Documents commonly referred to as the “Epstein files” can be accessed online through official court records and reputable media platforms.
These files include unsealed court documents, depositions, exhibits and filings related to cases involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Many of the documents were released as part of US civil litigation, including cases linked to Epstein’s former associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The files that have been disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act are available on the Justice Department’s website, broken into different data sets. Many of the files are photos, not text documents.
Who else have the copies?
Several international media organisations, including the BBC, The Guardian and The New York Times, have also published copies of key documents or provided searchable databases alongside legal context and explanations.
Background
Epstein was investigated by local police in Florida and federal prosecutors starting in the mid-2000s. That probe ended with a controversial 2007 deal in which federal prosecutors in Miami agreed not to charge him, in exchange for a guilty plea on prostitution charges in state court.
More than a decade later, Epstein was charged in New York federal court with abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls. Maxwell was charged with sex trafficking conspiracy the following year, and was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Files from several other probes could be made public. The government has investigated the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019, officially ruled a suicide. And it has investigated Miami prosecutors’ decision to cut a non-prosecution deal.
