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Investigative Body

The House Oversight Committee has published a batch of approximately 70 images secured from the holdings of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This represents the third publication from a tranche of over 95,000 images the panel has secured from Epstein's holdings. It contains photographs of excerpts from the literary work Lolita inscribed across a female's body, and redacted photos of female overseas passports.

This disclosure arrives hours before the 19 December deadline for the Department of Justice to disclose each records related to its inquiry into Epstein.

"These latest images bring up additional inquiries about precisely what the Justice Department has in its holdings," remarked the Democratic lead of the panel, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Images Disclosed

A number of the photographs released on recently feature Epstein in discussion with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky aboard a private jet; Bill Gates standing next to a female whose features is obscured; Steve Bannon sitting at a workstation across from Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Committee

These are the most recent high-net-worth, powerful men to be pictured in Epstein estate photographs disclosed by the oversight panel - earlier disclosed images also include US President Donald Trump and ex-president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, ex- US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the photographs is does not constitute indication of any misconduct, and a number of the featured figures have asserted they were in no way implicated in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a announcement released with the photo publication, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee stated the Epstein estate's representatives did not provide context or timeframes for the images.

"Photos were selected to furnish the general populace with clarity into a illustrative selection of the photos received from the property, and to offer understanding into Epstein's associates and his extremely alarming actions," the release says.

Investigative Body

The publication also features multiple photos of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita written in black ink across various areas of a woman's body, including her upper body, foot, hipbone, and rear. Lolita recounts the account of a minor who was manipulated by a adult literature professor.

A particular passage from the book written across a woman's torso says, "Lolita: the tip of the tongue traveling of three steps down the roof of the mouth to tap, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a series of images of women's travel documents and official papers from states globally, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

The majority of the details on the IDs, such as names and dates of birth, is redacted but the panel stated in a press release that the travel documents belong to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were interacting with".

An additional photo depicts Epstein seated at a workstation intimately surrounded by three women whose faces have been obscured - one individual has her hand on Epstein's upper body under his clothing, and another individual is bending to examine a adjacent computer. Epstein seems to be assisting the third put on a wristband.

Investigative Body

Another image released is a capture of text messages from an unknown individual who states they have been provided "a number of girls" and are demanding "$one thousand dollars per female".

Image Disclosure Comes Ahead of DOJ Cut-off

The body has many thousands of images in its holdings from the Epstein estate, which are "at once disturbing and ordinary," its press release on this week explained.

The House Oversight Committee first subpoenaed the estate of Epstein, who passed away in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of sex trafficking crimes, in August.

The images and documents the Epstein property provided to the body are different than what is commonly termed "the Epstein files". Those files are records within the Department of Justice's control associated with its independent investigation into Epstein.

Under the Transparency Act, which President Trump made law last month, the DOJ has until 19 December to release its files. The scope of what is found in the DOJ's records is unclear, and it's expected that much of the material will be significantly censored, similar to the committee's materials