U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has formally asked the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),Terrance C. Cole, to provide information regarding a heavily redacted 69-page DEA memo found in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice and marked “sensitive but unclassified.”
Wyden says the 2015 memo reveals that the agency in 2010 spearheaded a clandestine investigation (named “Chain Reaction”) into alleged illicit drug trafficking and money laundering involving Jeffrey Epstein and 14 alleged co-conspirators in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City.
“Since Epstein and his 14 co-conspirators were never charged by the DOJ for drug
trafficking or financial crimes, I am concerned that the DEA and DOJ during the first Trump
Administration moved to terminate this investigation in order to protect pedophiles,” wrote Wyden to Cole.
This is a big one. A newly uncovered document has revealed the existence of a mystery Epstein investigation. It was spearheaded by the DEA and involved drug trafficking and money laundering. Epstein was one of 15 targets. The other 14 names are redacted. I’ve got questions. https://t.co/8OWUOVRKMZ
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) February 26, 2026
Wyden, who says the names of the 14 are redacted, asked the DEA to turn over a full, unredacted copy of the memo by Friday, March 13 for his committee’s investigation. The Senator noted that since the memo is labelled ‘sensitive but unclassified’ “there is there is no reason to withhold an unredacted version of this document from the U.S. Congress.”
When Wyden shared his interview with CBS News about the DEA memo and his request, he wrote on social media: “This is a big one. A newly uncovered document has revealed the existence of a mystery Epstein investigation….I’ve got questions.”