Files released Friday by the US Department of Justice in connection with the late Jeffrey Epstein include photos of an Austrian passport that expired in 1987 and was found in 2019 by FBI agents in a safe at Epstein's townhouse in New York. The Wall Street Journal reported this yesterday.

The photographed passport contains a photo of Epstein but is issued in the name of Marius Fortelni. Saudi Arabia is listed as the place of residence.

APA/US Department of Justice

Issued in 1982

The Austrian newspaper "Der Standard" had previously reported on the discovery of a "forged" Austrian passport. It raises many questions, the newspaper wrote. The passport states that it was issued on May 21, 1982, at the Federal Police Directorate in Vienna. The photo of Epstein was not authenticated with a stamp.

The passport contains several entry and exit stamps, including French and Saudi Arabian ones. Epstein's lawyers argued in 2019 that the financier had received the passport from a friend, allegedly to protect himself from kidnapping when traveling to the Middle East. They claimed Epstein never used it.

"No Records" of Entry or Exit

In a parliamentary inquiry response in March 2022, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) wrote that investigations had not yet been able to confirm the existence of the Austrian passport in question. Therefore, there was no information available regarding who issued it and under what circumstances.

A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry told the APA news agency that there were "no records" of Epstein entering or leaving the country with the passport. Furthermore, the stamps in the passport date back to the 1980s, before the Schengen Area existed.

New Turmoil

Recently, the Epstein case has also sparked new controversy in the US. President Donald Trump defended individuals whose photos appeared in the newly released files, including former Democratic US President Bill Clinton, whom he had previously attacked. Clinton's spokesperson, however, demanded that all photos of Clinton be released. Meanwhile, according to US media, documents in the Epstein case were released and then quickly deleted.