Staff Reports
A federal judge has mandated the redaction of photos that were unintentionally disclosed in publicly released records associated with the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. These images reportedly depicted girls and young women posing on Epstein's notorious Caribbean island. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska has directed the Clerk of the Court to remove the docket entry containing the images and to re-file the document after redaction.
Taken in 2006 on Epstein's Little St. James Island, the photos were provided to the court by Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome. One image features Ransome draped in a white towel, which was shared on social media. The pictures also include Epstein's sex crime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and his associate Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling scout who was discovered dead in a Parisian prison cell after being charged with raping underage girls.
Judge Orders Deletion After Epstein Images That 'Should Have Been Redacted' Are 'Inadvertently' Released via @WestJournalism https://t.co/lbvdr5RfI9
— RONALD L. McGINLEY (@macfhion) January 10, 2024
Ransome, now 37, testified in Maxwell's criminal case, describing her time on Epstein's island as a "sexual hell" that she couldn't escape. She submitted the photos to the court in 2015 as part of a lawsuit against Maxwell brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Giuffre's attorney asserted that the photos established Maxwell's presence on the island during the relevant period.
In the previous month, Judge Preska ordered the release of a substantial volume of documents from the case. These documents and testimonies continue to reveal the disturbing activities that transpired on Epstein's island and the role of Maxwell in facilitating these actions. Epstein himself died in federal custody in 2019 while facing charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. The unfolding case continues to expose the full extent of his depravity and the complicity of individuals in his crimes.
