Here’s What’s in the DOJ’s Epstein File Release—and What’s Missing

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The United States Department of Justice on Friday published the first of an unknown number of releases of documents related to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The nearly 4,000 files contain a hodgepodge of photos, handwritten notes, and more. What they do not contain are any clear revelations about who else may be criminally implicated in Epstein’s abuse network.

Released in four volumes, the 3,951 documents the DOJ included in Friday’s release represent only a fraction of the files the department is required to release under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Democratic lawmakers scolded the DOJ for withholding large portions of its archive, accusing the department of failing to comply with the law’s disclosure mandate.

The documents the Justice Department did release contain hundreds of images of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend and convicted accomplice in a yearslong sex trafficking operation, along with other associates, celebrities, and politicians. Despite long-standing scrutiny of Donald Trump’s social ties to Epstein, the president appears only sporadically in the initial release of material—for instance, in a framed photo on top of a dresser showing him and Melania Trump with Epstein.

It is currently unclear when the DOJ will release additional documents or what will be included in any subsequent releases. CNN has reported on frustrations within the DOJ over the allegedly vague guidance lawyers responsible for redacting the material were given, while Fox News has reported that the same standards used to protect victims were applied to “politically exposed individuals and government officials.” For now, here’s a rundown of what you’ll find in the DOJ’s December 19 trove.

Volume 1

The first batch of documents the DOJ released contains 3,158 images of the inside of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and Virgin Islands compound. These include several photographs of a painting of Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress and red high heels mounted next to a framed, handwritten letter, the author of which can’t be made out. There are also dozens of photos of Epstein with women and, in at least two cases, what appear to be babies; their faces are redacted.

One photo is of a binder marked Black Family Trustee Meeting November 21, 2014; another appears to be of a Bank of America statement from 2011 for an account purportedly bearing the names of financier Leon Black as well as his wife Debra Black and a former employee. (Another set of images shows a note signed by a person with the same first name as the former employee along with a ledger of expenses from late 2011 into early 2012.) Other noteworthy documentation relates to Epstein’s placement on a sex offenders registry and a 2019 note from the acting US attorney for the US Virgin Islands informing him that he would need to comply with certain travel restrictions despite previous “provisions.”

The redactions are inconsistent. In a handwritten note to Epstein, a signature is redacted, while in another image of that same note, the name “Kathe” is visible. A calligraphed note, seemingly written by a young woman and thanking Epstein for taking her and her sister on several “adventures,” has the signature redacted, but an envelope in a similar hand bears the name of the sender.

Much of the imagery is familiar from previous releases, and includes things like a photo of a stuffed tiger, a photo of a framed Times of London cover of Princess Diana placed at the back of a closet, photos of the many paintings of nude women in Epstein’s townhouse, and framed photos of Epstein associates like Trump and Woody Allen.

Volume 2

The second volume contains 574 photos and one four-second video. Many of the photos feature Epstein and Maxwell in various locations. Several celebrities and politicians also appear in the photos, including actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, singer Michael Jackson, and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards—none of whom appear in suspicious or compromising positions.

However, Bill Clinton appears multiple times in the second batch of images. In one photo, he is shirtless in a pool with a woman whose identity has been redacted; a photo that appears to have been taken at the same location shows Clinton and Maxwell in the pool. Clinton also appears in multiple photos with women whose identities have been redacted.

Clinton took four trips with Epstein in 2002 and 2003, including a humanitarian trip to Africa and London. During a portion of that trip, he was accompanied by Tucker and Spacey, according to The New York Times.

(Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña released a statement reading, in part, “They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton.”)

Dozens of photos feature Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agent and close friend of Epstein’s. The photos show Brunel with Epstein and Maxwell in multiple locations, as well as aboard what appears to be Epstein’s infamous private jet. In several images, Maxwell is seen massaging Brunel’s feet and sticking one foot between her breasts.

Brunel was arrested by French authorities in 2020 as part of a sex trafficking and sexual assault investigation into Epstein, and charged with rape of minors over 15 and sexual harassment. Brunel denied any wrongdoing. In 2022, Brunel was found dead, hanged in his jail cell.

Volume 3

The third volume contains several hundred photos. One of those, which appears to have been framed, shows a man who appears to be Prince Andrew posing on his side on the laps of at least four women, whose faces are all redacted. A smiling Maxwell, and a woman whose face is redacted, stand in the background.

Many of the photos, however, may have been printed out as they appeared in digital storage, since the individual photo names, the file extensions, and album names are all visible. Many images with those markers include Clinton, and several were seemingly taken on a group vacation to Thailand that Clinton is alleged to have taken with Epstein and Maxwell. Clinton also joined the couple for at least one leg of a multiple-destination vacation that stopped in China, Paris, and Stockholm, another that stopped in New York, Los Angeles, and London, another trip to Africa and London, and another trip to Morocco. In one photo, Clinton is shown with a woman, whose face is redacted, sitting on Clinton’s lap.

Many photos show the faces of individuals that are unredacted but not clearly discernible, and several appear to have been taken on one of Epstein's group vacations with Clinton.

Several of the photos were attached to written notes from an interview with a woman who described being assaulted by Epstein several times when she was a minor, and who seemingly provided those photos to investigators. One photo shows a middle-aged man, whose face is redacted in some but not all photos, on a trip to what a woman told investigators was Disney World with Epstein and a young child. In one of the photos, the two men pose with the young child and an actor dressed as Piglet. The woman told investigators that she didn’t know who the man was, but that she had taken the photos.

One PDF shows what appears to be a scrapbook commemorating an anniversary of some kind in September 2007. The scrapbook features Epstein posing in several photos with a woman whose face is redacted. The first page includes several photos of a girl or young woman and handwritten text reading, “Once upon a time… …there was a clueless little girl…” The second page shows cut-out photos arranged so that it looks as if Epstein is ogling the young woman adjusting her athletic wear. Consequent pages seem to convey that the girl eventually began traveling around the world with Epstein to at least four countries and territories, and spent at least one Christmas with him. A few pages show Epstein smiling with a clay or mud mask on his face, alongside jokes about fighting and later making amends.

Throughout the files, law enforcement included blue papers claiming that one or several photos were not scanned because they contained what investigators labeled as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). However, several of the photos that were ultimately scanned include individuals who are either nude or slightly clothed, with certain portions of the images redacted. Other photos appear to show physical objects that were cataloged by investigators, including sex toys and the DVD cases of commercial pornographic videos.

Volume 4

A fourth batch of records contains a mix of evidence inventories, retail records, and heavily redacted notes detailing what authorities collected during the investigation. They show that police logged and photographed numerous physical items from Epstein's Palm Beach residence, including a green massage table, framed photographs, and multiple adult novelty products such as vibrators and “sexy” soaps. Retail receipts document purchases from adult video stores, while Amazon order confirmations show shipments of BDSM-themed books, with titles focused on sexual dominance, submission, and erotic “training.”

The same batch also underscores the scope of evidence that exists but remains unreleased. Numerous entries are marked “ITEM WAS NOT SCANNED,” covering VHS tapes, microcassettes, MiniDV tapes, CDs, and DVDs, with some labeled as interviews, statements, voicemail messages, and other digital recordings. Other documents explicitly note the existence of what investigators say is CSAM within the case files, flagged but withheld from release.

Another document contains an early complaint alleging that Epstein possessed photographs of nude minors taken by a woman—who described them as artistic works—after she reported that he obtained the images and their negatives without her consent. The allegation, an apparent reference to a 1996 complaint famously ignored by the FBI, is presented as an unadjudicated claim documented during the initial stages of the investigation.

The batch also includes travel-related records ranging from commercial itineraries and hotel bookings to logs of repeated private-jet movements between hubs such as Teterboro, Palm Beach, and the US Virgin Islands, with recorded stops in France, Morocco, and Canada. Separate entries document international crossings through New York airports to destinations including Istanbul, Rome, Sao Paulo, Lisbon, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen, and Cancun, without identifying companions or purpose. The travel records in the documents appear to span September 2005 through 2018.

WIRED is continuing to review the newly released records and will report further findings as additional material is examined and verified.

Additional reporting by Tim Marchman, Andrew Couts, and Matt Giles.