The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has removed thousands of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein from its website, after victims claimed their identities had been compromised.
Epstein’s victims’ lawyers claimed that the faulty redaction of the files published on Friday had “turned upside down” the lives of nearly 100 survivors. Email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of potential victims could be identified were included in the published documents.
Survivors issued a statement calling the disclosure “scandalous” and stated that they should not be “named, scrutinized, and retraumatized,” writes the BBC.
The DOJ stated that it had removed all flagged files and that the mistakes were due to “technical or human errors.” In a letter sent Monday to a federal judge, the DOJ stated: “All documents requested by victims or lawyers to be withdrawn until last night have been withdrawn to be further redacted.”
The Department stated that it will continue to review new requests, as well as check for other documents that may require additional redaction. A “substantial number” of independently identified documents were also withdrawn, it added. In accordance with the terms of publication, which was imposed after both houses of Congress approved a measure requiring the DOJ to publish the documents, the federal government was obliged to redact details that could identify the victims.
Details, HERE