To advocates for transparency and accountability surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, the Justice Department's release of 3.5 million pages of files was underwhelming. The department withheld another 2.5 million pages and heavily redacted much of what it did release, and it specifically said it was withholding documents for reasons beyond what transparency legislation actually authorized.
The release follows a decades-long track record that has left many accusers deeply frustrated.
"These victims have been failed so many times by this government, that they have absolutely no faith in the system whatsoever anymore," Spencer Kuvin, who has represented nine Epstein accusers, including the first child who came forward, told USA TODAY.
Amid questions surrounding the Justice Department's handling of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse allegations against Epstein spanning many years, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law in November, was designed to bring greater transparency about who may have been involved in Epstein's crimes and accountability for those people. But many remain bitterly disappointed because so many files have been withheld or redacted, and some information on victims was released.
