By Jacki Thrapp
One of the guards on duty when Jeffrey Epstein died in his cell will testify before the House Oversight Committee later this month.
“The Oversight Committee has questions for Tova Noel, one of the Metropolitan Correctional Center guards on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein died,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) wrote in an X post on March 13.
Noel will be called in for a transcribed interview at 10 a.m. on March 26 in Washington, D.C.
“We believe she may have information relevant to our ongoing Epstein investigation,” Comer added.
Noel’s testimony at the end of March is part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s probe into how the government handled investigating Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes.
Lawmakers are reviewing the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, sex-trafficking rings, and how Epstein and Maxwell “sought to curry favor and exercise influence to protect their illegal activities.”
Lawmakers are also looking into potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” according to the letter written to Noel, which was shared by Comer on X.
Epstein was facing federal sex trafficking charges when he was found hanging in his cell in New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019.
A watchdog report by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General in 2023 found that Metropolitan Correctional Center staffers violated multiple policies, which included failing to conduct rounds the morning he was found dead.
The report suggested that misconduct by jail staffers led to Epstein’s death but didn’t find any criminal acts.
Maxwell, a socialite and ex-girlfriend of Epstein, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in sexually exploiting and abusing multiple minor girls with Epstein.
The House committee dug into Epstein’s finances on March 11 as lawmakers deposed his former accountant, Richard Kahn.
“Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring would not have been possible without Richard Kahn, who managed Epstein’s money for years, authorized payments, including payments to victims and survivors,” Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) said.
Kahn, who now serves as an executor of Epstein’s estate, denied on Wednesday that he saw evidence of sexual abuse from the disgraced financier and suggested that Epstein made his money as a tax adviser and a financial planner.
Epstein banked hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of two decades.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
