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A group of alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein have accused the Department of Justice of legal violations, which includes the partial release of files related to the investigation into the late convicted pedophile, ABC News reports.
The Justice Department released thousands of files, which included investigative documents and grand jury testimony, but delayed a full release by the set Friday (December 19) deadline in adherence with the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.
"Instead, the public received a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation," a group comprised of 19 women, including two identified as Jane Does, said in a statement obtained by ABC News on Monday (December 22). "At the same time, numerous victim identities were left unredacted, causing real and immediate harm."
Many of the files were also heavily redacted and some were taken off the Department of Justice's website, which the group said amounted to a failure.
"No financial documents were released," the statement said. "Grand jury minutes, though approved by a federal judge for release, were fully blacked out -- not the scattered redactions that might be expected to protect victim names, but 119 full pages blacked out. We are told that there are hundreds of thousands of pages of documents still unreleased."
"These are clear-cut violations of an unambiguous law," the statement added.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed that the newly released files related to Epstein suddenly disappearing from the U.S. Department of Justice's website "has nothing to do with President Trump," rather came at the request of victim advocacy groups during an appearance on NBC News' Meet the Press Sunday (December 21). Blanche, who represented Trump in his New York City criminal trial and was nominated as his deputy attorney general following his presidential election victory in November 2024, claimed that the evidence released included un-redacted pictures of women, which he said "will go back up" after the Justice Department officials investigate whether to make additional redactions.
Trump announced he signed a bill to compel the U.S. Justice Department to release files related to Epstein in a post shared on his Truth Social account on November 19 amid public scrutiny for his past relationship with the convicted pedophile. Trump's lengthy post attempted to tie Epstein to the Democrats, days after publicly urging Republicans to vote in favor of the release of the full Justice Department files related to Epstein, changing his previous stance on the files being released.
The president had called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Epstein's ties to prominent Democratic officials and banks like JP Morgan days after his own name was mentioned in emails sent by the late convicted pedophile.
"We have released over 33,000 Epstein documents to the Hill, and we will continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency. Also, we will always encourage all victims to come forward," Bondi said at a November news conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and others on an unrelated issue via ABC News.