The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has removed thousands of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein from its website after victims said their identities had been compromise.
Lawyers for Epstein’s victims said the lack of redactions (anonymization) in the released files had “upended the lives” of almost 100 survivors.
The publication included email addresses and nude photos, in which the names and faces of potential victims could be identified.
Survivors issued a statement calling the publication “horrific.”
The Justice Department stated that it had removed all flagged files and that the errors had occurred due to “technical or human errors.”
In a letter filed Monday before a federal judge, the Department said “all documents that victims or their legal representatives requested to be removed as of last night have been removed for further redaction,” adding that it is continuing to review new requests, as well as checking to see if there are other documents that may need additional redaction.
A “significant number” of independently identified documents have also been removed.
Under the terms of the release, which was ordered after both houses of Congress passed a measure forcing the DOJ to release the documents, the federal government was required to redact details that could identify the victims.
On Friday, two attorneys representing the victims asked a federal judge in New York to order the DOJ to remove the website with the files, calling the publication “the most egregious and egregious violation of victims’ privacy in a single day in the history of the United States.”
