🔗 Share this article

Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has made public a set of roughly 70 photos obtained from the property of deceased convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third publication from a larger collection of over 95,000 images the panel has acquired from Epstein's estate. It includes images of passages from the novel Lolita scrawled across a woman's body, and censored photos of women's overseas passports.

This release occurs hours before the December 19th deadline for the Justice Department to disclose all records related to its probe into Epstein.

"These photographs raise further inquiries about precisely what the Department of Justice has in its possession," stated the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

Contents in the Photos Made Public

Some of the photos published on this week depict Epstein speaking with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky inside a personal aircraft; Bill Gates standing alongside a individual whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a workstation facing Epstein, and previous Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Oversight Panel

These are the newest wealthy, influential figures to be seen in Epstein property images published by the committee - formerly disclosed photos also depict US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, previous US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the photos is does not constitute indication of any misconduct, and several of the pictured individuals have said they were never involved in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a announcement accompanying the photograph disclosure, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee said the Epstein estate's representatives did not provide explanatory details or timeframes for the pictures.

"Images were chosen to provide the American people with transparency into a illustrative selection of the photographs obtained from the property, and to provide insights into Epstein's network and his exceptionally disturbing actions," the announcement says.

Investigative Body

The publication also includes multiple photographs of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov literary work Lolita inscribed in dark ink across various areas of a woman's body, such as her torso, feet, pelvis, and rear. Lolita recounts the tale of a minor who was groomed by a older literature professor.

A particular quote from the book inscribed across a woman's torso reads, "Lo-lee-ta: the point of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the roof of the mouth to land, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a series of images of women's identification and official papers from states worldwide, including Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

The majority of the details on the IDs, like identities and birth dates, is redacted but the committee stated in a press release that the passports are associated with "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators were engaging".

A further photo depicts Epstein seated at a desk in close proximity flanked by three individuals whose faces have been redacted - one has her hand on Epstein's chest under his shirt, and another is crouching to look at a nearby laptop. Epstein can be seen to be aiding the third fasten a wristband.

Investigative Body

An additional photograph disclosed is a capture of SMS messages from an unknown person who says they have been sent "some girls" and are asking for "$one thousand dollars per female".

Image Publication Comes Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The committee has thousands of images in its custody from the Epstein holdings, which are "both explicit and ordinary," its announcement on this week clarified.

The oversight panel first issued a subpoena to the holdings of Epstein, who was found dead in a New York correctional facility in 2019 while facing trial on accusations of sex trafficking, in August.

The images and documents the Epstein estate's representatives submitted to the body are separate from what is often termed "Epstein-related records". Those files are papers under the DOJ's possession associated with its separate inquiry into Epstein.

Under the Transparency Act, which the President made law in November, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to release its documents. The extent of what's found in the DOJ's records is unknown, and it's likely that a significant portion of the information will be heavily censored, akin to the committee's materials