Report: Jeffrey Epstein’s Body Claimed by Unnamed Associate

The body of disgraced billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been claimed from the medical examiner’s office by an unnamed associate, NBC News reported Wednesday evening.

An unnamed associate claimed the body of the accused sex trafficker from the medical examiner’s office, according to NBC. There are very few details about the individual. “The person who claimed Epstein’s body was described only as an ‘Epstein associate,'” NBC reported.

Epstein died Saturday after prison officials found him in his jail cell with a bed sheet tied around his neck.

Epstein was pronounced dead at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital Saturday morning after prison officials found him in cardiac arrest with a sheet tied around his neck in his Metropolitan Correctional Center jail cell. His autopsy, performed Sunday, indicated broken neckbones, including his hyoid– a common injury in homicide victims killed by strangulation, according to forensic experts who spoke to the Washington Post.

Barbara Sampson, the New York City’s chief medical examiner, has yet to release the official report and is reportedly seeking additional information such as “video evidence of the jail hallways.” She is also seeking “results of a toxicology screening to determine if there was any unusual substance in his body; and interviews with guards and inmates who were near his cell,” the Washington Post reports.

Officials took Epstein off suicide watch prior to his death, per his lawyers’ request.

Additionally, two of the guards who were assigned to check on Epstein throughout the night fell asleep and “forged their supervision logs,” according to the New York Times:

The two staff members in the special housing unit where Mr. Epstein was held — 9 South — falsely recorded in a log that they had checked on the financier, who was facing sex trafficking charges, every 30 minutes, as was required, two of the officials said. Such false entries in an official log could constitute a federal crime.

In fact, the two people guarding Mr. Epstein had been asleep for some or all of the three hours, three of the officials said.

Attorney General William Barr said Monday that “there will be accountability” for what occurred at the prison that night.