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Committee

The Congressional oversight panel has released a collection of roughly 70 photographs obtained from the property of former convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This represents the third such publication from a larger collection of more than 95,000 photos the panel has secured from Epstein's holdings. It contains images of passages from the book Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and censored images of female international passports.

This disclosure arrives just hours before the 19th of December deadline for the Department of Justice to release each files related to its investigation into Epstein.

"These photographs pose further questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its custody," stated the senior Democrat of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photos Released

Some of the photographs made public on recently feature Epstein in discussion with academic and activist Noam Chomsky inside a private plane; Bill Gates seen beside a woman whose identity is censored; Steve Bannon seated at a desk opposite Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Committee

These are the latest high-net-worth, influential individuals to be pictured in Epstein's estate images published by the House Oversight Committee - formerly published photos also show US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and additional individuals.

Appearing in the images is is not considered proof of any wrongdoing, and several of the photographed figures have stated they were in no way participating in Epstein's illegal activity.

In a announcement accompanying the image release, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate's representatives did not offer background information or timeframes for the photographs.

"Photos were picked to furnish the general populace with openness into a representative sample of the photographs acquired from the estate, and to offer understanding into Epstein's associates and his exceptionally disturbing actions," the announcement reads.

Oversight Panel

The disclosure also includes a number of photos of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita written in ink across various areas of a female's body, including her upper body, feet, hipbone, and back. Lolita recounts the story of a adolescent who was exploited by a middle-aged literature professor.

A particular excerpt from the work scrawled across a female's chest reads, "Lo-lee-ta: the end of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the roof of the mouth to land, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a number of photos of women's identification and official papers from states around the world, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

Most of the data on the papers, including names and birth dates, is obscured but the panel stated in a press release that the passports belong to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his conspirators were involved with".

An additional photo features Epstein sitting at a desk in close proximity in the company of three female figures whose faces have been censored - one individual has her hand on Epstein's upper body under his garment, and another individual is bending to look at a adjacent laptop. Epstein can be seen to be helping the third fasten a bracelet.

Investigative Body

A further photograph made public is a screenshot of SMS messages from an unidentified sender who says they have been sent "several females" and are demanding "$$1,000 per female".

Photograph Disclosure Occurs Ahead of DOJ Due Date

The panel has thousands of photographs in its custody from the Epstein property, which are "at once disturbing and ordinary," its press release on Thursday clarified.

The House Oversight Committee first legally compelled the holdings of Epstein, who passed away in a New York correctional facility in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on charges of sex trafficking, in August.

The photographs and files the Epstein property gave to the body are distinct from what is often termed "the Epstein documents". Those are records under the DOJ's control related to its separate probe into Epstein.

In accordance with the Transparency Act, which the President signed into law in November, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to disclose its records. The extent of what's contained in the DOJ's documents is not publicly known, and it's probable that a large amount of the material will be significantly obscured, comparable to Congressional documents