Epstein victims seek removal of names from released files

A U.S. judge will review on Wednesday a request from victims of the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who are asking for their names to be removed from published files in order to protect their privacy, the New York Times (NYT) reports, cited by AFP.

Around 100 identified victims have seen their lives “devastated” by the publication of the files, according to a letter from their lawyers cited by the newspaper on Monday evening, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged on Monday, in a letter to the court, that the Department of Justice worked throughout the weekend to “remove several thousand documents and media files that may have inadvertently included information that could lead to the identification of victims,” the NYT added.

The U.S. Department of Justice began publishing a new batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, stating that it was complying with an order from the Trump administration to be fully transparent about the explosive case.

A prominent figure in New York’s social scene in the 1990s and 2000s, Jeffrey Epstein was accused of sexually exploiting more than a thousand young women, including minors.

He was found hanged in his cell at a New York jail in 2019, before standing trial for sex crimes. His death fueled countless conspiracy theories suggesting he was killed to protect prominent figures.

According to the NYT, lawyers have also requested the appointment of an independent auditor to oversee the publication process.

On Sunday, the newspaper reported that the Justice Department had released photographs of naked young women, possibly teenagers, within the files.

Among the three million pages published, about forty photographs containing explicit sexual content or images that could allow victims to be identified were retained. These images were “apparently part of a personal collection,” the NYT reported.