Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie named 14 people as Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators who should be investigated and prosecuted in a House floor speech on 31 August 2026, then filed a discharge petition the same night to force a vote on a second Epstein transparency bill.
Massie said that appearing in the files does not by itself prove guilt. Members of Congress cannot be sued for defamation over words spoken on the floor, a protection in the speech or debate clause of the Constitution. Massie signalled in May 2026 that he intended to use it. Asked on NBC's Meet the Press on 24 May whether he would name more names in the coming weeks and months, he said "Yes."
Massie lost his Republican primary on 19 May 2026 to Ed Gallrein, a Navy veteran and farmer endorsed by Trump, by 54 per cent to 46 after nearly 33 million dollars in outside spending, much of it from pro-Israel groups. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein the day before the vote. White House communications director Steven Cheung posted afterwards: "Do not ever doubt President Trump and his political power. F*** around, find out." Massie's term runs to January 2027.
"I've got seven more months to keep going against the grain," Massie said on 25 May.
The 14 inviduals he named were Jes Staley, Leon Black, Leslie Wexner, David Copperfield, Lapo Elkann, Tom Pritzker, Glenn Dubin, Frédéric Fekkai, Eduardo Teodorani-Fabbri, Jean-Luc Brunel, Daniel Siad, Ramsey Elkholy and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, and Lesley Groff, Epstein's longtime secretary, whom he described as a conspirator in the trafficking of other women rather than a victim.
The bankers and the money
Staley ran JPMorgan's private bank and later led Barclays. The Financial Conduct Authority banned him from senior roles over the account he gave of his relationship with Epstein, and the Upper Tribunal dismissed his challenge on 26 June 2025, finding he had acted recklessly and shown no remorse. His penalty was set at 1.1 million pounds.
House Oversight interviewed Staley on 24 July 2026 and released the transcript on 26 August, five days before Massie spoke. Staley told the committee he passed confidential JPMorgan material to Epstein while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence in a Palm Beach County jail, including his own communications with the Federal Reserve during the 2008 crisis, the terms of two pending deals, his pay and the terms of his move to Barclays. "I think you respect confidentiality, but it was at my discretion if I wanted to talk to friends of mine about issues at J.P. Morgan," he said. He told the committee he had considered arranging a weekend release from Epstein's cell to talk business, calling him "a smart friend to help me think through this stuff". Asked whether he had ever had sex with a young woman in a Snow White costume, a reference to a July 2010 email exchange in the released files, Staley said "No, I did not." He has never been charged in any jurisdiction.
Black paid Epstein 158 million dollars between 2012 and 2017 for what a 2021 Dechert review commissioned by Apollo Global Management concluded were bona fide tax and estate services. He left Apollo in 2021 and denies wrongdoing. Oversight interviewed him on 26 June 2026, and he walked out after refusing to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements. "I knew Jekyll. I didn't know Hyde," he said. "I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking." Chairman James Comer issued two subpoenas the same day and wrote to Black's counsel on 18 August warning that the committee would pursue contempt if he did not appear for a deposition on 3 September 2026. Black's lawyer Susan Estrich called the demand a "political witch hunt". Shareholders sued Apollo, Black and Marc Rowan in Manhattan federal court on 2 March 2026, alleging the firm concealed the extent of Black's Epstein dealings; Apollo shares fell about 15 per cent in February 2026.
Wexner, the founder of L Brands, is one of three people the Justice Department has confirmed the FBI once listed as an Epstein co-conspirator. The listing sits in an FBI memo dated 15 August 2019 that names eight; four names are now public, being Ghislaine Maxwell, Wexner, Groff and Brunel. Wexner's lawyer said an assistant US attorney told his counsel in 2019 that "Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect" and that he had cooperated by providing background on Epstein. Deposed by Oversight on 18 February 2026, Wexner said he had been "duped by a world-class con man". Some 11 women sued him in New York state court on 6 April 2026 under the Gender Motivated Violence Act, alleging he channelled 200 million dollars to Epstein between 1987 and 2007. His spokesperson disputes the figure and says the payments were for wealth management.
Dubin, the hedge fund founder, was subpoenaed by the US Virgin Islands in September 2020 in its case against the Epstein estate. Investigators sought his financial transactions with Epstein entities, communications about women transported to Epstein's estate and material on Epstein's role in the 1.3 billion dollar sale of Highbridge Capital to JPMorgan. Virginia Giuffre named Dubin among men she said Epstein and Maxwell directed her to have sex with. His representatives said flight records and other evidence "definitively disprove that any such events occurred". JPMorgan filed a suspicious activity report weeks after Epstein's death covering roughly 1 billion dollars in transactions involving Dubin and others.
Pritzker announced his retirement as executive chairman of Hyatt on 16 February 2026, effective the following day, after the Justice Department released his emails with Epstein.
"I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner," Pritzker said of Epstein and Maxwell.
One of the released messages, sent on 6 June 2011, has Pritzker writing to Epstein from what he described as a remote valley in Afghanistan, saying he had spent time with General David Petraeus the day before and been loaned two helicopters.
The scouts, the stylist and the magician
Copperfield ended a 25-year Las Vegas residency after his name surfaced in the files, announcing the closure in early March 2026 and playing his final MGM Grand show on 30 April. His announcement made no reference to Epstein, and described the move as clearing the way for "the largest project I've ever tackled". FBI memos from 2007 in the released material discuss whether Copperfield and Epstein "engaged in referring possible victims to each other", and Johanna Sjoberg testified that Copperfield asked her whether girls were being paid to find other girls. His representatives said he was not a friend of Epstein and learned of the crimes through media reports.
Fekkai, the hairstylist, was accused of sexual assault by Epstein's assistant Sarah Kellen in a closed-door interview with House Oversight on 21 May 2026, reported the following day. Kellen said Fekkai invited her to a fashion show in Hawaii, that there was no show, and that he took advantage of her when she had no money for lodging or a return flight. Fekkai's representative Mark Herr said on 23 May: "Mr. Fekkai was astonished to read of Ms. Kellen's testimony. Mr. Fekkai never abused anyone. He never participated in any illegal behavior." Comer and other Republicans on the committee referred Fekkai and former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine to the Justice Department for investigation on 4 June 2026, calling them the first names of alleged criminal conduct unearthed by any investigation to date. No departmental response to that referral has been made public.
Elkholy, a Los Angeles musician who founded the electronic collective Monotronic, appears more than 2,000 times in the released emails. Digital Music News published the correspondence on 10 February 2026, including a message of 27 October 2009 reading "I really want you to meet her, in my opinion she is the best girl I have sent you", and exchanges from 2016 about acquiring Brazilian modelling agencies. The outlet reported that none of the women discussed in the emails it published were underage. Elkholy sent the outlet a cease and desist letter on 17 March 2026 through the firm Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins, alleging "false and defamatory implications". He told the outlet: "Nobody seems to understand who Epstein was."
Teodorani-Fabbri, a nephew of Gianni Agnelli through his mother Maria Sole and a second cousin of John Elkann, appears about 1,251 times in the files. Italian outlets reported in February 2026 that his contacts with Epstein began with transfers in 2003, placed him at Zorro Ranch in 2010 and ran to 2019, well past Epstein's 2008 Florida conviction. One message from 1 March 2019, four months before Epstein's federal arrest, reads: "Master we wait the good ankle bambina with another good friend of your choice!!!" He held senior roles at Exor, Fiat, Iveco and Maserati. He has made no public statement and faces no charges.
Lapo Elkann appears in the Italian reporting on the files as a man Epstein was trying to reach, not as a correspondent. One contact told Epstein in April 2015 that John Elkann, Lapo's brother, had heard excellent things about him, and Epstein replied "Great great great". In September 2017 Epstein told someone who had photographed Lapo Elkann that he could say the two were friends. Another intermediary wrote that an approach to John Elkann should certainly not be made through "Edu", a reference to Teodorani-Fabbri. No allegation of wrongdoing against Lapo Elkann appears in that reporting, and neither he nor Exor has commented. His is the name on Massie's list with the least behind it in the public record.
Brunel, the French modelling agent who founded MC2 Model Management in 2005 with up to 1 million dollars from Epstein, was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport on 16 December 2020 boarding a flight to Senegal. He was charged with rape of minors over 15, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy and trafficking, and denied wrongdoing. Records show he visited Epstein in jail at least 70 times during the 13-month Florida sentence. He was found hanged in his cell at La Santé prison in Paris on 19 February 2022, aged 75, and an official inquiry concluded suicide.
Siad, a French model scout whose name appears more than 1,000 times in the declassified files, was found dead at his home outside Paris on 22 July 2026, aged 69. He was under investigation over allegations he helped Epstein recruit women, and separately over rape and sexual violence allegations made by several women, all of which he denied. Investigators were preparing to question him. An autopsy announced on 24 July found no signs of violence. The Paris prosecutor's office said the trafficking investigation continues despite his death.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate at 4.23pm on 19 February 2026, his 66th birthday, by Thames Valley Police officers investigating misconduct in public office over his dealings with Epstein. Searches were carried out at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk. He was held about 11 hours and released under investigation without conditions, and has not been charged. King Charles III said the law must take its course. Thames Valley Police confirmed on 23 May 2026 that detectives were also assessing allegations of rape and corruption, and were seeking to interview a woman whose representative says she was trafficked into the United Kingdom by Epstein in 2010.
Groff and the 2007 agreement
Groff worked as Epstein's executive assistant for about 18 years, and her name appears more than 160,000 times in the released documents. She was one of four people named in the non-prosecution agreement signed in Florida on 30 October 2007, which barred federal charges against "any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova". Groff is the only person who appears both there and on the 2019 FBI memo.
Groff's lawyer Michael Bachner said she was unaware of the FBI listing and was told after cooperating with prosecutors that she would not be prosecuted. In a transcribed Oversight interview on 9 June 2026, released on 23 June, Groff said: "I would never have sat silent if I knew of his crimes." She said she never met the women who came to Epstein's houses and that nobody ever sounded underage, and described being kept on the outside of what she called his perverted life. CNN reported on 15 July 2026 that six survivors say that account is false, telling the network Groff met them in person, knew their ages, held their identification to book travel and paid them in cash. Bachner said: "Lesley stands by her testimony." Oversight has discussed taking sworn affidavits from survivors. No perjury referral has been made.
None of the living people Massie named has been charged in connection with Epstein.
Epstein Files Transparency Act II
Massie filed Discharge Petition 27 on the night of the speech. Its text reads: "Pursuant to clause 2 of rule XV, I, Thomas Massie, move to discharge the Committee on Rules from the consideration of the resolution (H.Res. 1430) entitled, a resolution providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 185) to advance responsible policies, which was referred to said committee July 15th, 2026." H.R. 185 is a shell vehicle. H.Res. 1430 is the special rule that carries the text of the Epstein Files Transparency Act II and would bring it to the floor over the objection of House leadership. Massie used the same construction on the 2025 petition.
Massie posted his own account at 7.34pm. "On the House floor tonight, I read the names of several Epstein coconspirators who should be investigated and prosecuted," he wrote. "I also began collecting 218 signatures for the discharge petition to force a vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II." The House concluded legislative business and moved to Special Order speeches at 7.35pm, according to the Clerk's record of the day, and adjourned at 9.03pm. The bill itself, H.R. 9694, was introduced on 15 July 2026 by Massie, California Democrat Ro Khanna and New Mexico Democrat Teresa Leger Fernández, with a Senate companion from Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico.
By the end of the night 17 members had signed, 16 Democrats and Massie. Leger Fernández signed second, Khanna 14th, and Adelita Grijalva, whose swearing-in supplied the 218th signature on the first Epstein petition in November 2025, signed 13th.
H.R. 9694 gives state attorneys general, district attorneys, Epstein's victims and members of Congress standing to sue the Attorney General over the parts of the first transparency law the department has not followed. Victims could obtain unredacted files covering their own accounts of Epstein and his associates, including FBI interview reports. Deliberative process privilege and other common law privileges would no longer be grounds for withholding, suits could be filed in any federal district court rather than only the District of Columbia, members would get access to full documentation within seven days, and officials who knowingly conceal, destroy or withhold files would face federal criminal penalties.
Massie told The Washington Times the department has released no memos, texts or emails showing its decisions on whether to investigate or prosecute individuals, which the first law requires. "They've asserted deliberative process privilege, which is a creation of the FOIA process," he said.
Public Law 119-38, signed on 19 November 2025, gave the Attorney General 30 days to publish the files in searchable form and barred withholding on grounds of embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity. Several hundred thousand pages came out on 19 December 2025. A further release on 30 January 2026 brought the published total to nearly 3.5 million pages, along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. About 200,000 pages were redacted or withheld on deliberative process, work product and attorney client grounds, none of which appear among the act's listed exceptions. Oversight Democrats put the department's total holdings at roughly 6 million documents. Massie's figure of more than 3 million files still withheld rests on that gap, and his office has not published a derivation for it.
Pam Bondi was fired as Attorney General on 2 April 2026. Todd Blanche ran the department in an acting capacity and was confirmed to the post on 8 August 2026 in a narrow overnight Senate vote.
Torrez and Zorro Ranch
The bill was drafted with New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and lawyers for Epstein's victims, Massie said. Torrez reopened New Mexico's criminal investigation into Zorro Ranch, south of Santa Fe, on 19 February 2026, seven years after the state closed it at federal request. State police and a K-9 team searched the property on 9 March 2026 with the cooperation of its current owners. Torrez describes the New Mexico case as the only active investigation in the United States into Epstein's associates.
Torrez sued the Justice Department and Blanche in the District of Columbia on 5 August 2026 after 10 formal requests for unredacted records went unmet. The complaint sets out a chronology running back to 14 May 2019, when New Mexico first notified federal prosecutors of its investigation, through a 23 July 2019 instruction to stand down, to a response on 30 June 2026 in which the District of New Mexico produced 31 pages consisting of follow-up interview questions, news articles, press releases and correspondence. The Southern District of New York refused to produce anything. The files contain more than 13,000 references to Zorro Ranch and about 5,000 to New Mexico as places where victims were trafficked and assaulted.
"Every day that the USDOJ withholds these records, the foundation upon which a New Mexico prosecution could be built erodes," Torrez said. "Witnesses relocate and become unreachable. Memories, already strained by years of trauma, fade further."
A department spokesperson said protecting victim privacy remains a priority and that protective orders entered in New York prevent sweeping disclosure.
A state survivors truth commission, funded at 2 million dollars, published an interim report on 6 August 2026 confirming evidence that Epstein abused five women and girls at Zorro Ranch between 1996 and 2012 and identifying at least 30 further potential victims it could not confirm because federal records are redacted.
Sullivan's contempt warning
Senior Judge Emmet Sullivan has produced every compliance ruling under the first act so far, in a suit brought against Blanche in April 2026 by the lawyer and legal journalist Katie Phang. He issued a 48-page preliminary injunction in late June 2026 requiring the department either to publish specific unredacted documents or show cause. Departmental lawyers hand-delivered 10 documents to the courthouse at 2.28pm on 30 July, minutes inside a deadline Sullivan had set after refusing two attempts to delay.
At a hearing on 13 August 2026 Sullivan gave Blanche 10 days to explain under oath why material had not been released.
"The public has a right to know what the hell is going on in this case," Judge Sullivan said. On the prospect of contempt: "I don't want to do it, but I will do it to ensure justice is fairly administered. That's not a threat, that's a promise."
Departmental counsel could not tell the court who decided that FBI interview records were duplicative, could not document a claim that victims' lawyers had requested particular redactions, and could not give a timeline. Sullivan said the act contains no exception for duplicative records, and read into the record the citation from the 2008 Ted Stevens prosecution, in which he held three senior prosecutors in contempt.
The department filed notice of appeal to the DC Circuit on 24 August 2026, a day after the deadline expired. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward signed a report on 21 August that appeared in the Federal Register on 27 August carrying a date of 14 February, six months earlier, and the department told Sullivan that publication had discharged the obligation and that no declaration or further action was needed. Phang's reply is due on 3 September 2026. Material still withheld includes eight or more email exchanges discussing a video of torture and sexual activity involving young women and minors, 37 pages of handwritten FBI interview notes, a draft Florida indictment with co-conspirator names blacked out, and the complete log of every redaction. The department has told the court it cannot locate an unredacted version of the draft indictment.
218 signatures
A discharge petition needs 218 signatures to pull a bill onto the floor, a threshold fixed by the size of the full House regardless of vacancies. Massie used the same route in 2025, filing Petition 9 on 2 September and reaching 218 on 12 November when Grijalva was sworn in after a seven-week delay and signed immediately. The House passed the first Epstein Files Transparency Act 427 to 1 on 18 November 2025, with Louisiana Republican Clay Higgins the sole no vote, and the Senate cleared it by unanimous consent the same day.
Four Republicans signed that petition: Massie, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Greene announced her resignation three days after the House vote and left on 5 January 2026, after Trump revoked his endorsement and opened the door to a primary challenge.
"The president called me a traitor because I stood with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein," Greene said.
Greene's seat went to Republican Clay Fuller, sworn in on 14 April 2026. Mace finished fifth of five in the South Carolina Republican primary for governor on 9 June 2026 and is not seeking re-election to the House. Boebert advanced unopposed through her primary on 30 June 2026.
House Press Gallery figures last updated on 10 June 2026 put the chamber at 218 Republicans, 212 Democrats, one independent and four vacancies. The independent is Kevin Kiley of California, who left the Republican Party on 9 March 2026 while saying he would keep caucusing with it. Aisha Wahab won the California 14th on 18 August 2026 and Everton Blair won the Georgia 13th on 25 August, both Democrats, and both were expected to be sworn in as the House returned from recess. Their arrival takes the Democratic total to 214. With Massie that is 215, leaving him three Republicans short.
The February readings
Khanna read six names on the floor on 10 February 2026, a day after he and Massie reviewed less-redacted files at the Justice Department: Leslie Wexner, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Nicola Caputo, Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze and Leonid Leonov. Blanche, then deputy attorney general, said four of the six were random people selected years earlier for an FBI lineup who had nothing to do with Epstein or Maxwell. OCCRP later found that Mikeladze was a car mechanic of 27 years who said he had never met Epstein, that Leonov worked in IT and that Nuara ran a home-improvements business in Queens.
Massie read three names on the floor on 24 February 2026: Black, Staley and Wexner, all three of whom he named again on 31 August.
