An FBI email exchange from August-September 2019 showing a private security investigator, Richard Frankel of T&M Protection Resources, asking an FBI agent whether jail cameras were working on the date of Jeffrey Epstein's death.

This document captures internal FBI email correspondence regarding the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's death at Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019. Richard Frankel, a former FBI Special Agent in Charge who joined T&M Protection Resources as Vice President of Investigations in January 2019, emailed an FBI Supervisory Special Agent from the Violent Crimes Task Force asking specifically about whether the jail cameras were operational and whether video footage existed. The FBI agent declined to comment. This exchange is significant because the camera malfunction issue became one of the most controversial aspects of the investigation—a 2023 DOJ Inspector General report confirmed that 10 of 11 cameras in the Special Housing Unit were not recording due to malfunctioning hard drives.

Key Highlights

• •Former FBI executive Richard Frankel directly asked the FBI about jail camera functionality just days after Epstein's death
• •FBI Violent Crimes Task Force agent explicitly refused to comment on the camera status
• •This inquiry predates public revelations that most jail cameras were not recording—a fact that later fueled widespread speculation about Epstein's death
• •T&M Protection Resources is a private security and investigations firm serving banks, hedge funds, and high-net-worth clients

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