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Investigative Body

The House Oversight Committee has made public a set of roughly 70 photos secured from the holdings of late found guilty sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third release from a tranche of more than 95,000 photographs the committee has obtained from Epstein's property. It includes images of excerpts from the novel Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and obscured photos of female foreign passports.

This release occurs just hours before the 19 December due date for the DOJ to release each documents associated with its inquiry into Epstein.

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

What's in the Images Disclosed

Several of the photos published on this week show Epstein conversing with academic and activist Noam Chomsky inside a personal aircraft; Bill Gates standing next to a female whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a table across from Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Oversight Panel

These are the most recent high-net-worth, powerful men to be seen in Epstein estate photos released by the House Oversight Committee - earlier released pictures also include US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, ex- US treasury secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the photographs is does not constitute evidence of any illegal activity, and several of the photographed figures have said they were in no way participating in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a press release accompanying the photograph release, Democratic members on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate's representatives did not provide background information or dates for the photographs.

"Photos were picked to furnish the public with clarity into a illustrative selection of the photos obtained from the holdings, and to give understanding into Epstein's circle and his exceptionally disturbing activities," the statement says.

Oversight Panel

The disclosure also contains several images of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita written in dark ink across different parts of a female's body, like her torso, foot, hip, and spine. Lolita tells the account of a young girl who was manipulated by a adult literature professor.

A particular passage from the work written across a female's torso states, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a number of photos of female identification and identification documents from countries worldwide, including Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Investigative Body

Most of the information on the IDs, like names and birth dates, is censored but the panel stated in a statement that the passports belong to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

Another photo depicts Epstein positioned at a workstation in close proximity flanked by three female figures whose faces have been redacted - one has her hand on Epstein's torso under his shirt, and another individual is bending to look at a close-by device. Epstein seems to be aiding the final person fasten a bracelet.

Investigative Body

Another photo made public is a capture of text messages from an unidentified individual who claims they have been sent "a number of girls" and are asking for "$1000 per female".

Photo Disclosure Occurs Before DOJ Due Date

The committee has a vast number of photos in its holdings from the Epstein estate, which are "simultaneously disturbing and ordinary," its statement on recently noted.

The oversight panel first legally compelled the property of Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while facing trial on charges of human trafficking, in August.

The photographs and records the Epstein estate gave to the panel are distinct from what is commonly referred to "Epstein-related records". Those are papers within the justice department's custody related to its separate investigation into Epstein.

In accordance with the Transparency Act, which the President enacted in November, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to disclose its files. The scope of what's found in the DOJ's documents is unknown, and it's expected that much of the material will be heavily redacted, similar to House Oversight Committee documents