The Department of Justice on Friday released a library of hundreds of thousands of documents tied to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, revealing more information about the alleged child sex trafficking ring.
The DOJ’s website was made available to the public at this link. The material included is expected to be sensitive and graphic material about survivors, the crimes, and the nature of the late convicted sex offender Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation. The documents reportedly include court records, Freedom of Information Act releases, oversight committee documents, Justice Department disclosures and more.
Here are five things to know about the release.
1. Hundreds of photos are included in the files — with some big names.
Images of former President Bill Clinton — although it’s unclear what the context is — and pop star Michael Jackson were among some of the people in the images, according to The New York Times. One image shows the former president in a swimming pool with what appears to be Epstein accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and another woman.
2. The Department of Justice has redacted or withheld 1,200 names of victims or family members of victims in the documents.
Many files appear heavily redacted. The DOJ will need to file a report to Congress detailing what they expect to release next and have about two weeks to do so, The Times reported.
“The law mandating the release of the files, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, required the Justice Department to redact information that identified potential victims of Epstein or contained child sexual-abuse material,” according to The Times.
3. The search function on the website was beset by technical glitches.
Multiple people have noted that the search function does not produce results, including searches for “Epstein” or “Maxwell.” It’s unclear if that search function works.
4. Epstein apparently promised to take care of Ghislaine Maxwell financially.
She filed a complaint against his estate, requesting that the estate cover her legal fees.
“During the course of their relationship, including while Maxwell was in Epstein’s employ, Epstein promised Maxwell that he would support her financially,” according to a 2020 complaint filed by Maxwell’s legal team.
Maxwell said she was receiving death threats prior to her incarceration and needed additional security.
5. More details were revealed in the documents about the nature of Epstein’s relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell — and how the inner workings between the two had evolved.
In a filmed subpoena in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, Maxwell apparently got so upset in the questioning during a defamation case involving late accuser and survivor Virginia Giuffre that she slammed a table with her hand.
“I am going to put on the record, Ms. Maxwell very inappropriately and very harshly pounded our law firm table in an inappropriate manner. I ask she take a deep breath, and calm down. I know this is a difficult position but physical assault or threats is not appropriate, so no pounding, no stomping, no, that’s not appropriate.”
Maxwell denied that she threatened anyone.
Maxwell said she was employed by Epstein in 1992 to oversee his properties in New York, Paris, Florida, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and that their relationship changed over time. By 2008 and 2009, she was helping him in “nominal way,” she said.
“My job entailed running the homes that he had but much more importantly, most of the houses had construction and so whilst in 1992 there was no construction project, there was construction projects that began after that time and I was in charge not only of hiring architects, I was also in charge of all the filings or overseeing that, like a general contractor would. I also helped with hiring the architects, hiring the builders, reviewing the contracts for the builders, coordinating the building projects, coordinating how the projects would layout, the timing of the projects and all the various materials that they would require to run a very substantial building project. That’s the nature of the job I was dealing with.”
Maxwell denied being inside Epstein’s home regularly and denied having knowledge of the more than 30 girls who filed legal complaints alleging sexual misconduct.
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