Newly disclosed Department of Justice documents have shed light on Jeffrey Epstein’s Amazon purchase history, exposing a series of book orders and other items that appear deeply unsettling in hindsight.
Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in his New York prison cell in August 2019, left behind a digital paper trail that investigators are now revisiting.
The records detail a mix of controversial literature, true crime titles, children’s clothing, baby items and explicitly sexual products, painting a disturbing picture of what may have been unfolding behind closed doors, per The Mirror.
The revelations arrive as members of Congress who were granted access to unredacted Epstein files for the first time have begun speaking publicly about what they encountered in the documents, including references to previously unreported young victims.
Disturbing book purchases linked to controversial themes
Among the titles Epstein ordered were multiple works connected to Russian author Vladimir Nabokov, best known for his 1955 novel Lolita, which centers on a paedophile who becomes infatuated with a 12-year-old girl.
Epstein notoriously referred to his private jet as “the Lolita Express.”
Records show he purchased Lectures on Literature by Nabokov and Discourse and Ideology in Nabokov's Prose by David H. J. Larmour.
His reading list also included Justine, first published in 1791 and known for graphic depictions of rape and torture. The book led to author Marquis De Sade being arrested and imprisoned on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 2016, Epstein bought Nobody Likes A C*ckblock, a paperback by R. Swanson and illustrated by Jess Jansen.
Though packed with adult humor, the book is styled to resemble a children’s story, featuring a cover image of an adult bear reading to a young bear tucked into bed.
Other purchases included The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule’s 1980 autobiographical true crime account of serial killer Ted Bundy, whom she knew personally before his crimes were exposed.
He also ordered Lying by neuroscientist Sam Harris, which argues that “we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie”.
Children’s clothing and baby items among orders
Beyond books, Epstein’s Amazon history shows purchases of clothing intended for young girls. On February 19, 2018, he ordered two sets of girls’ uniforms: one beige with a “school pleated hem” and another white and black with a polo neck.
Product descriptions and site comments indicated the garments were designed for school-aged girls.
On June 28, 2017, he purchased a pack of Gerber Baby Girls sleeper suits. The following month, Bright Starts Grab and Stack Blocks were delivered to New York. The blocks are intended for very young children.
The order history also includes explicitly sexual items. In 2017, he purchased Vagifirm, marketed for “vaginal tightening.” In 2014, he bought a “Portable Fitness Exercise Exotic Stripper Strip Spinning Pole,” and in 2016, he ordered a leather whip.
Other items ranged from a Brass & Leather Sailor Look Brass Antique Sea Marine Telescope and an embroidered sombrero to microscopic cameras.
Lawmakers describe newly reviewed files as “preposterous and scandalous”
The shopping history surfaced as US representatives who recently reviewed unredacted Epstein files began sharing their reactions.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said the documents referenced several previously unreported young victims, including one as young as nine.
“You read through these files, and you read about 15-year-old girls, 14-year-old girls, 10-year-old girls. I saw a mention of a nine-year-old girl today. I mean, this is just preposterous and scandalous,” he said.
Raskin noted that one document contained 18 redactions, four of which involved men born before 1970. Six men’s names, including one foreign government official, were withheld from the publicly released material.
Republican lawmaker Thomas Massie stated the individuals were “likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files,” while Democrat Ro Khanna argued there was “no explanation why those people were redacted”.