DOJ release exposes dozens of Epstein victims’ names and nude photos
The newest batch of Epstein files has exposed the names of dozens of his victims, with some appearing more than 100 times, and included dozens of unredacted nude images of young women, some of whom may have been teenagers.
A Wall Street Journal report found that 43 names were left unredacted in files released by the Department of Justice. Among them were many individuals who had not gone public with their identities or were minors when they were abused by Jeffrey Epstein.
A New York Times analysis also turned up more than 40 unredacted images that appeared to be part of a personal collection.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche downplayed the breach in victim safety, saying that the errors affected “. 001% of all the materials.”
“Every time we hear from a victim or their lawyer that they believe that their name was not properly redacted, we immediately rectify that,” he told ABC News on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the DOJ said it “takes victim protection very seriously” and has already moved to correct the errors. “When a victim’s name is alleged to be unredacted, our team is working around the clock to fix the issue and republish appropriately redacted pages as soon as possible,” the spokeswoman told the Journal.
However, lawyers for Epstein survivors say their clients needed to find their names themselves, then submit lengthy requests for removal to the DOJ.
“We notified them of the problem within an hour of the release,” attorney Brad Edwards said. “It’s been acknowledged as a grave error; there is no excuse for failing to immediately remedy it unless it was done intentionally.”
A DOJ spokesperson told the Times the department was “working around the clock to address any victim concerns, additional redactions of personally identifiable information, as well as any files that require further redactions under the act, to include images of a sexual nature.”
“Once proper redactions have been made, any responsive documents will repopulate online,” the spokeswoman said.
Anouska de Georgiou, a survivor who testified against Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell at her trial, told the Journal that her personal information was made public, including a picture of her driver’s license.
“I cooperated with the United States government when it asked for my help, and now it has failed me—and other survivors—by demonstrating a profound disregard for the safety, protection, and well-being of victims of crimes like these,” de Georgiou said.
Annie Farmer, who testified about being groomed and abused by Epstein, called the release of the images “extremely disturbing.”
“It’s hard to imagine a more egregious way of not protecting victims than having full nude images of them available for the world to download,” Farmer told the Times.
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