A Manhattan federal judge said he would hold a hearing on Wednesday to consider shutting the government website that houses millions of files in the Jeffrey Epstein case after victims’ names were improperly disclosed.
The failure to redact the information had turned the lives of nearly 100 individual survivors “upside down, ” lawyers for a group of victims said in a letter on Sunday.
The lawyers’ request came as Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged on Monday in a letter to the court that the department had worked through the weekend and had “taken down several thousands of documents and media that may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information.” She blamed “various factors, including technical or human error.”
Ms. Bondi, along with her deputy, Todd Blanche, and Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, wrote that the documents in question would be further redacted and promptly reposted — “ideally within 24 to 36 hours.”
The clash between the victims’ lawyers and the department follows the release on Friday of three million Epstein-related documents, images, videos and other records that were ordered to be made public, with victim information redacted, under a law enacted in November. Ms. Bondi said in her letter that the department had teams of personnel committed to monitoring requests by victims and their lawyers to add redactions to the posted materials.
In their letter asking for the Justice Department website to be taken down temporarily, until proper redactions can be made, the lawyers also asked for the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the process. They described the situation as “an unfolding emergency that requires immediate judicial intervention.”
“For the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, every hour matters,” the lawyers, Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards, wrote. “The harm is ongoing and irreversible.”
The letter was addressed to Judges Richard M. Berman, who has overseen the case of Mr. Epstein, who hanged himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial in August 2019; and Paul A. Engelmayer, who supervises the case of Mr. Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was tried, convicted and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Judge Berman, who in a brief order on Monday ordered the hearing, said he recognized the “concern and the urgency” of the matter and invited the lawyers to bring their clients with them.
“I am not certain how helpful I can be,” Judge Berman added, saying he encouraged the lawyers and Mr. Clayton to work “to resolve open issues in good faith.”
Ms. Henderson and Mr. Edwards, in their letter to the judges, said there was “no conceivable degree of institutional incompetence sufficient to explain the scale, consistency and persistence of the failures that occurred — particularly where the sole task,” they added, “was simple: redact known victim names before publication.”
They included comments from several of the firm’s clients. One woman, identified only as Jane Doe 2, said all her emails were posted without redactions, and “quite a few articles have already been published about me.” Another woman, Jane Doe 5, wrote that she was being harassed by the media and others. “Please, I’m begging you to delete my name!!!”
A third woman, Jane Doe 8, said her private banking information had been made public and she was trying to shut down her cards and accounts.
Benjamin Weiser is a Times reporter covering the federal courts and U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, and the justice system more broadly.
The post Epstein Victims Ask Judge to Shut D.O.J. Website After Names Disclosed appeared first on New York Times.
