What to Know
- Jeffrey Epstein had not been checked on for a "number of hours" prior to his apparent suicide; protocol requires checks every half an hour
- Warden of Metropolitan Correctional Center temporarily reassigned, two MCC staffers put on leave amid federal probes into apparent suicide
- Meanwhile, the FDNY said a 4chan post that specifically references Epstein's death before it was public did not come from the department
A spokesperson for the FDNY tells NBC News it has completed its review of a 4chan message board posting regarding Jeffrey Epstein's death and determined it did not come from within the department.
The posting was under review -- not under investigation -- to determine whether it was legitimate and whether or not it could have come from FDNY records, the spokesperson said. Despite reports, the FDNY confirms its records do not match the records posted to the anonymous online forum.
The post on 4chan specifically referenced Epstein before his apparent suicide was made public, and contained information medically consistent -- in medically accurate terms -- about someone who had cardiac arrest, as Epstein did.
The FDNY has not concluded, and NBC News has not confirmed, that the posting is authentic and legitimate.
Meanwhile, multiple investigations into the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death are ongoing -- both into what went wrong at the Manhattan jail where he was behind bars and who now may face charges for assisting or enabling him in what authorities say was his rampant sexual abuse of underage girls.
On Tuesday, a Department of Justice spokesperson said U.S. Attorney General William Barr directed the Bureau of Prisons to temporarily reassign the Metropolitan Correctional Center's warden pending the outcome of federal investigations into Epstein's apparent suicide. The warden, identified by union officials as Lamine N'Diaye, will be at the northeast regional office of the U.S. BOP for the time being.
Two MCC staff assigned to Epstein's unit have been placed on administrative leave, the spokesperson said, adding, "additional actions may be taken as the circumstances warrant."
One of the new details provided by two officials familiar with the MCC Tuesday is that the wing where Epstein was housed was properly staffed the night of his apparent suicide. The questions include whether policies were violated and which ones -- not about a staffing headcount for that specific wing on that specific Friday night, the two officials say.
In addition, Epstein was supposed to have been checked on by a guard about every 30 minutes. But investigators have learned those checks weren't done for a "number of hours" before Epstein was found, according to an official.
Epstein, 66, was found Saturday morning in his cell at the MCC, which houses some of the nation's most notorious inmates, including Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Paul Manafort. At the time of Epstein's death, he was being held without bail and faced up to 45 years in prison on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges unsealed last month. Epstein had pleaded not guilty.
Barr at a police conference on Monday said that he was "frankly angry to learn of the MCC's failure to adequately secure this prisoner."
He added: "We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability."
At the same time, Barr warned on Monday that any co-conspirator in the ongoing criminal probe "should not rest easy. ... The victims deserve justice, and they will get it."
