A Republican-led House Oversight Committee report sharply criticized the Trump administration and Justice Department for mishandling the release of Jeffrey Epstein records, citing missed deadlines, poor communication and failures to protect survivors’ information.

James Comer said the committee’s 15-month inquiry included 19 witness interviews and depositions, subpoenas and reviews of financial records, and called the evidence “heartbreaking and infuriating.”

The report revisited the Florida case, where U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta approved an agreement that spared Epstein federal prosecution; Epstein pleaded guilty to a state prostitution charge and received an 18-month sentence with extensive work-release privileges.

Acosta said his office had been assured Epstein would not receive work release, expressed regret that state officials proved unreliable and testified that federal prosecutors would have handled the case differently had they known how the state deal would unfold.

The report said four women identified as co-conspirators in the agreement were not interviewed before it was signed, and some assistants named in it did not know they had been included.

The committee raised potential conflict-of-interest concerns about former prosecutor Matthew Menchel, who recommended the non-prosecution agreement and had not disclosed to supervisors a past romantic relationship with Lilly Ann Sanchez, who later represented Epstein; a 2020 Justice Department review found no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, and Menchel’s attorneys said he did not shape the final agreement.

Investigators found that Menchel continued meeting, dining and communicating with Epstein after leaving federal service, while the report also raised concerns about former prosecutor Bruce Reinhart; it did not establish that either man improperly influenced the investigation.

The report said a 2007 FBI effort to interview Epstein assistant Lesley Groff did not result in an interview, but Groff disputed the committee’s account that Epstein told her not to speak, saying she called his lawyer and was advised not to speak without an attorney.

The report described how Epstein allegedly targeted girls and young women with limited support, offering money, housing, affection and career opportunities to make them dependent on him; it said he sometimes posed as a Victoria’s Secret modeling scout and used his connection to Leslie Wexner to attract young women.

The committee urged further investigation of Groff and allegations by former assistant Sarah Kellen against former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Frédéric Fekkai; both men deny wrongdoing, and Kellen also said an assistant removed equipment from Epstein’s Palm Beach home before a 2005 search.

The report scrutinized Epstein’s financial ties, including the approximately $158 million to $170 million Leon Black paid him for purported tax and estate-planning services; Black says the payments were legitimate and has challenged subpoenas after the House held him in contempt in September 2026.

Howard Lutnick acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island with his family in 2012, despite previously saying he had cut ties in 2005, and told the committee he had done nothing wrong; Bill Gates testified that he refused Epstein’s request to reimburse expenses related to a woman with whom Gates had an affair, ended that relationship in late 2014 and was never a client of Epstein’s financial businesses.