The United States Department of Justice on Friday published the first of an unknown number of releases of documents related to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The nearly 4,000 files contain a hodgepodge of photos, handwritten notes, and more. What they do not contain are any clear revelations about who else may be criminally implicated in Epstein’s abuse network.
Released in four volumes, the 3,951 documents the DOJ included in Friday’s release represent only a fraction of the files the department is required to release under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Democratic lawmakers scolded the DOJ for withholding large portions of its archive, accusing the department of failing to comply with the law’s disclosure mandate.
The documents the Justice Department did release contain hundreds of images of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend and convicted accomplice in a yearslong sex trafficking operation, along with other associates, celebrities, and politicians. Despite long-standing scrutiny of Donald Trump’s social ties to Epstein, the president appears only sporadically in the initial release of material—for instance, in a framed photo on top of a dresser showing him and Melania Trump with Epstein.
It is currently unclear when the DOJ will release additional documents or what will be included in any subsequent releases. CNN has reported on frustrations within the DOJ over the allegedly vague guidance lawyers responsible for redacting the material were given, while Fox News has reported that the same standards used to protect victims were applied to “politically exposed individuals and government officials.” For now, here’s a rundown of what you’ll find in the DOJ’s December 19 trove.
Volume 1
The first batch of documents the DOJ released contains 3,158 images of the inside of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and Virgin Islands compound. These include several photographs of a painting of Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress and red high heels mounted next to a framed, handwritten letter, the author of which can’t be made out. There are also dozens of photos of Epstein with women and, in at least two cases, what appear to be babies; their faces are redacted.
One photo is of a binder marked Black Family Trustee Meeting November 21, 2014; another appears to be of a Bank of America statement from 2011 for an account purportedly bearing the names of financier Leon Black as well as his wife Debra Black and a former employee. (Another set of images shows a note signed by a person with the same first name as the former employee along with a ledger of expenses from late 2011 into early 2012.) Other noteworthy documentation relates to Epstein’s placement on a sex offenders registry and a 2019 note from the acting US attorney for the US Virgin Islands informing him that he would need to comply with certain travel restrictions despite previous “provisions.”
The redactions are inconsistent. In a handwritten note to Epstein, a signature is redacted, while in another image of that same note, the name “Kathe” is visible. A calligraphed note, seemingly written by a young woman and thanking Epstein for taking her and her sister on several “adventures,” has the signature redacted, but an envelope in a similar hand bears the name of the sender.