🔗 Share this article

Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has published a batch of around 70 photographs obtained from the property of deceased convicted individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This represents the third such disclosure from a tranche of more than 95,000 photos the committee has acquired from Epstein's holdings. It features images of quotes from the book Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and redacted pictures of women's foreign passports.

This release comes just hours before the 19th of December due date for the Justice Department to release each records connected to its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new photographs raise more queries about precisely what the DOJ has in its possession," stated the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photographs Released

Some of the photographs made public on this week show Epstein in discussion with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky inside a private plane; Bill Gates positioned alongside a woman whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a table opposite Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Oversight Panel

These are the most recent high-net-worth, prominent figures to be pictured in Epstein estate photos released by the oversight panel - previously published photos also show US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, previous US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the photos is does not constitute proof of any illegal activity, and a number of the photographed individuals have said they were in no way participating in Epstein's illegal activity.

In a press release accompanying the photo publication, Democratic members on the US House Oversight Committee stated the Epstein property holders did not offer context or timings for the photographs.

"Images were selected to offer the public with openness into a representative sample of the images obtained from the holdings, and to give insights into Epstein's associates and his extremely disturbing activities," the announcement reads.

Oversight Panel

The disclosure also features a number of images of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita inscribed in dark ink across several locations of a female's body, like her upper body, lower extremity, hip, and spine. Lolita narrates the tale of a adolescent who was exploited by a older literature professor.

One quote from the book inscribed across a female's chest states, "Lolita's name: the point of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to alight, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a number of photos of female travel documents and identification documents from states worldwide, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

Most of the information on the IDs, such as names and birth dates, is obscured but the committee said in a press release that the passports belong to "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his conspirators were involved with".

An additional photograph depicts Epstein positioned at a table closely in the company of three female figures whose identities have been obscured - a first has her palm on Epstein's chest under his garment, and a second is bending to view a adjacent device. Epstein appears to be helping the final person put on a piece of jewelry.

Committee

Another photo released is a image of text messages from an unidentified person who states they have been provided "a number of girls" and are requesting "$$1,000 per girl".

Image Disclosure Occurs Before DOJ Cut-off

The panel has many thousands of photographs in its possession from the Epstein estate, which are "simultaneously disturbing and everyday," its statement on recently noted.

The House Oversight Committee first subpoenaed the holdings of Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking crimes, in August.

The photographs and files the Epstein estate's representatives submitted to the panel are distinct from what is commonly referred to "Epstein-related records". Those are documents in the DOJ's custody connected to its own investigation into Epstein.

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the President signed into law in November, the DOJ has until 19 December to disclose its documents. The extent of what's found in the DOJ's documents is unknown, and it's probable that a significant portion of the information will be extensively redacted, akin to the committee's documents