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Investigative Body

The Congressional oversight panel has made public a collection of around 70 images secured from the holdings of former convicted individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This represents the third such disclosure from a larger collection of in excess of 95,000 images the panel has acquired from Epstein's property. It contains images of excerpts from the literary work Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and censored images of female overseas passports.

This release occurs just hours before the December 19th cut-off for the DOJ to disclose all records connected to its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new images raise additional questions about precisely what the Department of Justice has in its possession," stated the senior Democrat of the panel, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photos Made Public

Several of the images published on Thursday show Epstein conversing with professor and activist Noam Chomsky inside a personal aircraft; Bill Gates positioned next to a female whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a workstation facing Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Committee

These are the latest high-net-worth, influential individuals to be pictured in Epstein property photographs released by the oversight panel - earlier released photos also depict US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, ex- US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and additional individuals.

Showing up in the photographs is not evidence of any illegal activity, and several of the featured figures have asserted they were not participating in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a press release released with the image release, Democratic members on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate's representatives did not supply context or dates for the pictures.

"Photographs were picked to provide the public with clarity into a representative sample of the photos acquired from the holdings, and to provide insights into Epstein's network and his extremely disturbing behavior," the release says.

Committee

The release also contains several photos of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita penned in ink across various areas of a female's body, like her torso, feet, hipbone, and back. Lolita recounts the tale of a minor who was exploited by a adult literature professor.

An example of a passage from the work scrawled across a female's torso says, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the roof of the mouth to land, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a series of photos of women's passports and identification documents from countries globally, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

The majority of the information on the papers, like names and birth dates, is redacted but the committee indicated in a statement that the passports are associated with "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his conspirators were engaging".

A further photo shows Epstein seated at a table closely flanked by three women whose features have been obscured - a first has her hand on Epstein's upper body under his garment, and another is bending to examine a close-by computer. Epstein can be seen to be assisting the third individual put on a piece of jewelry.

Committee

An additional image disclosed is a screenshot of digital messages from an unnamed individual who states they have been supplied "some girls" and are requesting "$$1,000 per female".

Photograph Disclosure Arrives Ahead of DOJ Cut-off

The committee has many thousands of photos in its possession from the Epstein estate, which are "at once explicit and everyday," its press release on Thursday explained.

The oversight panel first issued a subpoena to the property of Epstein, who passed away in a New York prison in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on charges of human trafficking, in August.

The photographs and documents the Epstein estate provided to the panel are distinct from what is commonly called "the Epstein documents". Those files are papers under the DOJ's possession connected to its own investigation into Epstein.

Under the Transparency Act, which the President signed into law in November, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to disclose its documents. The full nature of what is contained in the DOJ's files is unclear, and it's likely that much of the content will be extensively censored, comparable to House Oversight Committee materials