Nude photos, full names, Social Security and bank-account numbers — sensitive material intended to be shielded in the government disclosure appeared openly in the large set of documents the U.S. Justice Department published under a transparency law tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The statute that prompted the release required protecting victims’ identities, with redactions applied to names, faces and other identifying details. But a review by The Associated Press and other news organizations found widespread, inconsistent or missing redactions that exposed private information.
Among the examples: a photograph of a girl who was reportedly underage when she was hired to provide sexualized massages in Florida showed up in a chart of alleged victims; police reports listing several victims, including individuals who never publicly identified themselves, were released without redactions; and a topless woman whose face was visible remained accessible on the site even after some content had been taken down.
Victims and their attorneys urged the Justice Department to withdraw the database and appoint an independent monitor to prevent further errors. A New York judge set a hearing but later cancelled it after lawyers said progress was being made. Brittany Henderson, a lawyer for several accusers, warned that the disclosure has caused “permanent and irreparable” harm and said the issue is more than a technical failure: it is a failure to protect people the government pledged to safeguard.
Annie Farmer, who says she was 16 when she was assaulted by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, said her name was already public but that other personal details — such as her date of birth and phone number — were wrongfully revealed. She told NBC News she felt angry and alarmed that the errors left people exposed.
The Justice Department attributed the problems to human or technical mistakes, saying it has removed many of the problematic files and is working to republish properly redacted versions. The review was conducted on a compressed timetable after President Donald Trump signed the disclosure law on Nov. 19, which gave the department 30 days to post the records. The department missed that deadline, citing the need for additional time to protect privacy, and pulled hundreds of lawyers from regular duties to complete the redactions — a reallocation that drew complaint from at least one judge because it delayed other court work.
The database is the largest release so far in the Epstein-related records; Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting federal sex-trafficking charges. AP reporters documented multiple instances of exposed personal data as well as odd or overbroad redactions — for example, the name “Joseph” blacked out in a nativity-scene caption and even a dog’s name redacted in an email.
Guidance to reviewers apparently limited redactions to victims and their families, yet many unrelated names — including lawyers and public figures — were blacked out in some documents while victims’ details were left intact in others. Images were meant to have nudity and identifying features masked, but in many pictures faces were obscured while other identifying skin or context remained visible. In one set of more than 100 images, most were redacted except for a final file that revealed a woman’s full face.
Justice Department officials say they are continuing to scrub and correct the release, but victims and advocates say the disclosures already published have caused real, ongoing harm and demand thorough review before any republication.
