Millions of Epstein files.......

DOJ says millions of Epstein files have yet to be released

The department says it’s released less than 1 percent of the total documents.

By Kyle Cheney

More than two weeks after the deadline to release the vast trove of files connected to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Justice Department officials disclosed Monday that they’re still reviewing millions of documents and have released less than 1 percent of the total.

“[M]ore than 2 million documents … remain in various phases of review and redaction,” Jay Clayton, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, wrote in a five-page update to the federal judge who previously presided over Epstein’s case.

Clayton said about 12,285 documents — totaling 125,575 pages — had been released so far in response to the federal law requiring the vast majority of the files to be released publicly by Dec. 19.

Clayton acknowledged that the Justice Department recently identified 1 million documents it had not initially included in its review. He said those documents appeared to be largely duplicative of files DOJ had already been reviewing — but that they would nevertheless “need to undergo a process of processing and deduplication.”

Clayon described an enormous undertaking, with more than 400 Justice Department attorneys slated to spend “the next few weeks” dedicating “all or a substantial portion of their workday” to reviewing and redacting files. That includes 125 lawyers from the Southern District of New York, where deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is facing criminal charges.

The prosecutors reviewing the Epstein files are being aided by 100 FBI analysts “with experience handling sensitive victim materials,” Clayton said.

Clayton added the gradual release of the documents was necessitated by painstaking efforts to protect Epstein’s victims from improper disclosures of their identities or private information. But DOJ’s critics have slammed the department for appearing to redact information it’s required to release — including the identities of prosecutors and agents involved in the cases and details about internal Justice Department deliberations surrounding the Epstein probe.

Clayton told U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer that the painstaking review process required uploading documents to a “data review platform,” a manual search for victim information, a redaction process and a subsequent review by his office for “quality control.” That process was then followed by requests from victims to remove or redact materials “that inadvertently were published publicly.”

Clayton said feedback from the initial document released has now led the Justice Department to modify its review procedures to “protect victim privacy.” Those updates include “prioritizing the review of documents that are expected to be responsive and nonduplicative,” sorting documents according to their likelihood of containing victim-related information and assigning lawyers to batches of high-priority documents expected to include victim information.