(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) One of the federal prosecutors who helped broker the 2008 sweetheart deal given to Jeffrey Epstein kept in touch with the late convicted sex offender for years after leaving the DOJ, newly unearthed documents from the House Oversight Committee reveal.
Matthew Menchel, the former chief criminal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, reportedly had several meetings, dinners and phone calls with Epstein, and even allegedly joined him on a ski trip in the 2000s, according to the Miami Herald.
Scoop: Matthew Menchel was chief of the criminal division in the Miami US Attorney's Office and helped negotiate Jeffrey Epstein's sweetheart deal — which allowed Epstein to be released in 2009 and continue to sexually abuse and traffic hundreds of women and girls. Menchel is… pic.twitter.com/yUQDtMTuXh
— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) October 18, 2025
The newly released files noted that there is photographic evidence of Menchel and Epstein together during the trip. However, Menchel denied the allegation after the records became public.
“I have never skied with Jeffrey Epstein,” Menchel said in a statement on Friday. “There can be no photograph of me and Jeffrey Epstein skiing in Aspen or elsewhere because it did not happen.”
In a separate 2020 statement, Menchel also denied having any “business relationship with Mr. Epstein at any point, not before, during or after my tenure at the US Attorney’s Office.”
At the time, he said Epstein had attempted to hire his firm to oversee several civil cases pertaining to the 2008 case but claimed he declined the offer. Menchel did not deny having met with Epstein after his DOJ tenure, the Miami Herald noted.
Story updated: One of the top former Florida prosecutors in the Jeffrey Epstein case: "I have never skied with Jeffrey Epstein." Denies existence of skiing photo mentioned by congressional oversight committee, saying "There can be no photograph of me and Jeffrey Epstein skiing in…
— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) October 18, 2025
The release of the documents comes amid renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s 2008 plea agreement that allowed him to avoid federal sex trafficking charges and granted immunity to several would-be co-conspirators.
Epstein was ultimately prosecuted in 2019 under the Trump administration, after several investigations exposed how federal prosecutors had previously shielded him and his associates from harsh charges.
Epstein was ultimately found dead while in federal custody, less than a month after his arrest.
