Attorneys for alleged victims of late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein — citing an “unfolding emergency” — are urging two federal judges in New York to order the speedy takedown of the Justice Division’s Epstein information web site.
The legal professionals are contending widespread failures by the DOJ to redact names and figuring out info of Epstein’s victims, in line with a replica of a letter obtained Sunday by ABC Information.
“For the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, each hour issues. The hurt is ongoing and irreversible,” attorneys Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards wrote within the letter addressed to U.S. District Judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer.
The attorneys write that for the reason that DOJ began posting materials to the web site final month, they’ve been in near-constant communication with the division to right redaction errors and that that they had an expectation “such failures wouldn’t recur.”
“That expectation was shattered on January 30, 2026, when DOJ dedicated what could be the single most egregious violation of sufferer privateness in someday in United States historical past,” the letter states.
Paperwork that have been included within the U.S. Division of Justice launch of the Jeffrey Epstein information are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.
Jon Elswick/AP
The legal professionals — who characterize greater than 200 alleged Epstein victims — say that during the last 48 hours they’ve reported “1000’s of redaction failures on behalf of practically 100 particular person survivors whose lives have been turned the wrong way up by the DOJ’s newest launch,” in line with the letter.
They cite examples of FBI paperwork with full names left unredacted, together with these of victims who have been minors on the time of their exploitation. Different victims, the letter says, have had their names, financial institution info, and addresses posted with out redaction. One e mail itemizing 32 minor victims had simply one of many names redacted, the letter says.
The letter consists of quotes from among the ladies who say their names have been revealed within the doc disclosure.
“I’ve by no means come ahead! I’m now being harassed by the media and others,” wrote a sufferer recognized as Jane Doe. “That is devastating to my life. … Please pull my title down instantly as each minute that these doc with my title are up, it causes extra hurt to me. … Please, I’m begging you to delete my title!!!”
One other sufferer quoted within the letter stated the discharge of her info is “profoundly distressing” and “locations me and my baby at potential bodily threat.”
The DOJ has acknowledged that some errors are inevitable in a doc disclosure of this magnitude, however has vowed to right any redaction errors delivered to its consideration. The division has inspired victims or their legal professionals to report errors and has promised to take away paperwork briefly till the right redactions might be put in place.
Deputy Legal professional Common Todd Blanche earlier on Sunday defended the Justice Division’s procedures whilst survivors and lawmakers criticized the Epstein information disclosure as inadequate and stuffed with redaction errors.
“We took nice pains, as I defined on Friday, to guarantee that we protected victims,” Blanche advised ABC Information’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “Each time we hear from a sufferer or their lawyer that they imagine that their title was not correctly redacted, we instantly rectify that.”
Blanche stated that redaction errors solely influence “about .001% of all of the supplies.”
“We knew this — I stated this on Friday — that that, after all, the character of this kind of overview was so — the quantity of supplies that have been reviewed, that there could be occasions when this occurred. And so we’re, we’re working exhausting to guarantee that we repair that, and I count on that that can proceed,” he stated.
Of their letter, the attorneys argue that the DOJ’s course of is ill-suited to cope with the scope of the issue.
“It’s not moral, ethical, or accountable to try to treatment these violations by DOJ’s torturously tedious recreation. This was by no means a posh endeavor. DOJ has possessed the names of victims that it promised to redact for months,” the attorneys wrote. “There isn’t any conceivable diploma of institutional incompetence adequate to clarify the dimensions, consistency, and persistence of the failures that occurred.”
The attorneys urge the judges to step in urgently.
“This Court docket is the final line of protection for victims who have been promised safety and as a substitute have been uncovered. Judicial intervention just isn’t merely applicable—it’s important.”
