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The Department of Justice’s files on Jeffrey Epstein contain a photo of Mets owner Steve Cohen, but few details are known about its origin.
The photo shows a younger Cohen, now 69, wearing a quarter-zip sweater, collared shirt, and his black-framed glasses, smiling with another person. That person is wearing a black button down and has their arm around Cohen, their hand resting on his shoulder.
The person’s face is covered by a black box. The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compelled the release of the documents, allows the department to redact faces and names of victims and minors, but its system has not been perfect, leading to redactions where there shouldn’t be and many cases of unredacted material that exposed victim information.
A spokesperson for Point72, Cohen’s hedge fund, denied that Cohen knew Epstein.
“There was no relationship between Steve and Jeffrey Epstein, they never spent time together, and Steve doesn’t recall ever even meeting Epstein,” the spokesperson told Front Office Sports. “We haven’t been able to identify the photo or its validity.”
Though Epstein mentions Cohen repeatedly in the released documents, the files do not show any personal interactions between Cohen and Epstein.
His name appears in emails conversations about being interested in buying Epstein’s New York City townhouse, but a spokesperson for Cohen has denied that the baseball owner or any representative visited or had interest in the property. Epstein and others discuss Cohen in financial conversations and about the team owner’s insider trading case. It appears the late sex trafficker also interacted with a different Steve Cohen who lived in New Rochelle, NY.
Cohen, who made his billions as a hedge fund manager, bought the Mets in 2020 for $2.4 billion. Epstein died in 2019 in federal custody in New York after being arrested for sex trafficking of minors.
The image of Cohen and the redacted person circulated widely on social media this week. One post garnered one million views on X within 24 hours. Its existence has already been reported by The Mets Newsletter.
A number of other major sports figures appear in the files for a range of involvement with Epstein. Some, like owners Todd Boehly and Josh Harris, met with Epstein, the files show. Others are mentioned in conversations about real estate, such as the Dolphins’ Stephen Ross or Vikings’ Zygi Wilf. Extensive messages between Epstein and Giants owner Steve Tisch show Epstein connecting Tisch with women.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions about the photo.
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