‘Cleveland’ appears 798 times in Epstein files, including mentions of Browns, Clinic, local school

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has released thousands and thousands of documents in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

When you search, the word “Cleveland” comes up 798 times.

The overwhelming majority of references are extremely unclear in relation to potential criminal acts.

In fact, some of the references are for streets named Cleveland, not even in Ohio.

Other examples are someone with the last name Cleveland.

Many of them are simply articles published by Cleveland media that have nothing to do with Epstein at all.

In full disclosure, Cleveland 19 News and some of its employees are referenced in citations for writing articles involving the FBI but not Epstein.

The bottom line is the files released by the DOJ and FBI appear to cast an extremely wide net when collecting potential evidence.

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are referenced in the files.

One file is a petition to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Office of Tax Policy Analysis, in which the Cleveland Browns Transportation LLC is asking tax questions about the purchase of an airplane in 2006.

The DOJ does not explain why this court filing is in the Epstein files.

The petition itself for the potential purchase of a jet makes no mention of Jeffrey Epstein.

The timing of this document would have fallen under the Randy Lerner ownership of the Cleveland Browns.

We have asked the Cleveland Browns for a comment.

Cleveland Clinic

The Cleveland Clinic is referenced several times in the DOJ files.

This includes emails from Cleveland Clinic doctors looking for grants or donations from the one-time multi-millionaire.

Other mentions are in emails from Epstein himself recommending treatments to friends at the Cleveland Clinic.

One such email exchange was between Epstein and Cecile de Jongh, who served as the first lady of the U.S. Virgin Islands from 2007 to 2015.

Again, the DOJ does not explain why this email exchange was included in the files and how it pertains to the investigation.

We have asked the Cleveland Clinic for a comment.

Bard High School Early College Cleveland

There is another series of Cleveland references and emails when it comes to Bard High School Early College in Cleveland.

Bard is a chain of high schools where students can also take classes to earn college credits, with a campus here in Cleveland.

The Bard School in Cleveland is a part of the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD).

There are a handful of email exchanges between Epstein and Leon Botstein, currently listed as the President of Bard College.

There is also a picture of three woman with their faces redacted.

In the photo, two of them are wearing t-shirts printed with the words, Bard High School Early College Cleveland.

Again, the DOJ gives no indication why these emails or the picture are included in its investigations.

In a comment from Bard, a spokesperson said in an email, “Bard’s inclusion in those mentions, it’s in the context of a wonderfully successful program which Bard has pioneered — and, unrelated, Epstein happened to be a Bard donor (unsolicited) back in 2011 (long before the world knew what a monster he was,) which the school has publicly acknowledged many times.”

CMSD also issued a statement saying, “We have learned of the photo of two people wearing shirts with the name of one of our high schools, and an email attributed to the president of Bard College in New York. We are not aware of any substantive link to CMSD beyond the shirts. ”

Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.