell on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial. The autopsy ruled it suicide. His death has fueled countless conspiracy theories that he was murdered to prevent embarrassing revelations about high-profile figures.

The report also recommends that judicial authorities “further investigate” the accusations made by Sarah Kellen, a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, against people close to the financier. She says she was sexually assaulted by Philip Levine, former mayor of Miami Beach, in a house in Saint-Tropez (south of France) and by Frédéric Fekkai, a celebrity French hairdresser, in a hotel in Hawaii. Prosecutions against the two men were recommended in June by the commission to federal prosecutors. In a statement to NBC News, Philip Levine then affirmed that the sexual relationship was consensual. In September, a representative of Frédéric Fekkai denied any illegal act on the part of the hairdresser.