House Democrats release 68 photos from Jeffrey Epstein estate ahead of DOJ disclosure deadline
Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee posted 68 images tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s estate on the eve of a federal deadline to release the so-called “Epstein files,” publishing photos that show public figures including Bill Gates, Noam Chomsky, Sergey Brin and Steve Bannon in Epstein’s orbit.
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The images, made public online, include Gates posing with women whose faces are redacted, and Chomsky seated alongside Epstein aboard the financier’s private jet. Separate photos depict handwritten messages scrawled on a woman’s body, including “she was Lola in slacks” and “she was Polly at school.”
The release follows a batch of images posted last week from the Epstein estate, including one showing Prince Andrew standing next to Gates. Andrew has for years faced allegations from Virginia Giuffre, who says she was trafficked by Epstein as a teenager and sexually assaulted by Andrew. He has strenuously denied the accusations.
Andrew settled a civil sexual assault claim brought by Giuffre in 2022, paying a sum that was not disclosed publicly. He has said he never met her.
The new photos land just before a legal deadline requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Wednesday. The mandate falls under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed to widen access to documents and communications tied to Epstein and his associates.
Tens of thousands of records associated with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell have already surfaced in U.S. civil and criminal proceedings over the years, feeding sustained public scrutiny. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, according to the medical examiner.
In addition to Gates and Chomsky, Tuesday’s tranche features Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, photographed alongside Epstein in separate images. The photos do not, by themselves, indicate criminal conduct or wrongdoing by the people pictured.
The release escalates attention around the government’s pending disclosure, which could bring further clarity to Epstein’s network, his movements and communications, and the extent of official knowledge about his activities. It also underscores how the case continues to span politics, technology, academia and finance, with high-profile names repeatedly surfacing in litigation and discovery materials.
Epstein’s estate has been the source of several photo collections and records, and the latest set adds to the visual archive of who interacted with him across years of travel and social events. The images appear to have been curated and redacted before publication, including blurring the faces of women in certain photos.
Lawmakers and advocates have argued that broad, searchable access to the “Epstein files” is necessary to assess how institutions handled warnings, tips and internal decisions related to Epstein and those around him. The Justice Department has not indicated precisely how many documents will be released under the new law, but the statute requires public access and a format that enables robust review.
The spotlight on Epstein’s connections has persisted long after his death, with court records and photo releases periodically reviving interest and fueling calls for transparency. Tuesday’s photos are likely to intensify that cycle, setting the stage for a fresh round of scrutiny once the Justice Department’s release goes live.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
