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Oversight Panel

The House investigative committee has published a collection of around 70 photos obtained from the property of former found guilty sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the latest in a series of disclosure from a cache of more than 95,000 photographs the panel has secured from Epstein's holdings. It includes pictures of passages from the book Lolita written across a woman's body, and redacted photos of women's foreign passports.

This disclosure occurs just hours before the December 19th deadline for the Department of Justice to release all documents related to its investigation into Epstein.

"These new images raise further queries about exactly what the DOJ has in its possession," said the ranking member of the panel, Robert Garcia.

Contents in the Photos Disclosed

Some of the photos released on this week show Epstein conversing with academic and activist Noam Chomsky on a private jet; Bill Gates seen next to a individual whose identity is redacted; Steve Bannon sitting at a desk facing Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Investigative Body

These are the most recent wealthy, influential men to be seen in Epstein property images disclosed by the committee - formerly published photos also include US President Donald Trump and ex-president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, ex- US treasury secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and others.

Appearing in the photographs is not evidence of any wrongdoing, and several of the pictured individuals have asserted they were in no way participating in Epstein's criminal activity.

In a statement issued alongside the photo release, Democratic members on the US House Oversight Committee said the Epstein estate's representatives did not supply background information or timings for the images.

"Photos were picked to furnish the American people with clarity into a illustrative selection of the images received from the holdings, and to provide perspectives into Epstein's circle and his profoundly disturbing actions," the release reads.

Investigative Body

The disclosure also includes a number of images of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov literary work Lolita inscribed in dark ink across various areas of a female's body, such as her torso, foot, hip, and back. Lolita narrates the story of a minor who was exploited by a adult literature professor.

An example of a excerpt from the novel scrawled across a woman's upper body reads, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue traveling of three steps down the roof of the mouth to alight, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a collection of images of women's travel documents and ID papers from countries worldwide, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

The majority of the data on the documents, including names and DOBs, is obscured but the panel said in a press release that the passports are associated with "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were engaging".

Another photograph shows Epstein sitting at a desk closely surrounded by three female figures whose features have been obscured - one has her hand on Epstein's upper body under his clothing, and another is leaning to look at a nearby device. Epstein appears to be aiding the third attach a wristband.

Committee

Another photograph made public is a screenshot of SMS messages from an unknown sender who states they have been supplied "a number of girls" and are requesting "$one thousand dollars for each individual".

Image Publication Comes Before DOJ Deadline

The committee has many thousands of photographs in its holdings from the Epstein holdings, which are "at once disturbing and ordinary," its press release on recently explained.

The oversight panel first issued a subpoena to the property of Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on charges of sex trafficking, in August.

The photographs and files the Epstein estate's representatives submitted to the committee are different than what is often called "the Epstein files". Those are papers under the DOJ's control associated with its separate probe into Epstein.

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the President signed into law last month, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to disclose its files. The extent of the contents contained in the DOJ's files is unclear, and it's probable that a significant portion of the information will be extensively censored, akin to Congressional documents