An anonymous user on the message board 4chan posted about Jeffrey Epstein’s death 38 minutes before it was first reported by a mainstream news outlet, according to newly released US Justice Department files that show the FBI tried — and failed — to identify the source of the apparent leak. At 8.16am on August 10, 2019, a user wrote on 4chan: “don’t ask me how I know, but Epstein died an hour ago from hanging, cardiac arrest. Screencap this.”

Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan at the time. The post predated Aaron Katersky’s report by 38 minutes. Shortly afterwards, ABC News published the first article confirming Epstein’s apparent suicide in custody.

The newly disclosed “Epstein files”, reported by Business Insider, reveal that four days after the posts appeared, the Justice Department subpoenaed 4chan seeking IP address information linked to the account. The request formed part of the FBI’s wider investigation into the circumstances of Epstein’s death.

According to records from the site, the anonymous user made 4 posts in total. In replies to other users, the individual used medical terminology, claiming Epstein had been intubated, infused with fluids and transported to an emergency room in lower Manhattan. Screenshots provided to investigators also show the user advancing early, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.

In one deleted post later supplied to the FBI, the user speculated that Epstein’s body may have been switched with another after a “mysterious van” was seen near the jail the previous night. “You guys i am shaking right now but i think they switched him out,” the poster wrote.

Prosecutors subsequently subpoenaed AT&T for subscriber information connected to the dynamic IP addresses identified by 4chan. The company responded that it did not retain records linking specific accounts or devices to wireless dynamic IP addresses in the normal course of business. The Justice Department also issued a subpoena to T-Mobile, though its response was not included in the files.

The following year, federal prosecutors in Manhattan confirmed they had been unable to identify the author of the posts. The issue surfaced during pre-trial disclosures in the case against two prison guards, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, who were accused of falsifying records on the night Epstein died. Those charges were later dropped.

In a letter to Noel’s lawyer, prosecutors stated: “The poster used a dynamic IP, and therefore the records obtained did not disclose the author of the post.”

A 128-page report by the Justice Department’s inspector general catalogued widespread dysfunction at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, including broken cameras and staffing failures, but did not reference the 4chan posts.

The files also shed light on Epstein’s apparent familiarity with the platform. He is shown in emails sharing links to 4chan threads, and the records indicate he met Christopher Poole, the site’s founder, in 2011 following an introduction by a former adviser to Bill Gates. Poole later said he regretted the encounter and expressed sympathy for Epstein’s victims.

Despite the FBI’s efforts, the identity of the person who appeared to break the news of Epstein’s death remains unknown.