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Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has made public a set of around 70 photographs from the estate of deceased convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third disclosure from a tranche of more than 95,000 photographs the body has acquired from Epstein's estate. It features photographs of passages from the book Lolita inscribed across a female's body, and censored images of women's overseas passports.

This disclosure comes just hours before the December 19th deadline for the DOJ to make public each documents related to its inquiry into Epstein.

"These photos bring up further questions about precisely what the Department of Justice has in its custody," stated the ranking member of the panel, Robert Garcia.

What is in the Images Disclosed

A number of the images published on Thursday feature Epstein in discussion with academic and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a personal aircraft; Bill Gates standing beside a female whose face is redacted; Steve Bannon sitting at a table across from Epstein, and previous Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Investigative Body

These are the most recent affluent, influential men to be pictured in Epstein's estate images disclosed by the oversight panel - formerly published images also show US President Donald Trump and ex-president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, ex- US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and others.

Appearing in the images is does not constitute indication of any wrongdoing, and many of the photographed men have said they were not involved in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a statement released with the photograph publication, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee said the Epstein estate's representatives did not provide context or timeframes for the photographs.

"Images were picked to furnish the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos received from the holdings, and to provide insights into Epstein's associates and his extremely disturbing behavior," the statement says.

Investigative Body

The disclosure also features several images of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita inscribed in black ink across various areas of a female's body, including her chest, foot, hipbone, and rear. Lolita recounts the story of a adolescent who was exploited by a middle-aged literature professor.

A particular quote from the book inscribed across a female's torso states, "Lolita's name: the point of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the roof of the mouth to land, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a series of photographs of female passports and identification documents from nations worldwide, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

A large portion of the information on the papers, including names and DOBs, is censored but the House Oversight Committee said in a statement that the passports belong to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

A further photo depicts Epstein seated at a workstation intimately surrounded by three individuals whose features have been censored - one has her palm on Epstein's upper body under his clothing, and a second is bending to look at a adjacent device. Epstein can be seen to be helping the third individual attach a piece of jewelry.

Investigative Body

Another photo released is a capture of digital messages from an unknown person who states they have been provided "a number of girls" and are demanding "$one thousand dollars for each individual".

Image Publication Comes Ahead of DOJ Cut-off

The panel has a vast number of photographs in its custody from the Epstein property, which are "at once graphic and mundane," its announcement on Thursday noted.

The Congressional committee first issued a subpoena to the property of Epstein, who passed away in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of human trafficking, in August.

The photos and records the Epstein estate gave to the body are distinct from what is often termed "the Epstein documents". Those files are papers in the DOJ's possession related to its own inquiry into Epstein.

Under the Transparency Act, which Donald Trump signed into law in November, the DOJ has until 19 December to publish its documents. The full nature of what is included in the DOJ's documents is not publicly known, and it's probable that a large amount of the material will be significantly redacted, akin to House Oversight Committee releases