The Division of Justice stated in a new court filing Monday evening that there are greater than 2 million paperwork “probably responsive” to the Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act which are presently in numerous phases of overview.
Federal prosecutors stated that “within the subsequent few weeks forward” about 400 division attorneys in Washington, D.C., New York and Florida “will dedicate all or a considerable portion of their workday to the Division’s efforts to adjust to the Act.”
The hassle will faucet DOJ legal professionals from the Felony and Nationwide Safety Divisions and also will embody help from greater than 100 FBI analysts skilled with dealing with delicate sufferer supplies, in keeping with the letter from Jay Clayton, the U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York, to U.S. District Choose Paul Engelmayer.
“Lots of the attorneys devoted to this overview from the Division have expertise in victim-privacy associated issues, which is critical given the character of the supplies and the varieties of paperwork that require cautious redaction,” Clayton wrote. “Whereas the dedication of Division personnel to this effort has been substantial in breadth and spectacular in effort, substantial work stays to be finished.”
FILE – Audrey Strauss, appearing U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York, factors to a photograph of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, throughout a information convention in New York on July 2, 2020.
John Minchillo/AP
The letter doesn’t point out a complete web page depend for the tens of millions of data beneath overview and gives no particular timeframe for when the DOJ expects to finish the work or when to anticipate its subsequent public disclosure. The deadline set by Congress for the discharge of all of the Epstein-related investigative recordsdata was Dec. 19.
So far, the DOJ says it has posted to its “DOJ Epstein Library” 12,285 paperwork totaling about 125,000 pages.
The submitting from the DOJ follows ABC News‘ reporting final week that the DOJ had just lately recognized over 5 million data which may be topic to disclosure beneath the regulation.
In a footnote to the courtroom submitting Monday, the DOJ signifies that it expects {that a} “significant portion” of about 1 million newly recognized FBI data could also be duplicative of others already collected by the DOJ for overview, however these paperwork “nonetheless nonetheless have to bear a strategy of processing and deduplication.”
Clayton’s Monday letter additionally notes that the DOJ has obtained “dozens” of inquiries from alleged victims and their representatives requesting that supplies already posted to the DOJ’s web site be additional redacted to guard the privateness pursuits of the victims.
The DOJ might be modifying its procedures going ahead “to raised make sure the safety of sufferer figuring out data,” in keeping with the courtroom submitting.
“The Division stays dedicated to offering as a lot safety to the privateness pursuits of victims and their kin as is practicable,” the letter states.
