image source, Oversight Committee
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- Author, Grace Eliza Goodwin
- Author title, BBCNews
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Reading time: 6 minutes
A committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress published this Thursday a collection of almost 70 photos from the relatives of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It is the third such publication of more than 95,000 photos that the oversight committee has received from Epstein’s private collection.
Among the published images are some with quotes from the book “Lolita” written on a woman’s body, as well as photos (with protected data) of foreign women’s passports.
The disclosure comes just hours before the deadline (December 19) for the Justice Department to release all files related to its investigation into Epstein.
“These new images raise further questions about what exactly is in the Justice Department’s possession,” said Robert Garcia, a Democratic congressman and ranking member of the committee.
Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
image source, Oversight Committee
What is included in the published images?
Some of the photos published this Thursday show Epstein talking to professor and activist Noam Chomsky on board a private plane; Bill Gates stands next to a woman whose face has been censored; Steve Bannon sits at a desk across from Epstein and Google co-founder Sergey Brin at dinner.
The BBC has attempted to contact each of them for comment and is awaiting a response.
image source, Oversight Committee
image source, Oversight Committee
These are the latest rich and powerful men featured in Epstein photos released by the House Oversight Committee; The previously published photos also included US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Andrés Mountbatten-Windsor.
Appearing in photographs is not evidence of a crime. Many of the men attacked have claimed they never took part in Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a statement releasing the photos, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said Epstein’s files did not contain the context or date of the photos.
image source, Oversight Committee
“The photos were selected to provide the public with transparency through a representative selection of photos from the archive and to provide insight into Epstein’s network and his deeply disturbing activities,” the statement said.
The publication also contains several photos of quotes from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita” written in black ink on various parts of a woman’s body, such as her chest, feet, hips and back.
“Lolita” tells the story of a teenager who is seduced by a literature teacher. A quote from the book written on a woman’s chest reads: “Lo-lee-ta: The tip of the tongue makes a three-step journey down the roof of the mouth until, in the third step, it rests on the edge of the teeth.”
image source, Oversight Committee
image source, Oversight Committee
Additionally, there are several passport and ID photos of women from countries around the world, including Lithuania, Russia, Czech Republic and Ukraine.
Most information in the documents, such as names and dates of birth, are redacted, but the oversight committee said in a statement that the passports “belong to women with whom Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplices had relationships.”
image source, Oversight Committee
Another photo shows Epstein sitting at a desk surrounded by three female figures whose faces have been censored: One has her hand on Epstein’s chest, under his shirt, and another is crouched looking at a laptop to the side. Epstein appears to be helping the third girl put on a bracelet.
Another image posted is a screenshot of text messages from an unknown person who says she has been sent “some girls” and is asking for “$1000 per girl.”
image source, Oversight Committee
image source, Oversight Committee
Before the deadline
The committee has thousands of images of Epstein’s belongings that are “both graphic and mundane,” it said in its statement Thursday.
The photos and files in Congress’ possession are separate from the so-called “Epstein files.” These are documents in the possession of the Justice Department that relate to its own investigation into the case.
Under the Epstein Records Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law last month, the Justice Department has until Dec. 19 to release the files.
The extent of the contents of the Justice Department files is unknown, and much of the content is likely to be heavily censored, as are materials from the House Oversight Committee.
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