US reaches deal to protect identities of Epstein victims after document release errors

The US justice department has reached an agreement with lawyers representing victims of Jeffrey Epstein to safeguard the identities of nearly 100 women after serious redaction failures in a recent release of court documents, a federal judge in New York was told on Tuesday.

The deal prompted Judge Richard M. Berman to cancel a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, after being informed that discussions between government lawyers and victims’ representatives had led to a resolution of the privacy concerns.

Florida-based attorney Brittany Henderson told the court that “extensive and constructive discussions” with the justice department had produced an agreement aimed at preventing further harm to women whose personal details were exposed when millions of pages of records were made public last week.

Henderson and fellow lawyer Brad Edwards had warned in a letter to the judge on Sunday that urgent court intervention was required, citing thousands of instances in which names and other identifying information of women allegedly abused by Epstein had not been properly redacted.

According to the letter, some of the affected women described the release as “life threatening”. One said she had received death threats, while another said she was forced to shut down her bank accounts and credit cards after her security was compromised.

The lawyers had asked for the justice department’s website to be temporarily taken offline and for an independent monitor to be appointed to oversee future releases.

While Henderson did not disclose the specific terms of the agreement, she said steps had been taken to ensure that victims’ identities would be protected going forward.

“We trust that the deficiencies will be corrected expeditiously and in a manner that protects victims from further harm,” she wrote to the judge.

In an order cancelling the hearing, Judge Berman said he was “pleased but not surprised” that the parties had resolved the privacy issues. The justice department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, the US attorney in Manhattan, Jay Clayton, acknowledged in a court filing that the document release had been marred by mistakes caused by “technical or human error”. He said improved protocols had since been put in place and that nearly all problematic materials identified by victims or their lawyers had been removed, along with additional documents flagged by the government.

The errors included the publication of nude images showing the faces of potential victims, as well as names, email addresses and other personal details that were either left unredacted or only partially obscured.

Much of the material stems from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and his former partner, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in New York in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Epstein died by suicide in a federal jail in New York in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

With agency inputs