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Investigative Body

The Congressional oversight panel has published a collection of around 70 photographs obtained from the property of former found guilty individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third disclosure from a cache of more than 95,000 photos the body has obtained from Epstein's property. It features photographs of quotes from the book Lolita written across a female's body, and censored pictures of women's international passports.

This release occurs just hours before the 19th of December cut-off for the Justice Department to disclose all files related to its probe into Epstein.

"These latest photographs raise further queries about precisely what the DOJ has in its holdings," remarked the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photographs Disclosed

Several of the photos made public on this week show Epstein conversing with professor and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a personal aircraft; Bill Gates seen next to a woman whose face is censored; Steve Bannon seated at a desk across from Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Investigative Body

These are the most recent affluent, powerful individuals to be photographed in Epstein's estate images disclosed by the committee - formerly published photos also show US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, previous US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the photographs is does not constitute indication of any misconduct, and many of the featured individuals have stated they were never participating in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a statement issued alongside the image release, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate did not offer explanatory details or timings for the photographs.

"Photos were picked to offer the American people with transparency into a representative sample of the photographs received from the estate, and to offer perspectives into Epstein's associates and his extremely disturbing behavior," the release reads.

Oversight Panel

The release also features several photographs of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov literary work Lolita inscribed in ink across various areas of a female's body, like her torso, foot, pelvis, and rear. Lolita tells the story of a adolescent who was groomed by a older literature professor.

An example of a quote from the novel written across a woman's torso states, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue making a journey of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a number of photos of female passports and official papers from states worldwide, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

The majority of the details on the documents, including identities and dates of birth, is obscured but the House Oversight Committee stated in a announcement that the travel documents are associated with "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

A further photo depicts Epstein positioned at a desk in close proximity in the company of three female figures whose faces have been censored - a first has her hand on Epstein's torso under his garment, and a second is bending to look at a nearby computer. Epstein appears to be assisting the third individual put on a bracelet.

Committee

An additional photo released is a capture of text messages from an unknown individual who states they have been supplied "several females" and are demanding "$1000 for each individual".

Photograph Release Arrives Prior to DOJ Deadline

The body has a vast number of images in its custody from the Epstein estate, which are "at once graphic and everyday," its press release on this week clarified.

The oversight panel first legally compelled the holdings of Epstein, who died in a New York correctional facility in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on allegations of human trafficking, in August.

The photographs and records the Epstein property submitted to the panel are distinct from what is often referred to "Epstein-related records". Those files are papers in the justice department's custody connected to its separate investigation into Epstein.

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the President made law recently, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to disclose its files. The full nature of what's included in the DOJ's files is unclear, and it's likely that a large amount of the content will be significantly obscured, similar to Congressional materials