Inside Epstein's den: Child-themed art, role-play costumes and creepy displays

A trove of newly released photos from inside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion offers a chilling glimpse into his private life, revealing disturbing artworks involving children and questionable role-play costumes.

According to the New York Times, the images were taken at his multi-million-dollar townhouse and were included in the latest document dump released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of its long-running Epstein investigation.

One photograph depicts an unsettling artwork of a young boy looking down inside his pants, displayed prominently inside the seven-story home. Another is of a rather macabre sculpture of presumably a bride dangling by the staircase of Epstein’s residence.

Other photos show role-play costumes -- school uniforms and a shirt embroidered with the words ‘BABY CRY’. There are also framed prints of children, including one image of a little girl perched on Epstein’s shoulders.

A separate tranche of photos released over the weekend included images of Epstein kissing and clinging to young girls. The girls’ faces were redacted, a step the DOJ said was taken to protect their identities.

One particularly disturbing image, displayed on a wall, depicted a naked infant sitting in a bath. Several of these never-before-seen snapshots were framed and arranged on an intricately carved wooden bookshelf at Epstein’s sprawling estate on Little St James Island in the US Virgin Islands.

Epstein, who died by an apparent suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, owned two islands in the territory, including Little St James. Locals had dubbed it “paedophile island”, according to The New York Times.

In 2022, the attorney general of the US Virgin Islands reached a settlement of more than $100 million with Epstein’s estate after alleging that “dozens of young women and children were trafficked, raped, sexually assaulted and held captive” on the secluded island.

The scandalous photos were released alongside nearly 30,000 additional pages of Epstein-related records made public by the Justice Department -- the largest release to date -- following intense public pressure for transparency. The new batch comes amid criticism that the DOJ heavily redacted many files and failed to release all documents by the deadline set by Congress.

The Epstein files reference several high-profile figures, including US President Donald Trump. Many mentions stem from news clippings, though an email from a prosecutor notes Trump flew on the disgraced financier’s private jet more often than previously known, listing him on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996.

Fielding tough questions about Trump’s ties to Epstein, the White House pointed to a Justice Department statement saying the release included “unfounded and false” claims submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election, which were nevertheless put into the public domain “for full transparency”.

A frustrated Trump dismissed the disclosures as political noise. “What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” he said.

Other prominent names appearing in the files include former President Bill Clinton, the late pop star Michael Jackson and Britain’s former Prince Andrew.

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