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Oversight Panel

The House investigative committee has released a batch of around 70 photographs from the estate of former found guilty sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third disclosure from a tranche of in excess of 95,000 photos the body has acquired from Epstein's property. It includes images of passages from the book Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and redacted pictures of women's overseas passports.

This disclosure comes hours before the 19th of December due date for the Justice Department to release all records related to its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new photos bring up additional questions about exactly what the DOJ has in its possession," said the senior Democrat of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What is in the Images Made Public

Some of the photographs made public on recently depict Epstein speaking with professor and activist Noam Chomsky on a private plane; Bill Gates standing beside a individual whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon sitting at a desk across from Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Investigative Body

These are the most recent wealthy, prominent figures to be pictured in Epstein property images disclosed by the committee - formerly published photos also depict US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the photographs is is not considered evidence of any wrongdoing, and many of the featured figures have said they were in no way involved in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a press release issued alongside the photo release, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee stated the Epstein estate's representatives did not supply background information or timeframes for the photographs.

"Images were chosen to offer the American people with transparency into a typical cross-section of the photos received from the estate, and to give insights into Epstein's network and his profoundly troubling activities," the announcement says.

Committee

The publication also includes several photos of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov literary work Lolita written in black ink across different parts of a woman's body, including her upper body, feet, hipbone, and back. Lolita narrates the account of a minor who was groomed by a older literature professor.

A particular quote from the book inscribed across a woman's upper body states, "Lolita: the end of the tongue traveling of three steps down the palate to land, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a series of photos of women's travel documents and official papers from countries worldwide, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

A large portion of the details on the papers, like names and birth dates, is obscured but the House Oversight Committee said in a statement that the passports are associated with "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators were engaging".

A further image shows Epstein sitting at a table intimately in the company of three female figures whose identities have been censored - one has her hand on Epstein's torso under his garment, and another is crouching to look at a close-by computer. Epstein seems to be assisting the third put on a bracelet.

Investigative Body

A further photograph released is a screenshot of digital messages from an unidentified individual who states they have been sent "a number of girls" and are asking for "$one thousand dollars per girl".

Photo Disclosure Comes Ahead of DOJ Due Date

The committee has a vast number of photos in its holdings from the Epstein holdings, which are "at once explicit and ordinary," its announcement on this week explained.

The oversight panel first legally compelled the holdings of Epstein, who was found dead in a New York prison in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on accusations of sex trafficking crimes, in August.

The images and documents the Epstein property submitted to the body are different than what is often referred to "the Epstein documents". Those files are papers within the Department of Justice's custody associated with its independent inquiry into Epstein.

Pursuant to the recently passed law, which the President enacted recently, the DOJ has until 19 December to disclose its documents. The extent of what is found in the DOJ's files is unknown, and it's expected that a significant portion of the content will be extensively redacted, similar to the committee's releases