How dark web agent spotted bedroom wall clue to rescue girl from years of harm

Specialist online investigator Greg Squire had hit a dead end in his efforts to rescue an abused girl his team had named Lucy.

Disturbing images of her were being shared on the dark web - an encrypted corner of the internet only accessible using special software designed to make owners digitally untraceable.

But even with that level of subterfuge, the abuser was conscious of "covering their tracks", cropping or altering any identifying features, says Squire. It was impossible to work out who, or where, Lucy was.

What he was soon to discover was that the clue to the 12-year-old's location was hidden in plain sight.

Squire works for US Department of Homeland Security Investigations in an elite unit which attempts to identify children appearing in sexual abuse material.

A BBC World Service team has spent five years filming with Squire, and other investigative units in Portugal, Brazil, and Russia - showing them solving cases such as that of a kidnapped and presumed-dead seven-year-old in Russia, and the arrest of a Brazilian man responsible for five of the biggest child-abuse forums on the dark web. ... Read more

The Darkest Web: Inside the internet's most hidden corners to save kids | BBC World Service | 02/16/26 | 1:24:23

Who was Jeffrey Epstein? The disgraced financier with powerful associates

'Terrific guy'

A father of one of his students is said to have been so impressed that he put Epstein in touch with a senior partner at the Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns.

He was a partner there within four years. By 1982, he had created his own firm - J Epstein and Co.

The company managed assets of clients worth more than $1bn (£800m) and was an instant success. Epstein soon began spending his fortune - including on a mansion in Florida, a ranch in New Mexico, and reputedly the largest private home in New York - and socialising with celebrities, artists and politicians.

"I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York magazine for a profile on Epstein in 2002. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

"No doubt about it - Jeffrey enjoys his social life." ... Read more

The Epstein Files Reveal What Trump Knew

A newly released F.B.I. report shows that Donald Trump contacted the police about Epstein's crimes as early as 2006. The Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown discusses the revelations.

If the Jeffrey Epstein case has a leading reporter on the national scene, her name is Julie K. Brown. An investigative journalist for the Miami Herald, Brown has interviewed dozens of Epstein's victims and has meticulously anatomized how Epstein managed to win preposterously favorable treatment in the courts. Brown's reporting on Epstein is credited with reopening the 2008 case against him. Her book "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story" was published in 2021.

The millions of documents recently (and chaotically) released by the Department of Justice have left Americans reading myriad e-mails and text messages that seem to describe, in their aggregate, a range of elites eager to curry favor with a criminal beyond the imaginings of the police blotter or the Marquis de Sade. The dreadful cast includes Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Ehud Barak, as well as various Wall Street wizards and real-estate magnates. And yet Brown's main focus is on the names that fewer people know: the many girls and women who were treated for years with such cruelty. ... Read more

Judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit against WSJ over Epstein birthday letter

A federal judge on Monday tossed President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for reporting on a racy letter he purportedly wrote to commemorate Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles concluded that Trump came "nowhere close" to asserting that the newspaper’s actions revealing the existence and contents of the note amounted to the "actual malice" needed for Trump to prevail in a defamation case.

"Quite the opposite," Gayles, a Florida-based Obama appointee, wrote in the 17-page decision.

Gayles emphasized the paper's extensive work to confirm the authenticity of the letter, despite Trump's claim it was a fake, and noted that the article included the president's objection and revealed attempts to contact the FBI and Justice Department for comment. ... Read more

Howard Lutnick will testify to Congress about Jeffrey Epstein next month

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to appear before Congress next month to face questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that emerged with the release of documents about the convicted sex offender.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sought Lutnick's testimony as a part of its probe of the investigation into Epstein, who died in jail before he could face federal sex trafficking charges.

Lutnick's transcribed interview is slated for May 6, per two people familiar with the planning. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the committee's chair, announced last month that the commerce secretary had "proactively agreed to appear voluntarily" before the panel after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) vowed to force a vote to subpoena him. ... Read more

How We Read the Epstein Files

Honoring victims is telling the truth

I was sitting in class when I overheard two girls claim that Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist, was in the Epstein files. I was immediately taken aback. I turned on my computer, pulled up the Epstein files, and searched Malala's name. There were 19 hits.

Needless to say, I was shocked. How could someone so prominent in the fight for women's rights show up on a list that has done so much to hurt them?

It seemed like her name's appearance was purely a consequence of her fame.

Coverage of the Epstein files is an important lesson to us all: we cannot believe everything we see on the internet. Make sure you do not perpetuate the spread of misinformation.

Read the Epstein files. Don't read the Epstein files. But if you're going to talk about sensitive topics, do your research. ... Read more

Will we ever get to the bottom of the Epstein files?

Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown talks about what's next in the unfinished release of Justice Department files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, now that Pam Bondi has been forced out as attorney general.

Then, Ret. Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery says, "We're not going to get regime change; we need a change in how the regime acts." He talks about Iran's persistent military capabilities, the dramatic rescue of a downed U.S. weapons systems officer and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's firing of U.S. Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George. ... Read more

After the release of the Epstein files, why have there been so few arrests?

In the more than two months since the Department of Justice released its latest batch of files on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors have not brought any new charges based on the documents, despite federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continuing to demand accountability.

The more than 3 million pages of documents include accusations by alleged victims of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's abuse and thousands of emails and photos showing Epstein associated with prominent figures. The files indicate that many of these people maintained contact with the disgraced financier long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to sex crimes that involved minors. Appearing in the files is not necessarily an indication of criminal wrongdoing.

Epstein died in prison about a month after a 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted on sex-trafficking charges in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence. Since the release of the files in 2025 and 2026, there have been no related arrests in the U.S. However, the disclosures have led to some resignations and other reputational repercussions for some high-ranking Americans. ... ... ... Read more

Sound of Freedom, co-written by Alejandro Monteverde

In 2013, Roberto Aguilar, a poor father of two from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, is approached by a woman called Giselle. She offers to sign his young children, Rocío and Miguel Aguilar, to child modeling contracts. He accepts and takes them to the photoshoot. When he returns to pick up his children, they are gone. It is revealed that the children have been abducted and sold to be used as sex slaves.

In Calexico, California, Tim Ballard is a Special Agent for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), where he arrests people who possess and distribute child pornography. The painful work takes a great toll on his personal life, and this is only worsened when another agent, Chris, points out that despite arresting and prosecuting numerous child predators, they are largely unable to prevent more children from being exploited. ... Read more

Epstein Files About 13-Year-Old Trump Accuser Kept Secret

The Justice Department has not released dozens of Jeffrey Epstein files linked to allegations that Donald Trump sexually assaulted a child decades ago, according to a report.

The bombshell allegations involve a South Carolina woman who claims she was abused and trafficked by Epstein, and that the disgraced financier took her to New York or New Jersey and introduced her to Trump when she was about 13 in 1984.

A redacted FBI report released as part of the Epstein files revealed the woman told interviewers that Trump had forced her to perform a sexual act on him, and punched her on the side of her head after she allegedly "bit the s--t out of" his penis. ... Read more

Laura Dern to star in Epstein investigation limited series from Adam McKay

Laura Dern is taking on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, in a new limited series executive produced by Adam McKay based on journalist Julie K Brown's work busting open the story.

The as-yet untitled series from Sony Pictures TV will provide "an explosive account of an investigative reporter exposing the secret plea deal between Epstein and federal prosecutors", according to a logline from Sony. "Drawing from Brown's experience as a groundbreaking reporter for the Miami Herald, the book and the limited series follow her relentless, years-long investigation that identified 80 victims, persuaded key survivors to go on the record, and led to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's arrests." ... Read more