On Friday, the US Department of Justice released the largest collection of Epstein files to date.Image: keystone
Last Friday, the US Department of Justice published the largest collection of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s files to date. Which prominent names appear and what will happen next in the Epstein case. An overview.
02/02/2026, 11:3102/02/2026, 1:35 p.m
What happened?
Three million pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos – that is the extent of the new Epstein files that were made publicly available on Friday.
Actually, all documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should have been published six weeks earlier, on December 19, 2025. Then a deadline ordered by the US Congress, which US President Donald Trump had approved, expired in order to put an end to the accusations and speculation.
Todd Blanche, assistant U.S. attorney general, called Friday’s release “the end of a very comprehensive process of identifying and reviewing documents to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with regulations.”
Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.Image: keystone
The White House “had nothing to do” with examining the documents that have now been released. Blanche explains:
“They had no oversight whatsoever and did not tell our agency how we should conduct the audit, what we should pay attention to and what we should or should not redact.”
What are the Epstein Files?
Jeffrey Epstein was a very rich American. The investment banker sexually abused girls and women for many years and also referred them to other influential men.
In 2019, Epstein died in a prison cell in New York, under circumstances that are not completely clear. The investigators spoke of suicide.
In 2025, the US government began publishing investigative files on the case. These Epstein files include photos, letters and witness statements. The sex offender’s victims have long been demanding publication. They say many people knew about the crimes. This all needs to be clarified.
Jeffrey Epstein also had many famous and powerful friends and acquaintances in politics, including former US President Bill Clinton and two-time US President Donald Trump.
During the campaign for the 2024 presidential election, Trump promised to publish the Epstein files. After his election, he was against it for a long time until public pressure continued to increase. So far only some of the documents have been published. And in these files, many text passages and photos have been blacked out.
The US Department of Justice says the redactions are intended to protect those affected. And the presumption of innocence applies.
Are there new revelations about Trump?
There are new clues and allegations about the connection between Trump and Epstein – but they are unconfirmed. Trump is said to have been mentioned in at least 4,500 of the documents that have now been published. One of them is a summary that FBI officials compiled last summer from more than a dozen tips from citizens that concerned Trump and Epstein. It is unclear why investigators prepared this summary.
A file that is part of the email correspondence of an agent from the task force against child exploitation and human trafficking is particularly explosive. It contains various allegations against Jeffrey Epstein – and the name Donald Trump also appears in many places.
This document was deleted by the Ministry of Justice:
Both the White House and the US Department of Justice point to a passage in a press release accompanying the new files:
“Some of the documents contain untrue and sensational allegations against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election. “To be clear, the claims are baseless and false, and if they had even an ounce of credibility, they would certainly have been used against President Trump long ago.”
In the past, Trump has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Which prominent names have appeared?
Too many to list in detail. All of the people named have denied any involvement in Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls and young women.
These names appeared – among others – in the new files:
- Elon Musk: A 2012 email correspondence between Epstein and Musk reveals that the world’s richest billionaire responded to the question “How many people will be coming to the island by helicopter?” with “On what day/night does the wildest party on our island take place?” replied.
- Bill Gates: According to published emails, Epstein wrote notes to and about the Microsoft founder in 2013 in which he suggested that he had sex outside of marriage.
- Prince Andrew: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (former Prince) apparently attended a private party with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein months after his release from prison. The Justice Department also released new images of Andrew kneeling over a woman.
- Howard Lutnick, Trump’s Commerce Secretary: Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, is said to have planned a visit to Epstein’s private island in December 2012. The emails show that Epstein’s assistant, Lutnick, forwarded a message from Epstein that said, “Nice to see you.”
- WEF boss Børge Brende: In 2018 and 2019, Børge Brende had multiple contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In June 2019, Epstein emailed Brende a photo of a woman. Brende replied: «I was right, wasn’t I? Great fun.”
- Crown Princess Mette-Marit: The Crown Princess lived with a friend at Epstein’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for four days. During this visit she also met Epstein. The Crown Princess apologized on Friday: she “didn’t check Epstein’s background better.”
- Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group: In an email dated September 11, 2013, Branson wrote to Epstein: “If you are ever in the area again, I would be very happy to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”
- Steve Tisch, chairman and co-owner of the New York Giants: A message from May 2013 showed that Epstein offered to put Tisch in touch with a Russian woman. Tisch responded a minute later with the question: “Is she fun?” (English: “Is she fun?”).
- Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google: Brin visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, planned a dinner at Epstein’s home and corresponded with Ghislaine Maxwell.
- Jay-Z, Pusha T and Weinstein: According to an FBI crisis report, an anonymous victim said she was drugged and sexually abused multiple times over the course of years. Pusha T (Terrence LeVarr Thornton) was one of her “handlers”. The report also states that the victim once woke up in a room where Weinstein and Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) were.
How are the victims dealt with?
In the new documents, among other things, victims’ personal data was blacked out in order to protect their privacy. According to the information, pornographic material in which children can be seen as well as anything that could hinder the investigation at the federal level was also excluded from publication.
Numerous names of survivors were mentioned in the latest publication, including some who had not previously been publicly identified. Gloria Allred, a women’s rights lawyer, criticized this BBC. “In some cases the names are crossed out, but you can still read them,” Allred said. “In other cases, photos of victims were shown – survivors who never gave a public interview, never gave their name publicly.”
The U.S. Department of Justice said it was working “around the clock to address all victims’ concerns, to further redact personal information, and to process all files that require further redactions under the law, including images of a sexual nature.”
Are there other files that have not yet been published?
Yes. However, at this point it is unlikely that these will be made public in the near future.
Initially, six million pages of documents were identified as “potentially relevant,” said Blanche, the US deputy attorney general. However, the authorities had collected too many pages, which is why publication was delayed, among other things. They decided to only release half. Some Democratic lawmakers accused the ministry of violating the law on Friday and called for all six million pages to be released.
What’s next?
The Democrats in the US House of Representatives are demanding that the complete files be released – also in view of the fact that the most recent publications contain an unusually high number of redactions. However, in a press conference, Blanche indicated that this was the last major publication of Epstein Files.
The US Department of Justice is not planning any further charges for the time being. When the Epstein files were examined, nothing was found that would allow the department to prosecute, Blanche told CNN. The whole world can now look at the published material and “judge for itself whether we were wrong,” he continued.
With material from the news agencies SDA and DPA.