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Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has made public a set of around 70 photographs secured from the holdings of deceased convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third release from a tranche of over 95,000 images the panel has acquired from Epstein's estate. It features photographs of passages from the novel Lolita written across a female's body, and redacted photos of female international passports.

This action occurs mere hours before the 19 December cut-off for the DOJ to make public all files related to its investigation into Epstein.

"These latest photographs raise further inquiries about exactly what the Department of Justice has in its possession," stated the senior Democrat of the panel, Robert Garcia.

What is in the Photographs Made Public

Several of the photos released on recently show Epstein speaking with academic and activist Noam Chomsky on a private plane; Bill Gates standing alongside a female whose identity is redacted; Steve Bannon positioned at a workstation opposite Epstein, and previous Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Oversight Panel

These are the latest wealthy, prominent figures to be photographed in Epstein's estate photographs published by the House Oversight Committee - earlier released pictures also depict US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, previous US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Showing up in the images is does not constitute evidence of any wrongdoing, and several of the pictured individuals have stated they were not participating in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a announcement accompanying the image release, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee stated the Epstein estate did not offer context or timings for the pictures.

"Images were picked to provide the public with clarity into a typical cross-section of the photographs acquired from the holdings, and to offer insights into Epstein's network and his extremely alarming actions," the statement reads.

Committee

The release also includes multiple photographs of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita penned in black ink across several locations of a woman's body, like her chest, feet, hipbone, and spine. Lolita tells the account of a adolescent who was exploited by a middle-aged literature professor.

An example of a quote from the work scrawled across a woman's torso reads, "Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue traveling of three steps down the roof of the mouth to tap, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a series of images of women's identification and identification documents from countries globally, including Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

Most of the details on the documents, like names and dates of birth, is redacted but the panel said in a announcement that the passports pertain to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his conspirators were interacting with".

A further image features Epstein sitting at a desk in close proximity surrounded by three individuals whose features have been censored - a first has her palm on Epstein's upper body under his garment, and another individual is crouching to look at a adjacent device. Epstein seems to be assisting the final person put on a wristband.

Committee

Another photo made public is a image of SMS messages from an unknown sender who says they have been sent "several females" and are demanding "$1000 for each individual".

Image Release Arrives Ahead of DOJ Due Date

The body has a vast number of images in its holdings from the Epstein property, which are "both disturbing and everyday," its press release on this week noted.

The House Oversight Committee first legally compelled the property of Epstein, who was found dead in a New York correctional facility in 2019 while facing trial on allegations of sex trafficking crimes, in August.

The photos and files the Epstein estate provided to the panel are distinct from what is often called "the Epstein documents". That material are documents under the DOJ's control related to its separate probe into Epstein.

Pursuant to the Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law last month, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to release its documents. The extent of the contents contained in the DOJ's files is not publicly known, and it's expected that a significant portion of the material will be heavily censored, similar to the committee's materials