The US Department of Justice is to release the so-called Epstein files by Friday, December 19th at the latest. A nearly unanimous Congress ruled in November that this should happen within 30 days.
It is a vast body of material that has been developed over decades of investigations into widespread abuse, sex trafficking and prostitution. The first complaint against Jeffrey Epstein was filed in 1996.
US President Donald Trump, who once hung out with Jeffrey Epstein, said during last year's election campaign that he was prepared to go public with everything. But when his administration took office, it worked hard to prevent it – at least until the political pressure became too great.
Fuzzy loopholes
In all, more than 1,000 victims of various crimes are reported to have been involved in the investigations. A long line of women have come forward and told how they were abused as young teenagers and offered as sex slaves to Epstein's powerful acquaintances.
The requirement is that as much of the material as possible should be made available to the public – regardless of whether it is politically sensitive.
But there are exceptions where things can remain secret. Partly if the material identifies the victims of crimes or shows abuse and violence. Partly if it is considered to risk US national security – or could affect ongoing investigations.
Now they will probably use the "It's an ongoing investigation" card to omit material, journalist Julie K Brown, whose articles in the Miami Herald led to the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein in 2018, told CNN .
Any clues left?
In February, Donald Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had a list of Jeffrey Epstein's "clients," but then she swung around and said there is no such list.
New names and loose ends may appear in the material: tips, reports and testimonies that have not been able to be taken forward for prosecution, or settlements and agreements that have so far been kept secret.
Photos released this year show Donald Trump with Epstein in various contexts. Former President Bill Clinton is also seen posing with him. Both presidents have left intimate messages in a book Epstein received on his 50th birthday in 2003.
Trump has said he cut ties with Epstein in the mid-2000s. Epstein – who was fond of touting and often exaggerating his influence and connections – claimed in a 2018 email exchange that he was “the only one who could bring him down.”
An investigation into businessman Jeffrey Epstein began in 2005 after a 14-year-old girl told police she had been molested by him at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The investigation grew, and in 2007 he was indicted in federal court, but received a relatively light sentence for sex trafficking in a plea bargain with prosecutors.
In 2018, the cases were brought to light again when several women came forward and accused Epstein of sexual assault. The following year, he was arrested and charged with assaulting dozens of underage girls. He denied the charges. According to the prosecution, Epstein had tried to buy the silence of witnesses with millions of dollars.
On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was found lifeless in his Manhattan jail cell. He was declared dead and is believed to have taken his own life, which is being questioned in some quarters.
Jeffrey Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2022 of human trafficking, including for bringing victims to Epstein for him to commit abuse.
The two had built a large social circle with famous, powerful and wealthy people.
Plaintiff Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, worked as a teenager at Donald Trump's Florida spa when she was hired as Epstein's private masseuse. There, she said she was exploited as a "sex slave" by, among others, Britain's then-Prince Andrew. They reached a civil settlement in which he paid Giuffre a million dollars, but criticism persisted and last fall the prince was stripped of his title.
