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| - In February 2026, after the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of files from its investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a claim (archived) circulated online that Attorney General Pam Bondi said, "If we prosecute everyone in the Epstein files the whole system collapses!"
Files released by the DOJ included names and pictures of a wide range of celebrities, politicians and even royals. (Inclusion in the DOJ's files by name or likeness is not an automatic indication of wrongdoing.) Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trail for sex trafficking charges.
One Threads user who posted Bondi's alleged quote wrote, "Bondi literally sees so many criminal cases in the files, but— she chooses to do…nothing."
We found no evidence Bondi said, "If we prosecute everyone in the Epstein files the whole system collapses!" Searches of Google, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo revealed no reputable reports of Bondi speaking those words (archived, archived, archived, archived). Due to the high profile of Epstein's case, such a remark would have been widely reported, if true.
Searches of the DOJ's news releases and speeches also did not locate the quote attributed to Bondi. A department spokesperson told Snopes via email that the quote "is fake and has been completely fabricated."
Therefore, we find social media users incorrectly attributed the quote to the attorney general. Our online searches did not find instances of anyone else saying the quote.
It was unclear who first shared the incorrectly attributed quote. We contactedusers (archived) who posted early versions of the quote to ask about its origin and await replies to our queries.
Investigation has not led to large-scale prosecutions
It was true at the time of this writing that the DOJ's release in late January 2026 of more than 3 million files related to its investigation into Epstein had not resulted in new arrests or prosecutions.
At the time of this writing, the only person besides Epstein to face legal action as a result of DOJ investigations into the financier was Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who was once Epstein's partner. Maxwell received a 20-year prison sentence in 2022 for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse and exploit minor girls.
Maxwell appeared before a congressional committee investigating Epstein's crimes on Feb. 9, 2026, but invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions that could incriminate her. As a result, she did not answer any questions during the hearing.
Sources
'Chairman Comer Subpoenas Bill and Hillary Clinton, Former U.S. Attorneys General and FBI Directors, and Records Related to Jeffrey Epstein'. United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 10 Feb. 2026, https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-subpoenas-bill-and-hillary-clinton-former-u-s-attorneys-general-and-fbi-directors-and-records-related-to-jeffrey-epstein/.
FBI. FBI Memo, July 2025. July 2025, https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl.
'Fifth Amendment'. Constitution of the United States, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-5/.
'Ghislaine Maxwell Avoids Answering Questions in House Deposition'. AP News, https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-2-9-2026. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
' Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors'. U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, 28 June 2022, https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse.
'If We Prosecute Everyone in the Epstein Files the Whole System Collapses!' - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=bd96da7b54c85e6e&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB1138GB1138&sxsrf=ANbL-n4Fq-7_Q_IvghDAuqEyazslVkkh8A:1770738836827&q=%22If+we+prosecute+everyone+in+the+Epstein+Files+the+whole+system+collapses!%22&tbm=nws&source=lnms&fbs=ADc_l-aN0CWEZBOHjofHoaMMDiKpaEWjvZ2Py1XXV8d8KvlI3jljrY5CkLlk8Dq3IvwBz-Qg9gdZYJriKd9fBMKKfwqZsp5a2Z8RykAyI8QON1GKtNJOssmbpPvaOpAriL5ZmTwtx9B17VeAaoqb-qf2R_XTlcg6QIT-dCFYKZUSMNTtLZ72W3kEX7yJunhV8fObfw2b2yNqJD-ZmRex00cp8ruSqBTbIg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJs--apM-SAxUVd0EAHRwiOZQQ0pQJegQIFhAB&biw=1920&bih=845&dpr=2. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
'If We Prosecute Everyone in the Epstein Files the Whole System Collapses!' - Search News. https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=%22If+we+prosecute+everyone+in+the+Epstein+Files+the+whole+system+collapses!%22&FORM=HDRSC7. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
'If We Prosecute Everyone in the Epstein Files the Whole System Collapses!' - Yahoo Search Results. https://uk.news.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrLDridVItpTQIAZ5hLBQx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=%22If+we+prosecute+everyone+in+the+Epstein+Files+the+whole+system+collapses%21%22&fr2=piv-web&fr=yfp-t. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
'If We Prosecute Everyone in the Epstein Files the Whole System Collapses!' At DuckDuckGo. https://duckduckgo.com/?ia=news&origin=funnel_home_website&t=h_&q=%22If+we+prosecute+everyone+in+the+Epstein+Files+the+whole+system+collapses%21%22&chip-select=search&iar=news. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
MARCELO, PHILIP, and NICHOLAS RICCARDI. 'From Elon Musk to the Former Prince Andrew, a Who's Who of Powerful People Named in Epstein Files'. AP News, 1 Feb. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/epstein-trump-musk-andrew-tisch-google-682447e50bf9a3643a36c9b54ccdfa22.
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