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Oversight Panel

The Congressional oversight panel has released a set of roughly 70 photographs from the estate of late found guilty individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third release from a larger collection of in excess of 95,000 photos the committee has secured from Epstein's property. It features pictures of passages from the literary work Lolita written across a female's body, and redacted photos of women's overseas passports.

This action comes just hours before the 19th of December due date for the Department of Justice to make public every records related to its investigation into Epstein.

"These latest images bring up additional queries about exactly what the Justice Department has in its possession," said the Democratic lead of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photos Disclosed

A number of the images released on Thursday depict Epstein speaking with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky on a personal aircraft; Bill Gates positioned beside a female whose face is obscured; Steve Bannon seated at a desk facing Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.

Committee

These are the most recent high-net-worth, powerful individuals to be pictured in Epstein property photographs released by the House Oversight Committee - previously disclosed images also show US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, ex- US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and others.

Being pictured in the images is does not constitute indication of any misconduct, and a number of the photographed figures have said they were not involved in Epstein's unlawful actions.

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

"Photos were picked to offer the American people with clarity into a typical cross-section of the photos received from the property, and to offer understanding into Epstein's circle and his profoundly disturbing behavior," the release reads.

Committee

The release also contains several photographs of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov literary work Lolita inscribed in ink across different parts of a woman's body, including her torso, foot, hip, and spine. Lolita narrates the story of a adolescent who was exploited by a adult literature professor.

One quote from the book scrawled across a woman's chest reads, "Lolita: the tip of the tongue traveling of three steps down the palate to alight, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a collection of images of female travel documents and ID papers from states globally, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

A large portion of the data on the papers, such as identities and DOBs, is redacted but the committee stated in a press release that the passports pertain to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

An additional photo shows Epstein sitting at a workstation in close proximity surrounded by three individuals whose identities have been censored - one has her hand on Epstein's upper body under his garment, and a second is leaning to look at a close-by computer. Epstein can be seen to be assisting the third fasten a bracelet.

Oversight Panel

An additional photograph made public is a capture of SMS messages from an unnamed sender who claims they have been sent "some girls" and are asking for "$$1,000 for each individual".

Image Release Arrives Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The body has many thousands of images in its custody from the Epstein property, which are "both disturbing and mundane," its statement on recently noted.

The House Oversight Committee first issued a subpoena to the holdings of Epstein, who was found dead in a New York correctional facility in 2019 while awaiting trial on allegations of sex trafficking crimes, in August.

The photos and documents the Epstein estate's representatives gave to the panel are different than what is often referred to "Epstein-related records". Those are documents within the DOJ's possession connected to its separate probe into Epstein.

In accordance with the recently passed law, which the President signed into law recently, the DOJ has until 19 December to disclose its records. The scope of the contents contained in the DOJ's documents is unclear, and it's probable that a large amount of the information will be significantly censored, similar to the committee's materials