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Newly released government records from the United States have exposed that Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious American billionaire and convicted sex offender, made urgent requests to travel to Sierra Leone more than a decade ago.
Documents obtained by ABC News from the U.S. State Department show that in June 2011, Epstein applied for a second U.S. passport specifically to facilitate business trips to Sierra Leone, Mali, and Gabon.
At the time of this request, Epstein was already a registered sex offender in the United States, having pleaded guilty three years earlier to soliciting an underage girl.
In a 2011 letter to passport officials, Epstein claimed he needed a second passport because he was traveling so frequently that he could not wait for visas to be processed in his primary passport.
“I am frequently required on extremely short notice to schedule international trips with itineraries to multiple destinations,” he wrote. He specifically noted that he had business scheduled in the coming weeks in France and West Africa.
“Please issue me a second passport so I may have the 3 visas issued for Africa while I am using my current passport in France,” Epstein wrote.
While the documents confirm Epstein planned the trip and applied for the necessary travel documents, the records do not confirm whether he successfully entered Sierra Leone or who he intended to meet in Freetown.
The “Money Man”: Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy American financier who claimed to manage money for billionaires. He was famous for socializing with high-profile figures, including U.S. presidents, British royalty, and powerful global leaders.
The Crimes: Epstein was a sexual predator. In 2008, he was convicted of procuring an underage girl for prostitution. Later, in 2019, he was charged with federal sex trafficking involving dozens of minor girls. He was accused of using his private planes and wealth to transport victims around the world.
The Controversy: Despite his 2008 conviction, Epstein used his wealth and connections to avoid severe punishment for many years. The newly released documents show that even as a registered sex offender, he was allowed to travel freely internationally until stricter laws were passed years later.
The released documents paint a picture of a man obsessed with hiding his movements. Over the years, Epstein reported losing his passport multiple times—once leaving it in a London taxi and another time having it stolen at a restaurant.
Most alarmingly, when FBI agents raided Epstein’s safe in New York in 2019, they found loose diamonds, piles of cash, and a foreign passport with a fake name. The passport had Epstein’s photo but listed his residence as Saudi Arabia. His lawyers claimed he carried it to protect himself from potential hijackers while traveling in the Middle East, but U.S. judges viewed it as proof he might try to flee justice.
For years, Epstein exploited loopholes to travel to places like Sierra Leone despite his criminal record. This only changed in 2016 when the U.S. Congress passed “International Megan’s Law.”
This law allowed the U.S. government to revoke the passports of registered sex offenders. It requires them to carry a special passport with a visible stamp stating: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor.”
Epstein’s ability to travel freely ended in 2019 when he was arrested after landing his private jet in New Jersey. He died in a jail cell shortly after, in a death ruled as suicide, leaving many questions about his international dealings unanswered.
