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Investigative Body

The Congressional oversight panel has made public a collection of approximately 70 photographs from the estate of former adjudicated sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This represents the third such release from a larger collection of over 95,000 photographs the committee has secured from Epstein's estate. It contains photographs of quotes from the book Lolita written across a woman's body, and censored photos of women's international passports.

This release comes hours before the 19th of December cut-off for the DOJ to disclose each files related to its investigation into Epstein.

"These latest photos pose further questions about precisely what the DOJ has in its possession," stated the Democratic lead of the committee, Robert Garcia.

Contents in the Photographs Disclosed

Some of the photos released on this week depict Epstein conversing with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky aboard a private plane; Bill Gates positioned next to a female whose features is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a table across from Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Investigative Body

These are the newest high-net-worth, influential individuals to be pictured in Epstein estate photos published by the oversight panel - formerly published photos also show US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, ex- US treasury secretary Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and others.

Being pictured in the photos is does not constitute evidence of any wrongdoing, and a number of the photographed men have stated they were not participating in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a press release issued alongside the photo publication, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee stated the Epstein estate did not provide explanatory details or timings for the images.

"Photographs were chosen to furnish the public with openness into a typical cross-section of the photographs acquired from the property, and to give insights into Epstein's network and his exceptionally disturbing activities," the announcement reads.

Committee

The release also includes several images of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita penned in black ink across several locations of a female's body, such as her torso, foot, hip, and rear. Lolita tells the account of a minor who was groomed by a older literature professor.

An example of a quote from the book scrawled across a female's chest states, "Lolita: the end of the tongue making a journey of three steps down the mouth to alight, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a collection of photographs of women's passports and identification documents from nations around the world, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

A large portion of the data on the papers, like names and DOBs, is obscured but the panel said in a announcement that the travel documents belong to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were interacting with".

An additional image features Epstein sitting at a table in close proximity flanked by three female figures whose faces have been censored - a first has her palm on Epstein's chest under his clothing, and another individual is crouching to examine a nearby device. Epstein can be seen to be helping the third individual attach a wristband.

Committee

A further photo made public is a image of text messages from an unidentified sender who states they have been provided "several females" and are asking for "$$1,000 for each individual".

Photo Release Comes Before DOJ Deadline

The body has many thousands of photos in its possession from the Epstein estate, which are "both explicit and mundane," its statement on this week clarified.

The Congressional committee first legally compelled the property of Epstein, who passed away in a New York jail in 2019 while facing trial on accusations of human trafficking, in August.

The photographs and files the Epstein property provided to the committee are separate from what is often termed "the Epstein files". Those are records under the justice department's control associated with its own probe into Epstein.

Under the Transparency Act, which Donald Trump made law recently, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to publish its files. The scope of the contents found in the DOJ's files is unclear, and it's probable that a large amount of the content will be heavily censored, akin to House Oversight Committee materials