Jeffrey Epstein, or an account associated with his email address, was banned from Xbox Live in 2013, new documents released by the US Justice Department reveal.
The ban notice cites "harassment, threats, and/or abuse of other players," but it appears that the actual reason was that Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking, was already a registered sex offender at that point.
In 2012, Xbox and other gaming companies began working with New York State to ban registered sex offenders from their platforms. Sony, EA, Warner Bros, Disney, Blizzard, and Apple were also part of the agreement, according to a 2012 New York Times article.
After the ban notice, Epstein also received a notice explaining the cause.
"This message is to notify you that Xbox LIVE has permanently suspended the Xbox LIVE account associated with this email address," reads the second email. "This action is based on the New York Attorney General's partnership with Microsoft and other online gaming companies to remove New York registered sex offenders from online gaming services to minimize the risk to others, particularly children. As a result, any Xbox LIVE account associated with this email address will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE."
"Our team was thorough, I'll give them that," said former Xbox Live senior director Larry Hryb—better known to Xbox fans as Major Nelson—in response to the documents surfacing.
Our team was thorough, I’ll give them that.
— @hryb.me (@hryb.me.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T17:20:45.021Z
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