🔗 Share this article

Investigative Body

The House Oversight Committee has made public a batch of roughly 70 images obtained from the property of late convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the latest in a series of publication from a tranche of more than 95,000 photographs the committee has secured from Epstein's holdings. It contains photographs of quotes from the novel Lolita scrawled across a woman's body, and censored pictures of women's international passports.

This action arrives hours before the December 19th deadline for the DOJ to disclose every records associated with its inquiry into Epstein.

"These latest photos bring up more inquiries about what exactly the Justice Department has in its possession," said the ranking member of the panel, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photos Made Public

Some of the photographs released on Thursday show Epstein in discussion with professor and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a private plane; Bill Gates positioned beside a female whose face is obscured; Steve Bannon sitting at a desk across from Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Investigative Body

These are the most recent wealthy, prominent individuals to be pictured in Epstein's estate photographs disclosed by the committee - earlier released pictures also show US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, previous US treasury secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Appearing in the photographs is not proof of any misconduct, and several of the photographed individuals have asserted they were never involved in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a announcement released with the photo release, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee said the Epstein property holders did not provide background information or timings for the photographs.

"Photos were selected to provide the American people with openness into a representative sample of the photographs received from the estate, and to offer understanding into Epstein's network and his extremely troubling behavior," the statement says.

Committee

The publication also features multiple images of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita inscribed in dark ink across several locations of a female's body, including her torso, feet, pelvis, and back. Lolita tells the account of a adolescent who was exploited by a older literature professor.

One quote from the book written across a female's torso reads, "Lo-lee-ta: the point of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a series of photographs of women's passports and official papers from nations around the world, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

A large portion of the data on the IDs, like names and birth dates, is obscured but the House Oversight Committee indicated in a announcement that the passports pertain to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his conspirators were engaging".

A further image depicts Epstein positioned at a desk in close proximity flanked by three women whose features have been censored - a first has her hand on Epstein's torso under his garment, and another is leaning to look at a adjacent laptop. Epstein can be seen to be aiding the final person put on a wristband.

Investigative Body

An additional photograph made public is a screenshot of text messages from an unnamed person who states they have been sent "a number of girls" and are demanding "$one thousand dollars per girl".

Photo Publication Arrives Before DOJ Due Date

The body has a vast number of photos in its custody from the Epstein holdings, which are "simultaneously explicit and everyday," its press release on recently clarified.

The oversight panel first issued a subpoena to the estate of Epstein, who passed away in a New York correctional facility in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, in August.

The photographs and records the Epstein property submitted to the committee are distinct from what is largely termed "the Epstein files". That material are papers within the DOJ's possession connected to its independent inquiry into Epstein.

In accordance with the recently passed law, which Donald Trump made law last month, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to disclose its files. The scope of the contents included in the DOJ's documents is unknown, and it's probable that a large amount of the content will be extensively obscured, akin to House Oversight Committee documents