Judge: Deal reached to protect identities of Epstein victims in
documents release
[February 04, 2026]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — A deal was reached between lawyers for victims of
Jeffrey Epstein and the Justice Department to protect the identities of
nearly 100 women whose lives were allegedly harmed after the government
began releasing millions of documents last week, a lawyer told a federal
judge on Tuesday.
Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan cancelled a hearing scheduled for
Wednesday after he was notified by Florida attorney Brittany Henderson
that “extensive and constructive discussions” with the government had
resulted in an agreement.
Henderson and attorney Brad Edwards had complained to Berman in a letter
Sunday that “immediate judicial intervention” was needed after there
were thousands of instances when the government had failed to redact
names and other personally identifying information of women sexually
abused by Epstein.
Among eight women whose comments were included in the lawyers' Sunday
letter, one said the records' release was “life threatening” while
another said she'd gotten death threats and she was forced to shut down
her credit cards and banking accounts after their security was
jeopardized.
The lawyers had requested that the Justice Department website be
temporarily shut down and that an independent monitor be appointed to
ensure no further errors occurred.
Henderson did not say what government lawyers said to ensure identities
would be protected going forward or what the agreement consisted of.
“We trust that the deficiencies will be corrected expeditiously and in a
manner that protects victims from further harm,” she wrote to the judge.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
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A document with an email chain from Jeffrey Epstein illustrates the
amount of redactions of personally identifiable information that the
U.S. Department of Justice was required to do before release of
Epstein documents, is photographed Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP
Photo/Jon Elswick)
The judge wrote in an order cancelling the Wednesday public hearing
that he was “pleased but not surprised that the parties were able to
resolve the privacy issues.”
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in Manhattan wrote in a letter
filed in Manhattan federal court that errors blamed on “technical or
human error” occurred on redactions during the document release.
He said the Justice Department had improved its protocols to protect
victims and had taken down nearly all materials identified by
victims or their lawyers, along with many more that the government
had found on its own.
Mistakes in the largest release of Epstein documents yet included
nude photos showing the faces of potential victims as well as names,
email addresses and other identifying information that was either
unredacted or not fully obscured.
Most of the materials that were released stemmed from sex
trafficking probes of Epstein and his former girlfriend, British
socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison
sentence after she was convicted in December 2021 at a New York
trial.
Epstein took his life in a federal jail in New York in August 2019
while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
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