Early today, the Department of Justice released more than three million pages connected to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And as people have started digging into all the new emails and documents, we are learning a lot more about Epstein, his elite inner circle, and also that apparently he was banned from Xbox Live over a decade ago.
On Friday, Xbox Era spotted an email from December 2013 sent from Microsoft and Xbox Live to an email address used by Epstein in many of his illicit communications. The email was letting the then-alive mogul and convicted rapist know that his Xbox account had been banned permanently due to “harassment, threats, and/or abuse of other players.” That might make you think that Epstein was using his Xbox Live account to do some heinous shit, but a follow-up email from Xbox a few hours later explains exactly why he was banned.
Epstein was banned because he was a registered sex offender, and Xbox works with law enforcement to keep these kinds of people off its gaming network. While Epstein had been a registered sex offender for years at this point, another email spotted by The Verge seems to indicate he didn’t create an Xbox account until October 2012. Microsoft joined a New York-led legal initiative to remove registered sex offenders from online platforms in April 2012. So it took some time before Xbox caught Epstein and kicked him from the service.
It’s unclear if Epstein actually used his Xbox Live account to play games. Other emails revealed in today’s massive dump include him asking about an Xbox 360 Kinect in 2014. Another message from 2019 has him asking: “Why is there a $25.24 charge on Xbox?“