The Justice Department exposed the names of dozens of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, including many who haven’t shared their identities publicly or were minors when they were abused by the notorious sex offender.
A review of 47 victims’ full names on Sunday found that 43 of them were left unredacted in files that were made public by the government on Friday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Several women’s full names appeared more than 100 times in the files.
The Justice Department was required to redact all victims’ names prior to releasing the files. Officials said they had spent weeks doing so after receiving lists of names from victims’ attorneys. Since Friday, the agency has been temporarily taking down documents to make new redactions.
On Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC News that the agency took care to protect victims and would remove their names if notified. “Every time we hear from a victim or their lawyer that they believe that their name was not properly redacted, we immediately rectify that,” he said, adding that the errors affect “. 001% of all the materials.”
More than two dozen names of minor victims are exposed in the filings, according to the Journal’s analysis. Their full names were available Sunday afternoon in the Justice Department’s keyword search, along with personally identifying details that make them readily traceable, including home addresses.
Some of the missing redactions are unusual. For example, in one 2008 email where U.S. attorneys are discussing the list of victims they need to contact, 10 names are redacted and one that is in the middle of the list is left exposed.
Another document from 2016 shows a long list of women that are being identified as Epstein victims. Only one name on the list is redacted and the rest of the first and last names are public.
In one 2014 email exchange between a victim and the male modeling scout who recruited her into Epstein’s network, the scout’s email address is redacted while the victim’s isn’t properly redacted.
The disclosures raise questions about the government’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the redaction of victim identities.
“The Justice Department takes victim protection very seriously and has redacted thousands of victims names in the millions of published pages to protect the innocent,” said a DOJ spokeswoman.
“When a victim’s name is alleged to be unredacted, our team is working around the clock to fix the issue and republish appropriately redacted pages as soon as possible,” the spokeswoman said.
Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson, attorneys who represent Epstein’s victims, said they provided a list of 350 victims to the Justice Department on Dec. 4 to ensure that the names would be redacted ahead of the release. They said Sunday that they are alarmed that the government didn’t perform a basic keyword search of victim names to verify the success of its redaction process.
Edwards said he contacted Justice Department officials on Friday to raise concerns. He said the DOJ is expecting victims to comb through the millions of files, locate each instance of their exposed personal information, and submit redaction requests with links to the files. In some cases, he said individuals have had to locate and submit more than 100 links to the DOJ to request that their names be redacted.
“We notified them of the problem within an hour of the release,” Edwards said. “It’s been acknowledged as a grave error; there is no excuse for failing to immediately remedy it unless it was done intentionally.”
Several victims told the Journal that the process has been re-traumatizing, forcing them to relive their abuse while racing to prevent the spread of their identities online. Media outlets and influencers on X have begun publishing women’s names. Victims say they have received online harassment since the documents became public.
Anouska de Georgiou, an Epstein victim who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell in her federal trial, said she contacted the Justice Department this weekend after learning that her personal information was made public in the release, including a picture of her driver’s license.
“Much of the information disclosed was drawn from notes taken by federal agents in preparation for my testimony,” she said. “I cooperated with the United States government when it asked for my help, and now it has failed me—and other survivors—by demonstrating a profound disregard for the safety, protection, and well-being of victims of crimes like these.”
Some other Epstein’s victims who worked as his assistants said their email exchanges—which contain expressions of gratitude or affection that they say Epstein demanded—are now being circulated on social media by people who aren’t aware that the women are victims.
On Sunday evening, Edwards and Henderson petitioned the federal judges who oversaw the Epstein and Maxwell cases to order the DOJ to take down its Epstein document website, conduct a comprehensive search using the victim list, properly redact references to victims’ names and appoint an independent special master to oversee the process.
