New revelations about the Jeffrey Epstein case have once again placed the financier's treatment while serving time in a Palm Beach County, Florida, jail under scrutiny. Testimony recently presented to the United States Congress suggests that the businessman obtained special benefits during his imprisonment through alleged bribes to prison officials.

The accusations were exposed by Sarah Kellen, Epstein's former assistant, who appeared before a House committee and described a series of privileges that she claimed the mogul had obtained while in custody after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting sexual services from a minor.

According to the transcript of his deposition, now publicly available, Kellen claimed that Epstein arranged for the delivery of cash and Disneyland tickets to at least one prison officer. Although he said he did not know exactly what benefits he received in exchange, he maintained that the actions were aimed at obtaining preferential treatment within the penitentiary center.

“I know that he arranged for someone to take money and Disneyland tickets to one of the officers at the prison, and I'm not sure what he received in exchange for that,” the former collaborator testified before legislators.

They accuse access to privileges outside the usual protocols

One of the aspects that drew the most attention during the hearing was the claim that Epstein had access to Skype video calls while he was incarcerated, a tool that, according to Kellen, he used to maintain contact with people around him.

The former assistant reported that she received calls from the financier from prison and that, during some of those communications, he made inappropriate requests. When asked by Democratic Representative Max Frost whether such communication was part of normal prison procedures, she responded that she assumed Epstein had received special treatment.

"I would assume that he was given special treatment. I'm not familiar with prison protocols, but it doesn't seem like that was one of them," she said. The statements have renewed doubts about Epstein's conditions of incarceration and the supervision exercised by prison authorities during the time he was held in Florida.

Questions persist over 2008 court settlement

The new allegations also reignite criticism of the court deal that allowed Epstein to avoid harsher charges nearly two decades ago. At the time, investigators with the Palm Beach Police Department had documented complaints from at least two dozen alleged victims, but the case ended up being reduced to two minor charges related to prostitution.

After pleading guilty, Epstein served approximately 13 months in prison before regaining his freedom as a result of an agreement reached with state prosecutors, a decision that for years has been highlighted as an example of preferential treatment towards a powerful and wealthy figure.

More than a decade later, in 2019, federal authorities arrested him again to face new sex crime charges. However, the judicial process was left unfinished after his death while he was detained in a federal prison in New York awaiting trial.

The recent hearings in Congress are part of a renewed interest in clarifying the details of the case, the decisions made by the authorities and the alleged privileges that Epstein would have received for years. The revelations continue to fuel the national debate about accountability, the justice system, and the treatment of people with economic and political influence within the United States.