🔗 Share this article

Investigative Body

The Congressional oversight panel has released a collection of around 70 photographs from the estate of late convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third such publication from a larger collection of more than 95,000 images the panel has obtained from Epstein's estate. It includes images of quotes from the literary work Lolita inscribed across a female's body, and censored pictures of female foreign passports.

This release arrives hours before the 19 December deadline for the Justice Department to disclose every documents associated with its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new images bring up more questions about exactly what the DOJ has in its possession," remarked the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Images Disclosed

Some of the images published on this week feature Epstein speaking with academic and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a private plane; Bill Gates standing beside a individual whose identity is redacted; Steve Bannon positioned at a table facing Epstein, and previous Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Oversight Panel

These are the latest affluent, influential figures to be photographed in Epstein property images released by the House Oversight Committee - earlier disclosed photos also show US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, previous US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Appearing in the photos is not evidence of any wrongdoing, and several of the photographed figures have asserted they were never participating in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a press release accompanying the photograph release, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee said the Epstein property holders did not provide background information or dates for the pictures.

"Photographs were picked to furnish the American people with openness into a typical cross-section of the images obtained from the estate, and to offer understanding into Epstein's network and his exceptionally disturbing actions," the statement says.

Investigative Body

The disclosure also features a number of images of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita written in ink across various areas of a woman's body, including her torso, feet, hipbone, and spine. Lolita recounts the tale of a adolescent who was manipulated by a older literature professor.

A particular excerpt from the book scrawled across a female's chest reads, "Lolita's name: the point of the tongue traveling of three steps down the mouth to land, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a collection of photographs of women's passports and official papers from states globally, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

The majority of the details on the documents, like identities and dates of birth, is censored but the committee indicated in a statement that the travel documents pertain to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

A further photograph shows Epstein seated at a table intimately surrounded by three female figures whose features have been redacted - a first has her hand on Epstein's torso under his shirt, and a second is crouching to view a close-by computer. Epstein can be seen to be assisting the final person put on a bracelet.

Committee

Another image released is a image of text messages from an unidentified individual who states they have been supplied "a number of girls" and are asking for "$1000 per female".

Photograph Disclosure Occurs Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The committee has a vast number of photographs in its possession from the Epstein estate, which are "simultaneously disturbing and everyday," its statement on Thursday clarified.

The oversight panel first legally compelled the estate of Epstein, who passed away in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of sex trafficking, in August.

The photos and records the Epstein estate's representatives provided to the committee are separate from what is commonly called "Epstein-related records". Those files are papers under the DOJ's control associated with its independent probe into Epstein.

Under the recently passed law, which the President enacted last month, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to publish its files. The full nature of what is contained in the DOJ's files is unclear, and it's likely that much of the material will be extensively obscured, similar to the committee's materials