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Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has made public a collection of approximately 70 photographs obtained from the property of late found guilty sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third such release from a tranche of over 95,000 photographs the panel has secured from Epstein's estate. It features photographs of quotes from the novel Lolita written across a woman's body, and redacted pictures of women's international passports.

This disclosure arrives just hours before the 19 December cut-off for the Department of Justice to release all documents connected to its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new images raise more questions about precisely what the Justice Department has in its possession," said the senior Democrat of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photos Made Public

A number of the photos released on Thursday feature Epstein speaking with professor and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a personal aircraft; Bill Gates seen alongside a female whose face is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a table facing Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Oversight Panel

These are the latest high-net-worth, prominent individuals to be seen in Epstein estate images disclosed by the committee - formerly disclosed photos also include US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, ex- US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and additional individuals.

Being pictured in the images is does not constitute evidence of any misconduct, and many of the photographed men have asserted they were not implicated in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a press release released with the image release, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee said the Epstein property holders did not supply explanatory details or timeframes for the pictures.

"Photos were selected to offer the general populace with clarity into a typical cross-section of the photos acquired from the holdings, and to offer understanding into Epstein's associates and his exceptionally alarming actions," the statement states.

Investigative Body

The publication also includes multiple photographs of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita inscribed in black ink across various areas of a woman's body, like her chest, lower extremity, pelvis, and back. Lolita narrates the story of a minor who was exploited by a middle-aged literature professor.

A particular passage from the book inscribed across a female's upper body says, "Lo-lee-ta: the end of the tongue traveling of three steps down the mouth to alight, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a series of photos of female passports and identification documents from countries globally, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

The majority of the data on the documents, like identities and DOBs, is censored but the panel said in a announcement that the travel documents pertain to "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his conspirators were engaging".

An additional photo features Epstein positioned at a desk in close proximity flanked by three female figures whose identities have been redacted - one individual has her hand on Epstein's chest under his shirt, and another is bending to view a adjacent laptop. Epstein seems to be aiding the final person attach a piece of jewelry.

Committee

A further photograph released is a screenshot of text messages from an unnamed individual who claims they have been supplied "a number of girls" and are asking for "$one thousand dollars for each individual".

Photo Disclosure Occurs Before DOJ Deadline

The committee has many thousands of photos in its custody from the Epstein estate, which are "at once disturbing and mundane," its statement on recently clarified.

The House Oversight Committee 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, in August.

The images and records the Epstein estate gave to the committee are distinct from what is largely termed "the Epstein files". Those are records under the justice department's possession associated with its separate probe into Epstein.

In accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Donald Trump enacted in November, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to disclose its files. The full nature of what is found in the DOJ's files is not publicly known, and it's expected that a significant portion of the information will be heavily redacted, comparable to the committee's releases