Jeffrey Epstein

Matthew Petti | 2.11.2026 5:00 PM

The Epstein files show that the FBI used subpoenas to track down two 4chan users who claimed to have inside information on the death of powerful sex predator Jeffrey Epstein in prison. The bureau collected phone records and even detailed bank records in the course of the investigation.

One of these investigations has been publicly reported before. On August 10, 2019, a user on the freewheeling social media forum 4chan posted "dont ask me how I know, but Epstein died an hour ago from hanging, cardiac arrest," around half an hour before the story broke in professional media. The user, identified by the automatically generated pseudonym "rPtND1Si," went on to post details about Epstein's medical case.

NBC News reported three days later that "authorities" were trying to track down the identity of rPtND1Si. Indeed, on August 14, 2019, the FBI sent 4chan a grand jury subpoena for information on rPtND1Si, records released by the Department of Justice this month show. But the subpoena also asks for information on a second user, "swam8WlF," who posted a conspiracy theory about Epstein having a body double.

In what appears to be their only post, swam8WlF........

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