A judge ordered the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday to ensure that names of victims of Jeffrey Epstein are not released. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
A federal judge who oversaw the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday demanded prosecutors explain how they are protecting victims’ privacy after the release of unredacted documents.
New York-based Judge Richard Berman issued the order in response to a letter raising alarm about how the names of some of Epstein’s victims were included in a trove of documents released by Congress earlier this month.
The order comes amid a recent push for more transparency into the investigation of Epstein, a now-deceased financier who had ties to the wealthy and powerful.
However, Bradley Edwards and Brittany Henderson, attorneys representing the victims, wrote in a letter to Berman on Tuesday that transparency cannot “come at the expense of the privacy, safety and protection of sexual abuse and sex-trafficking victims.”
“These women are not political pawns,” the attorneys wrote. “They are mothers, wives and daughters. These are women who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein, and in some instances by others, and who have already had their rights violated in the past by the government.”
The House Oversight Committee has released dozens of documents from the Justice Department and Epstein’s estate that exposed victims’ identities, causing them “significant emotional distress,” they wrote. Victims have already been approached by the press after their names were released, the attorneys wrote.
The attorneys called the situation “absolutely unacceptable and a problem that must be rectified prior to the release of any additional documents.” One victim described being unable to sleep or function after the release.
The Department of Justice unsuccessfully asked Berman to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits in Epstein’s case. However, the victims’ attorneys wrote in their letter that the documents reveal little compared to the department’s investigative files.
Earlier this month, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed a bill directing the DOJ to release files on its investigation into Epstein.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton wrote to a separate judge Wednesday that the department “intends to redact or withhold victim information to the fullest extent permitted” by the recently passed law.
