Two individuals who said they are “survivors” of abuse at the hands of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein asked a federal judge to ensure their names and identifying details remain redacted if the Justice Department succeeds in its effort to unseal grand jury transcripts from the prosecutions of Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The victims, in separate anonymous letters filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, warned that disclosure of the records would retraumatize victims and shield powerful allies of Epstein.
“I feel like the DOJ’s and FBI’s priority is protecting the ‘third-party,’ the wealthy men, by focusing on scrubbing their names off the files of which the victims ‘know who they are,'” says one letter filed to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, who signed off on the release of the letters on the public court docket.
“To learn that our own president has utilized thousands of agents to protect his identity and these high-profile individuals is monumentally mind-blowing,” the letter continues.
The Trump administration effort began after a controversial July 7 DOJ memorandum signaled the department was finished releasing information about the case.
That memo, signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and other senior officials, concluded that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted” in the Epstein case. This triggered public backlash and a renewed push by President Donald Trump to declassify what the government now says it is willing to partially release.
The first letter filed to the docket Monday includes pointed language that appears to take aim at Trump and his previous administration’s DOJ, though the victim stops short of naming him directly. In the same letter, the author questions whether Epstein’s 2019 death was truly a suicide, writing: “Did he really ‘kill himself’? Is he still alive? Where is he buried?”
The second letter also voices frustration that the government is only now seeking to unseal the records, despite never holding a trial for Epstein.
“Sad to say, for the victims, we never got our day in court,” the letter says. “Apparently, Epstein killed himself under whose watch? Oh, was it Trump’s DOJ? Hmmm, interesting.”
Both letters ask Berman to ensure that any future disclosures include full redactions of victim identities. The first letter further requests that attorneys for the victims be allowed to review the DOJ’s proposed redactions before release, while the second one includes a “side note” stating, “If other victims do not mind having their personal information redacted, my voice is not for them.”
A representative from the federal district court in New York confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the court permitted the new letters on the docket.
The filings come one week after the DOJ confirmed that only law enforcement officers, including an FBI agent and an NYPD detective, testified before the Epstein and Maxwell grand juries. No victims or alleged co-conspirators gave live testimony, according to a July 30 filing.
Prosecutors have argued that the push to unseal meets the threshold for rare disclosure under Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, citing intense public interest, ongoing congressional oversight, and extensive civil litigation by survivors. However, they warned that “sensitive information relating to these victims is intertwined throughout the materials,” including names, physical descriptions, and employment history.
The DOJ said last week it notified nearly all of the victims referenced in the records and maintains that redactions are necessary to avoid further harm.
Maxwell, who was abruptly transferred to a minimum-security prison in Texas last week following recent interviews with the DOJ, is serving a 20-year sentence following her 2021 sex trafficking conviction. She is appealing to the Supreme Court on the grounds that Epstein’s 2007 nonprosecution agreement should have applied to her. The DOJ has urged the justices to reject the petition.
While many transparency advocates once hoped that grand jury records might expose others in Epstein’s orbit, recent filings show the proceedings were narrowly focused, a point likely to frustrate critics who believe federal prosecutors shielded powerful figures from scrutiny.
One of the victims underscored that concern, writing in a paragraph addressed to the “United States”: “You protect yourself and your powerful and wealthy ‘friends’ (not enemies) over the victims, why? … The victims know the truth, we know who are in the files, and now so do you.”
DOJ CONFIRMS ONLY LAW ENFORCEMENT TESTIFIED IN EPSTEIN, MAXWELL GRAND JURIES
In a related update, Berman gave the DOJ until Monday to respond to five specific questions about the Epstein grand jury proceedings.
The court asked prosecutors to verify the dates of the grand jury presentations, provide all exhibits shown to jurors, clarify whether they seek to unseal the exhibits in addition to the transcripts, and identify which exhibits are not already public. It also asked the DOJ to explain how the government’s 2019 “nolle prosequi,” a legal term meaning to conclude prosecution, which closed Epstein’s case after his death, may affect the legal basis for unsealing.
