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Investigative Body

The Congressional oversight panel has published a collection of around 70 photos obtained from the property of deceased convicted individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third disclosure from a tranche of in excess of 95,000 images the panel has acquired from Epstein's holdings. It contains photographs of passages from the literary work Lolita written across a female's body, and censored photos of female international passports.

This disclosure occurs hours before the 19 December cut-off for the DOJ to make public all records connected to its probe into Epstein.

"These photos pose further queries about exactly what the Department of Justice has in its possession," said the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

Contents in the Photographs Released

Some of the photos made public on recently feature Epstein speaking with academic and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a personal aircraft; Bill Gates positioned beside a individual whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon sitting at a desk facing Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Investigative Body

These are the newest high-net-worth, prominent figures to be pictured in Epstein's estate images disclosed by the House Oversight Committee - formerly released pictures also show US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and others.

Appearing in the photographs is is not considered indication of any wrongdoing, and a number of the pictured figures have asserted they were never implicated in Epstein's unlawful actions.

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

"Images were chosen to furnish the public with clarity into a typical cross-section of the images acquired from the holdings, and to give understanding into Epstein's circle and his extremely alarming actions," the announcement states.

Committee

The disclosure also contains a number of photographs of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita written in ink across several locations of a female's body, including her upper body, feet, hipbone, and spine. Lolita recounts the account of a minor who was groomed by a older literature professor.

An example of a passage from the work scrawled across a woman's chest reads, "Lo-lee-ta: the end of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a number of images of women's passports and identification documents from states around the world, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

The majority of the details on the papers, such as identities and birth dates, is obscured but the committee stated in a announcement that the passports belong to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators were involved with".

A further photograph depicts Epstein positioned at a table closely flanked by three female figures whose features have been obscured - one individual has her palm on Epstein's torso under his shirt, and a second is crouching to look at a close-by device. Epstein seems to be aiding the final person attach a piece of jewelry.

Oversight Panel

An additional photo made public is a capture of SMS messages from an unidentified person who states they have been supplied "several females" and are demanding "$1000 per girl".

Image Release Arrives Prior to DOJ Deadline

The panel has thousands of images in its possession from the Epstein property, which are "both graphic and mundane," its press release on this week clarified.

The Congressional committee first issued a subpoena to the estate of Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of sex trafficking crimes, in August.

The photographs and records the Epstein estate's representatives submitted to the body are separate from what is often referred to "the Epstein files". Those files are papers within the justice department's possession related to its independent inquiry into Epstein.

Under the Transparency Act, which the President enacted in November, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to publish its documents. The scope of what is contained in the DOJ's records is unknown, and it's expected that much of the information will be heavily redacted, similar to Congressional releases