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continuing.” The co-case agent also told OPR that, as of the time of his OPR interview in 2019,
the “the case was open . . . it’s never been shut down.”

OPR found no evidence that the FBI’s victim letters were drafted with the intent to mislead
the victims about the status of the federal investigation. The “ongoing investigation” language
generated by the VNS was generic template language in use nationwide at the time and identical
to that contained in standard form notification letters the FBI generated and distributed from
August 2006 through the 2007 signing of the NPA.414 Nevertheless, the FBI’s letters omitted
important information about the status of the case because they failed to notify the victims that a
federal prosecution would go forward only if Epstein failed to fulfill his obligations under an
agreement he had reached with the USAO. Victims receiving the FBI’s letter would logically
conclude that the federal government was continuing to gather evidence to support a federal
prosecution. CVRA petitioner Wild stated during the CVRA litigation that her “understanding of
this letter was that [her] case was still being investigated and the FBI and prosecutors were moving
forward on the Federal prosecution of Epstein for his crimes against” her. Furthermore, when the
fact that the USAO had agreed to end its federal investigation in September 2007 eventually came
to light, the statement in the subsequent letters contributed to victims’ and the public’s conclusions
that the government had purposefully kept victims in the dark.

In sum, OPR concludes that the statement in the FBI victim letters that the matter was
“currently under investigation” was not false because the USAO and the FBI did continue to
investigate and prepare for a prosecution of Epstein. The letters, however, risked misleading the
victims, and contributed to victim frustration and confusion, because the letters did not provide
important information that would have advised victims of the actual status of the investigation.
Nonetheless, OPR found no evidence that Villafaña or her supervisors participated in drafting
those letters or were aware of the content of the FBI’s letters until the Department gathered them
for production in the CVRA litigation. The use of FBI form letters that gave incomplete
information about the status of the investigation demonstrated a lack of coordination between the
federal agencies responsible for communicating with Epstein’s victims and showed a lack of
attention to and oversight regarding communication with victims. Despite the fact that the case
was no longer on the typical path for resolving federal investigations, form letters continued to be
sent without any review by prosecutors or the case agents to determine whether the information
provided to the victims was appropriate under the circumstances.415

414 The Department of Justice Inspector General’s Audit Report of the Department’s Victim Notification System
indicates that letters the FBI system generated in 2006 contained stock language for the notification events of “Initial
(Investigative Agency)” and “Under Investigation” and letters generated in 2008 contained stock language for the
notification events of “Advice of Victims Rights (Investigative)” and “Under Investigation.”

415 After Epstein entered his guilty pleas, the FBI sent a similar form letter requesting “assistance and
cooperation while we are investigating the case” to the two victims living outside the United States.

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