A US federal judge will hear a request to block access to newly released Jeffrey Epstein files after lawyers said they exposed victims’ names.
WASHINGTON: A US federal judge will hear a request for an “immediate takedown” of investigative files linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday.
Lawyers for victims flagged that the latest document release contained unredacted names of alleged victims.
The Justice Department released more than three million files last week related to the investigation into the disgraced financier.
The department was left scrambling after names of alleged victims, who were supposed to be anonymised, were left unredacted.
In a letter to judges, lawyers Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards listed documents they said revealed victims’ names and personal details.
“There is no conceivable degree of institutional incompetence sufficient to explain the scale, consistency and persistence of the failures that occurred,” the lawyers wrote in their Sunday letter.
They requested the immediate takedown of the government website that published the files.
The lawyers also called for the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the release process.
District Judge Richard M. Berman said in a short order that he would hold a hearing on Wednesday.
He added, “I am not certain how helpful I can be.”
This was not the first issue raised over the latest pages, photos and videos from the Epstein case.
The Justice Department said on Sunday it was “working around the clock” to make further redactions after journalists found dozens of unredacted naked photos.
Those photos have since been largely removed or redacted.
The department had said this would be the final batch of files released.
US President Donald Trump, once a close friend of the deceased Epstein, fought for months to prevent the release of the files.
He caved to pressure from Congress and signed a law in November compelling publication of the materials.