Jeffrey Epstein boasted about having compromising material on “an astonishing number” of rich and famous people, it has been claimed, while his British confidante Ghislaine Maxwell reportedly told friends that she and Epstein were videotaping everyone who visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

The claims come as expectation mounts that his long-term companion Miss Maxwell, 57, could be sought by New York prosecutors for questioning as a potential witness, as they continue their inquiry into Epstein’s activities, after his death.

The Brooklyn-born financier was found dead in his prison cell on Saturday, in what is believed to be suicide. He was awaiting a trial next year on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

On Tuesday the warden of the jail where Epstein died, the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Manhattan, was reassigned to a different jail, and the two guards on duty the night he died were placed on leave.

William Barr, the attorney general, announced he had “directed the Bureau of Prisons to temporarily assign” warden Lamine N’Diaye to a regional office, pending the outcome of internal investigations into Epstein’s death.

Mr Barr has strongly criticised the jail for allowing Epstein to die.

Numerous Epstein accusers have claimed that Miss Maxwell served as Epstein’s recruiter and enabler. She has denied any accusations of wrong doing, and has never been charged.