Police find no evidence of Czech victims in Epstein investigation

Czech police have found no evidence that women from Czechia were among the victims of American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a police spokesperson said Thursday.

The review was conducted through international cooperation, particularly with authorities in the United States. Police began examining possible Czech connections after millions of pages from the Epstein case were released in January.

“The investigation by the Czech Police did not reveal any criminally relevant connection to the case being handled in the U.S. regarding any potential victims in the Czech Republic,” Police Command spokesperson Jakub Vinčálek told ČTK.

He said police could not comment on specific individuals and provided no additional details about the scope or duration of the investigation.

Several Czech media outlets reported that the documents contained evidence of Epstein’s connections to Czechia, including correspondence with Czech women and information indicating that he had visited the country on multiple occasions.

The reports prompted former Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský of the opposition Civic Democrats to submit a parliamentary question to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Lipavský asked whether the Czech government was investigating the potential local links.

Police have now said their inquiries uncovered no Czech connection that would warrant criminal proceedings. The finding does not necessarily address every reference to Czechia or Czech individuals appearing in the files.

The documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice reportedly included more than 3 million pages, approximately 2,000 videos and 180,000 photographs. Much of the material consisted of commercial pornography and images recovered from Epstein’s properties.

Authorities and political institutions in several European countries have examined possible connections involving their citizens or public officials following the document release.

The files included references to Miroslav Lajčák, a former Slovak foreign minister and former president of the UN General Assembly. He resigned as an adviser to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after the information became public.

Epstein associated with influential figures in politics, business and the arts. He was awaiting trial on federal charges involving the sexual exploitation and trafficking of underage girls when he died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.

He denied the charges filed against him in 2019. Epstein had previously pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to state charges involving soliciting prostitution from a minor and served a jail sentence.

Investigations into his network continued after his death, including scrutiny of people who facilitated his activities and individuals appearing in his extensive correspondence and travel records.