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Jeffrey Epstein case update: Nearly 11 hours of surveillance footage released this week by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), aimed at putting an end to conspiracy theories surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's death, has instead sparked suspicion again after experts quoted by WIRED demonstrated that the so-called "raw" video has been processed with professional editing software. Independent forensic digital experts, who were interviewed by WIRED, discovered that there was embedded metadata showing that the video file had been constructed using Adobe Premiere Pro, a software frequently used for professional video production. The metadata, based on the WIRED report, indicates that the video was stitched from at least two independent source clips and saved on multiple occasions by a Windows user account called "MJCOLE~1".

Although it is not unusual to edit surveillance videos for release to the public, the DOJ has yet to provide a good reason why a "raw" file seems to have been subject to such processing.“If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I’d say no. Go back to the source. Do it right,” Hany Farid, a digital forensics professor at UC Berkeley, told WIRED. Farid added that a proper chain of custody must be maintained for any digital evidence, just as with physical evidence.

Missing Footage and Aspect Ratio Shift Fuel Theories

Contributing to the scandal, the video contains a missing minute, without any recording from 11:58:58 pm to midnight. DOJ officials have blamed the missing minute on a well-known technical flaw with the prison's video surveillance system that supposedly truncates a minute of recording each evening. Farid, who analyzed the metadata of WIRED, also pointed out that the aspect ratio of the video shifts at various points, again indicating post-processing. "Why am I now being shown a different aspect ratio?" Farid wondered.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asserts that the video establishes no one entered the tier where Epstein was confined in his cell in Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) from around 10:40 pm until 6:30 am of the night he died. Yet, analysts quoted by WIRED say the DOJ's refusal to explain how the video was treated and why it was edited using editing software is more likely than not to fuel long-standing conspiracy theories.

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Technical Failures at Prison Under Scrutiny 

Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking, was discovered dead in his cell on August 10, 2019. It was determined he took his own life, but he has been the target of international speculation because he had ties to influential people. Conspiracy theory researcher Mike Rothschild explained to WIRED that the vagueness just serves to enhance public suspicion. "Whatever your conspiracy flavor of Epstein is, the video will assist in supporting it," Rothschild said.

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A 2023 DOJ Office of the Inspector General report documented ongoing staffing shortages and broken equipment at MCC. Half of the surveillance cameras failed in the weeks leading up to Epstein's death. Repairs were planned for the very evening he died, but were held up due to delays in staffing. Regardless of the DOJ memo again stating that Epstein had taken his own life, conspiracy theorists have latched onto the inconsistencies, such as the traces of editing, as evidence of a cover-up. Asked for comment on the metadata and video processing, the DOJ and FBI both refused to provide details, WIRED reports. The Bureau of Prisons has also not commented or published any statement yet. As Rothschild explained to WIRED, "In the world of conspiracy theories, evidence that disproves something happened becomes proof that something happened."With the official account again in question, the scandal over Jeffrey Epstein's death seems anything but over.