Government says it’s fixing redactions in Epstein-related files that may have had victim information

Justice Department Withdraws Epstein Documents After Victims Report Privacy Breaches

The Justice Department has removed thousands of documents and media files related to Jeffrey Epstein following complaints that improper redactions exposed sensitive victim information, officials announced Monday.

The department acknowledged that “technical or human error” led to the release of materials containing nude photos showing faces of potential victims, along with names, email addresses, and other identifying information that was either unredacted or inadequately obscured.

In a letter to New York judges overseeing the sex trafficking cases against Epstein and his confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton confirmed that the department had taken down nearly all materials identified by victims or their lawyers, along with numerous documents flagged independently by the government.

Clayton outlined revised protocols for handling flagged documents, stating that materials are now promptly removed when identified by victims and then evaluated before a properly redacted version can be reposted, “ideally within 24 to 36 hours.”

The situation escalated when attorneys Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards wrote to Judge Richard M. Berman on Sunday seeking “immediate judicial intervention” due to what they described as thousands of instances where the government failed to properly redact personal information.

Eight women who identify as Epstein victims added statements to the letter. One victim described the release as “life threatening,” while another reported receiving death threats after 51 entries containing her private banking information were published, forcing her to attempt to shut down credit cards and accounts.

“There is no conceivable degree of institutional incompetence sufficient to explain the scale, consistency, and persistence of the failures that occurred,” the attorneys wrote, noting that the court had clearly ordered the DOJ to redact victim names before publication.

Judge Berman, who presided over Epstein’s sex trafficking case, has scheduled a conference for Wednesday to address the issues. Notably, a section of the Justice Department’s Epstein files website containing court records from the criminal cases and civil lawsuits was no longer functioning as of Monday.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche attempted to downplay the scope of the problem in an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” claiming the department worked quickly to address errors and that problematic materials represented just “0.001 percent of all the materials.”

However, journalists from several news organizations, including the Associated Press, have identified multiple instances where names redacted in one document appeared unredacted in another version of the same file. In some cases, names and email addresses were crossed out but not fully blackened, leaving them visible. Other redactions could be easily overridden by double-clicking to reveal hidden text.

While the Justice Department had claimed all nude or pornographic images were properly redacted from the approximately 2,000 videos and 180,000 images in the release, The New York Times discovered dozens of uncensored photos of naked young people with unredacted faces. The newspaper reported that many of these images have since been removed after the Justice Department was notified.

The AP found additional concerning examples, including a set of more than 100 images of a young, unidentified female where all but the last photo were properly redacted. The final image in the sequence clearly showed her face. In another instance, an alleged underage victim’s face was clearly visible on an organizational chart created by federal investigators.

The redaction failures extended beyond victim information. One email revealed Epstein’s entire credit card number, expiration date, and security code. An interview transcript related to the investigation of Epstein’s suicide included a jail worker’s complete Social Security number and date of birth.

The improper redactions have already had consequences in an unrelated court case. At a sex trafficking trial in New York on Monday, lawyers for high-end real estate brokers Tal, Oren, and Alon Alexander requested a mistrial because their names appeared in some Epstein documents. Defense lawyer Deanna Paul argued that prosecutors had “destroyed the possibility of a fair trial” by allowing documents to be released that falsely suggested an association with Epstein.

Judge Valerie E. Caproni denied the mistrial request after questioning jurors, all of whom stated they hadn’t seen news about the brothers. Nevertheless, the judge confronted prosecutors about the matter, asking, “Government, really?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Espinosa acknowledged the concern and noted the documents had been withdrawn from public circulation.

The AP is reviewing the Justice Department’s Epstein documents in collaboration with journalists from CBS, NBC, MS NOW, and CNBC.