Jan. 16 (UPI) — The Department of Justice has more than 500 people reviewing the Jeffrey Epstein files ahead of them being made publicly available in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The department on Thursday provided the U.S. District Court of Southern New York with an update on the its efforts to comply with the recently enacted law that required all files to be uploaded and made publicly available no later than Dec. 19.
“The department has made substantial progress and remains focused on releasing materials under the act promptly while protecting victim privacy, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney for Southern New York Jay Clayton jointly said in a letter to the federal court.
“Compliance with the act is a substantial undertaking, principally because, for a substantial number of documents, careful, manual review is necessary to ensure that victim-identifying information is redacted before materials are released,” they said.
The Justice Department officials called the effort “resource-intensive” and said they evaluate, supplement and modify the review process as needed to ensure the “appropriate rigor, care and integrity” are done.
The Justice Department was working with the victims and their attorneys to ensure “victim identifying information” is redacted and communicates internally every day to ensure the greatest efficiency and continued progress on making all files publicly available.
The department also is working to address technical issues and fix “inevitable glitches due to the sheer volume of materials,” Bondi, Blanche and Clayton said.
The Justice Department officials last updated the court on the process on Jan. 5 and said they were trying to “complete this review as expeditiously as possible.”
The department on Dec. 31 also reported it had assigned more than 400 attorneys to review about 5.2 million pages of files to ensure redactions are done to protect the identities of victims and witnesses and block any child sex abuse that the files might contain.
The review was anticipated to be completed by Tuesday after millions more pages were located and needed to undergo review and redactions.
Thursday’s Justice Department letter does not say whether all files are likely to be reviewed and uploaded by Tuesday or if more time will be needed.
Epstein was a convicted sex offender and financier who hanged himself while jailed in New York City in 2019 and awaiting federal trial on charges accusing him of child sex trafficking.
