Epstein files released LIVE updates: US Justice Department makes records on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein public

The long-running furore over the so-called Epstein files is expected to reach new heights after a judge ruled that a tranche of documents previously kept secret be unsealed. The documents are expected to offer more insights into the federal investigations into deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator and occasional lover, Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein died in jail before he could be tried. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year jail term for child sex trafficking.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in an undated photo released by the US District Attorney’s Office.Credit: US District Attorney’s Office

US President Donald Trump has been in an awkward position over the Epstein files for the better part of his second term in the presidency. He has called the files boring, a hoax and “something nobody cares about” and denied he had contributed to the so-called “Birthday Book” presented to Epstein on his 50th birthday. Ultimately, though, both Democrats and Republicans have agreed that many of the files should be unsealed.

“The questions on everyone’s minds, I think, are whether high-powered men took part in the abuse or helped to cover it up,” Holly Baltz, investigative editor at The Palm Beach Post, one of the Florida newspapers responsible for surfacing many of the Epstein revelations alongside the Miami Herald, told us in August. “They also want to know whether the government buried information in order to protect them.”

Here is what might be revealed.

There are a number of ways in which the US government might block certain documents, or particular details, from being released.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the Department of Justice to publish – in searchable and downloadable form – “all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in [its] possession” relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein.

Specifically, that is to include:

• Materials related to Ghislaine Maxwell;
• Flight logs and travel records;
• Individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Epstein.

US Attorney-General Pam Bondi was last month ordered by President Donald Trump to open investigations into Jeffrey Epstein’s links with prominent Democrats.Credit: Bloomberg

So, one way to prevent a document from being released would be to classify it. Beyond that, the act also allows the DoJ to withhold or redact information such as the personal information of victims, or material that would jeopardise an active federal investigation.

On that point, it’s worth noting that Trump last month ordered his attorney-general, Pam Bondi, to open investigations into Epstein’s links with prominent Democrats such as former president Bill Clinton, former treasury secretary Larry Summers and entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, as well as the bank JPMorgan Chase.

The documents being released today stem from a Department of Justice/FBI investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, his alleged sex-trafficking crimes and his associates.

By virtue of Epstein’s high-profile and celebrity friends, it has long been suggested that the files might implicate well-known people, both in the United States and abroad.

The theory was particularly prominent among some of Donald Trump’s supporters, who speculated that Democrats such as former president Bill Clinton may be caught up. (Clinton was friends with Epstein but later cut ties, and says he knew nothing about the financier’s crimes.)

Ghislaine Maxwell (left) and Jeffrey Epstein with then-president Bill Clinton at the White House in 1993. Credit: The William J. Clinton Presidential Library 

Indeed, some of Trump’s fans fully embrace the QAnon conspiracy theory that the world is run by a secret network of paedophiles.

That’s why so many MAGA enthusiasts were outraged when Trump’s FBI and Department of Justice said in July that no more Epstein files would be released. Democrats theorised that Trump – who used to be good friends with Epstein – was trying to hide something, and insisted all the files should be made public.

Donald Trump with Epstein and an unnamed woman.Credit: @OversightDems/X

They found a groundswell of support among Republicans, many of whom have constituents who want the files to be released.

Last month – delayed by the US government shutdown – that drumbeat became irrepressible, and Trump authorised Republicans to vote for a bill to compel the files’ release. He signed the bill into law immediately.

The bill included a 30-day deadline for the Department of Justice to act. That deadline ends now.

Hello and welcome to our live blog of the release of the so-called Epstein files.

I’m Michael Koziol, this masthead’s US North America correspondent, and I’ll be here to take you through the US Justice Department’s unsealing of unclassified records relating to the investigation and prosecution of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Thousands of pages are likely to be released, along with a lot of material that has already been made public. Thanks for your company.