Jeffrey Epstein was the jet-setting billionaire playboy who was friends with everyone from politicians to a prince.

But in reality, he was a depraved and prolific paedophile and sex trafficker whose crimes were repeatedly overlooked by authorities.

Watch the full story above.

In August, while awaiting trial, Epstein was found dead in a New York prison cell - and his sudden death has left many unanswered questions.

Now, a new book is attempting to fill in those chilling details - with journalist Dylan Howard and a team of investigative reporters spending years trawling through all of the Epstein evidence.

"Jeffrey Epstein grew up in blue-collar New York City, but soon found his way working on Wall Street - but he left job from job to job in controversy," Howard said.

"He seemingly never had a job but amassed a $600 million fortune.

"He was a man who had vast estates here in New York City - including the largest townhouse in the city itself - a Palm Beach mansion, his own island in the US Virgin Islands, a home in Paris, and a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"What people don't know is that every room in every one of those homes had cameras.

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"One would ask, why would you have cameras in every single room? Well, as part of our investigation, we've established that Epstein had another room next to where all those cameras fed into, and there were industrial-sized Xerox machines.

"So whatever was taking place inside the four walls of his homes, he was recording it, and printing it out, and keeping DVDs."

International spy

In his book, Howard speculates that Epstein may have also been an international spy.

"As part of our investigation, we spoke to Ari Ben-Menashe, who is a former Israeli spy," Howard said.

"He said, on the record, unequivocally, that Jeffrey Epstein was working for Israeli intelligence operations, the Mossad, and running a classic honey trap operation: that is, lure people inside, record their activities, and use it to blackmail them.

"This person was also the handler of Jeffrey Epstein's best friend and ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005. Credit: GETTY

"Ghislaine Maxwell is a central figure in this story, and her whereabouts at the moment is unknown. She was said to have been one of the women who helped to procure the underage girls for Epstein, but she has denied that.

"But her father was Robert Maxwell, a media and press baron. He was a former Mossad agent, and according to Ari Ben-Menashe, the business that Robert Maxwell had was turned over to Jeffrey Epstein almost in a switch before Maxwell died in mysterious circumstances in 1991."

Murder or suicide?

And as for the circumstances around Epstein's death, Howard says he doesn't believe he was murdered.

"Certainly he was given the means and motives to commit suicide, and two days before his death, he completed his will," Howard said.

"I don't necessarily think he was murdered - I think he was given the means and opportunity to commit suicide.

"But what he's left behind is a trail of unanswered questions - many of which we will not have answers to."

Prince Andrew a 'liar'

"A critical witness that we spoke to was a woman who worked as a housekeeper at the Santa Fe New Mexico ranch," Howard said.

"As we know, Prince Andrew has said that he met Jeffrey Epstein only on a handful of occasions and protested his innocence. But according to this woman, Prince Andrew is not telling the truth.

"He made a visit to that ranch where she was given explicit orders from Team Epstein to make sure that Andrew was satisfied - and that meant ensuring he had the company of a very young woman."

Dylan Howard's new book Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales is out now.