🔗 Share this article

Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has published a set of around 70 photographs obtained from the property of former adjudicated sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third release from a cache of more than 95,000 images the committee has obtained from Epstein's estate. It contains photographs of excerpts from the novel Lolita written across a female's body, and censored photos of women's overseas passports.

This disclosure comes hours before the 19 December due date for the Justice Department to disclose every documents related to its probe into Epstein.

"These latest images pose more queries about exactly what the Justice Department has in its holdings," remarked the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

Contents in the Photos Released

Several of the photographs published on recently depict Epstein conversing with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky inside a personal aircraft; Bill Gates positioned beside a individual whose identity is redacted; Steve Bannon seated at a desk across from Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Investigative Body

These are the latest high-net-worth, prominent figures to be photographed in Epstein property photos released by the House Oversight Committee - earlier disclosed photos also include US President Donald Trump and ex-president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, previous US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and additional individuals.

Appearing in the photographs is is not considered evidence of any misconduct, and several of the pictured men have asserted they were never implicated in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a statement released with the photo release, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee stated the Epstein estate's representatives did not supply context or timeframes for the photographs.

"Images were chosen to offer the American people with openness into a illustrative selection of the photographs obtained from the estate, and to give understanding into Epstein's associates and his exceptionally alarming activities," the release reads.

Investigative Body

The publication also features several images of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita inscribed in ink across several locations of a female's body, like her chest, feet, pelvis, and spine. Lolita tells the tale of a adolescent who was exploited by a adult literature professor.

A particular quote from the novel written across a woman's torso states, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue making a journey of three steps down the palate to alight, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a collection of photographs of female passports and identification documents from countries around the world, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

A large portion of the information on the papers, such as identities and birth dates, is redacted but the House Oversight Committee said in a announcement that the passports belong to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators were interacting with".

A further photo shows Epstein positioned at a table in close proximity surrounded by three female figures whose identities have been obscured - one has her palm on Epstein's upper body under his shirt, and a second is bending to examine a adjacent laptop. Epstein can be seen to be aiding the final person fasten a bracelet.

Investigative Body

A further photo made public is a capture of SMS messages from an unknown sender who states they have been sent "several females" and are asking for "$one thousand dollars per girl".

Image Disclosure Arrives Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The panel has thousands of photos in its holdings from the Epstein property, which are "at once graphic and mundane," its announcement on Thursday clarified.

The Congressional committee first subpoenaed the estate of Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on allegations of sex trafficking, in August.

The photos and files the Epstein estate provided to the body are distinct from what is often called "Epstein-related records". Those are papers within the justice department's possession connected to its independent probe into Epstein.

Under the recently passed law, which the President enacted in November, the DOJ has until 19 December to release its documents. The scope of the contents found in the DOJ's documents is not publicly known, and it's likely that much of the material will be significantly redacted, akin to House Oversight Committee materials