Washington DC - The US Drug Enforcement Agency investigated convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for suspicious payments possibly linked to illegal narcotics, according to newly uncovered documents.

"DEA reporting indicates the above individuals are involved in illegitimate wire transfers which are tied to illicit drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City," said the memo revealed by CBS News.

Epstein – who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls – was one of 15 individuals targeted in the probe, the memo said.

The document from May 2015 sheds new light on the possible scope of Epstein's crimes, years after he was convicted in the US in 2008 of procuring a child for prostitution.

The DEA document is heavily redacted and the identities of the other 14 people being investigated are not revealed.

The file features a DEA case number and says that the case was opened on December 17, 2010 in New York. It is listed as "pending judicial".

A law enforcement source told CBS News that there would have to be a connection to drugs for the DEA to have opened an investigation into Epstein.

Though the Justice Department has released millions of files related to probes into Epstein, anger at the scandal has only grown, with victims' families furious at the botched rollout and lack of meaningful accountability for powerful figures connected to the infamous sex criminal.