The last prison guard to see Jeffrey Epstein alive made suspicious cash deposits in the 12 months before his death, US Department of Justice (DoJ) files reveal.
Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on Aug 10, 2019. His death wasruled a suicide.
Tova Noel, 37, one of two officers accused of falsifying prisoner record checks that night, made a final cash deposit of $5,000 (£3,729) into her bank account less than a fortnight earlier on July 30.
A total of 12 ATM cash deposits, beginning in October 2018, were flagged by her bank to the FBI in a "suspicious activity report" in November 2019.
Ms Noel and her colleague Michael Thomas were fired after being accused of falsifying records to claim theychecked on Epsteinduring the night before his suicide on Aug 10 that year.
CCTV footagerevealed the pair did not check on Epstein for eight hours, despite his cell being just 15 feet from the guards' desk.
Criminal charges against them were later dropped.
The bank transactions are among several new disclosuresin the Epstein filesthat raise questions about the paedophile's death.
It can also be revealed that Ms Noel searched the internet for the sex offender just minutes before he was found dead.
The officer Googled "latest on Epstein in jail" at 5:42am and then again at 5:52am. Less than 40 minutes later, at 6.30am, Mr Thomas found the disgraced financier dead in his cell.
The FBI highlighted the internet search in its 66-page forensic examination of Ms Noel and Mr Thomas's bureau of prisons desktop computers. It was the only search highlighted.
Ms Noel later denied having made this search during her sworn statement to the DoJ in 2021.
"I don't remember doing that," she claimed, suggesting that an article about Epstein could have appeared automatically in her browser instead. When shown the search record, she insisted it was inaccurate.
Ms Noel was not asked under oath about the payments raised in the "suspicious activity report".
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At 7.49pm on Aug 9, 2019, Epstein returned to his unit from a visit to his attorney and was escorted to his cell by Ms Noel and another officer.
Footage showed the officers did not carry out the 10pm count but still signed a slip falsely claiming it had been done.
The 2023 DoJ inspector general report later identified Ms Noel as themysterious orange shapespotted in a blurry surveillance video near Epstein's cell around 10:40pm on the night he died.
Credit: Department of Justice
It said the footage showed "a CO [correctional officer], believed to be Tova Noel, carried linen or inmate clothing" up to Epstein's tier, adding this was the "last time any CO [correctional officer] approached the only entrance to the SHU tier".
In a sworn statement Ms Noel told investigators that she last saw Epstein alive "somewhere around after 10".
She also said she "never gave out linen" because it had been issued by the earlier shift. She testified she did not know why Epstein had extra linen in his cell. The other guard was asleep between 10pm and midnight.
Other documents released by the DoJ include FBI notes of an interview with an unnamed inmate who claimed guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center discussed covering up Epstein's death on the morning he died.
A five-page handwritten report records the inmate saying he woke on Aug 10, 2019 to commotion in the "special housing unit" where Epstein was held to hear officers shouting "Breathe! Breathe!" at about 6.30am.
He said that while breakfast was being served he heard someone say, "you killed that dude", adding that the whole wing heard the exchange.
According to the notes, a female guard replied: "If he is dead we're going to cover it up and he's going to have an alibi – my officers."
Later, the inmate reported that other prisoners allegedly said: "Miss Noel killed Jeffrey."
When asked under oath whether she had any part in Epstein's death, Ms Noel replied: "No."
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