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A Republican-led US House Oversight Committee report concluded on Tuesday that federal investigators and prosecutors could have prevented crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein after 2005, citing "failures" in the handling of criminal cases against him and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The findings, released by BBC World on 10 November 2026, are based on a 15-month inquiry using witness interviews, depositions, government files and financial records. The report says the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida made a 2007 agreement with Epstein that let him avoid federal prosecution, which it describes as partly poor judgement and partly the result of Epstein's influence. It attributes his 2019 death in a New York prison to institutional failures including staffing shortages, poor recordkeeping and lax security, but says testimony could not rule out certain theories. It also found the Justice Department failed to coordinate document releases and exposed survivors' personal information through deficient redactions, and alleges American Express enabled trafficking by allowing decoy flights. The committee recommended legislation against the weaponisation of non-disclosure agreements. Committee chairman James Comer said Epstein operated with impunity. Democrats, led by Rep Robert Garcia, criticised the report as incomplete, and the report itself accused Democrats of pursuing an unfounded witch hunt against President Donald Trump, though it found no documents implicating him.