Inside the Safe: The Austrian Passport That Deepened the Epstein Mystery

NEW YORK — Late on the night of July 6, 2019, federal agents executing a search warrant inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse opened a locked safe that would quickly become one of the most scrutinized pieces of evidence in the case against the financier.

According to court filings and subsequent reporting, the safe contained roughly $70,000 in cash, dozens of loose diamonds, compact discs labeled with names and explicit descriptors, and hundreds of photographs. Among the contents was an expired passport bearing a dark red cover and the insignia of the Republic of Austria.

Inside, the photograph was Epstein’s. The name, however, was not.

The passport identified the bearer as “Marius Robert Fortelni,” born in Vienna, with a listed residence in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Issued in May 1982, the document included entry stamps from several European countries and Saudi Arabia dated to the 1980s.

Two days after the search, federal prosecutors displayed the passport in court while arguing against bail, asserting that the existence of a false identity document demonstrated Epstein’s potential flight risk. Bail was denied.

But beyond its relevance to pretrial detention, the passport raised a more complex question: how did a legitimate-looking Austrian government passport, complete with security features and official stamps, come to exist under an alias — and why did Austrian authorities later say it did not appear in their records?

A Document Without a Record

In 2022, Austria’s Interior Ministry publicly stated that it could find no domestic registration records corresponding to the passport number or identity shown in the seized document. The physical passport remains in FBI custody, and photographs released years later confirm its existence.

Austrian officials have not suggested the document is counterfeit. Instead, they have indicated that no trace of its issuance appears in current government databases.

Experts in passport systems note that archival records from the early 1980s, particularly in pre-digital formats, may not always be easily retrievable or centralized. Others caution that corruption, clerical anomalies or limited record retention practices could explain gaps.

Still, the combination of authentic security features and missing registry data has fueled speculation.

The U.S. Department of Justice has not publicly alleged that the passport was used in connection with criminal conduct tied to the 2019 indictment, which charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors. Prosecutors referenced the document primarily to argue that he had access to alternative identities.

Epstein died in federal custody on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial. The New York City medical examiner ruled the death a suicide. His death halted the criminal proceedings but did not end civil litigation connected to his estate.

Intelligence Claims and Official Denials

The Austrian passport has also been cited by individuals advancing claims that Epstein maintained intelligence ties. Steven Hoffenberg, a former business associate of Epstein in the 1980s, alleged before his death that Epstein had been connected to intelligence services during that period. No evidence has been publicly presented to substantiate that claim.

Similarly, Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. Labor Secretary who negotiated Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement while serving as a federal prosecutor in Florida, was reported by colleagues to have suggested that Epstein “belonged to intelligence.” Acosta has denied making that statement, and the Justice Department has stated there is no evidence supporting assertions that Epstein was affiliated with U.S. intelligence agencies.

Intelligence experts caution that possession of a foreign passport under an alias does not, by itself, demonstrate intelligence involvement. False identity documents have historically been used for a range of purposes, from tax avoidance and personal security to financial maneuvering.

What distinguishes this passport, analysts say, is not the alias but the apparent authenticity of the document itself.

The Question of Additional Safes

In 2019, after Epstein’s arrest, federal agents also executed search warrants on Little St. James, his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Authorities have not released a full inventory of materials recovered there.

A former island employee told Bloomberg News at the time that two security boxes existed on the property and described restricted access to a steel safe in Epstein’s office. Housekeeping staff were reportedly barred from entering that room.

Federal officials have not publicly confirmed whether additional safes were recovered from the island or detailed their contents. Court filings in related civil cases have referenced electronic devices, financial documents and other materials seized during searches, but comprehensive disclosures remain limited.

Evidence and Unanswered Questions

The Austrian passport remains part of the federal evidence archive. Its role in the 2019 prosecution was procedural rather than central to the underlying trafficking allegations.

Yet it continues to occupy a peculiar place in the broader narrative surrounding Epstein: a tangible artifact that appears official, lacks a clear administrative record and emerged from a cache of items that deepened public suspicion about the scope of his activities.

Absent further disclosures from U.S. or Austrian authorities, the document stands as an unresolved detail rather than proof of a larger theory.

For investigators and observers alike, the safe inside the Manhattan townhouse yielded more than currency and gemstones. It exposed another layer of ambiguity in a case already marked by institutional failures, incomplete records and enduring speculation.

Whether the passport reflects bureaucratic anomaly, deliberate concealment or something more complex remains unanswered — a question locked not in a safe, but in files that have yet to be fully opened.