Many Epstein survivors believe the Justice Department is

Several Jeffrey Epstein survivors experienced “widespread panic” after the House Oversight Committee released 20,000 files earlier this month without withholding their names, leading some to believe the Justice Department is “intentionally” failing to protect their privacy, according to a Wednesday court filing.

In a letter to Judge Richard Berman this week, Bradley Edwards and Brittany Henderson, attorneys who have represented hundreds of Epstein’s victims, said they were contacted by survivors whose identities were exposed in the Nov. 12 records release.

“This type of neglect by the government toward a survivor simply cannot be understood. It is simply impossible. It cannot be,” a person identified as Victim 1 allegedly said in a message to attorneys, according to the court filing.

“I thought the government had promised to hide our names and identification material. I don’t understand how this is happening again,” said another survivor identified as Victim 3.

Edwards and Henderson said they also received calls from at least six other survivors who were contacted by the media after their names appeared in files made public by lawmakers on Nov. 12.

“Several were personally approached by journalists on the street, and one was confronted in front of her nine-year-old son by a journalist who asked her to comment on being a victim of Epstein,” the lawyers write. “The situation is already serious, we have diligently and repeatedly brought this issue to Congress, and we are told that the source of the problem lies in the Department of Justice.”

The lawyers cited the example of a document provided by the Justice Department to the House Oversight Committee in which the names of at least 28 survivors were redacted, including some who were minors at the time of the abuse.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and is an issue that must be rectified before the release of any additional documents,” they said.

New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP

The lawyers added that it is their understanding that the House Oversight Committee obtains a redacted version of all of Epstein’s files from Epstein’s estate and the Justice Department, and then relies on those redactions when making the documents public.

While Epstein’s estate has made what appear to be “genuine errors” in redactions, Edwards and Herderson said they are more concerned about “the redaction process, or complete lack thereof, that is being applied” by the Justice Department.

“Without a direct understanding of the process, and only comparing the unredacted documents in our possession with the redacted versions provided by the DOJ to Congress, it appears that the DOJ has a very short list of victims whose identities were redacted in certain documents in the United States v. Maxwell case, whose names were also redacted in its production, leaving all others completely unredacted,” they write.

“Given the number of times we have brought this issue to the attention of Congress, and the fact that the DOJ continues to present victims’ names unredacted, many victims believe this is being done intentionally,” they added.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a News themezone request for comment on the letter.

The judge on Wednesday ordered the Justice Department to provide a detailed description of the materials it possesses and also explain the privacy process it plans to employ to protect the privacy rights of Epstein survivors by Dec. 1.

Berman’s order comes after Trump signed a bill requiring the release of the entire trove of Epstein files held by the Justice Department after his efforts to block the legislation failed. The Epstein Records Transparency Act requires the government to make “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession” of the Justice Department available in a searchable and downloadable format by December 19.