Attorney General Pam Bondi informed two federal judges that the Justice Department has made significant progress in reviewing and redacting documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. However, she noted that the process has faced unavoidable ‘glitches’ due to the large size of the archive and the technology required to manage it.
In a letter dated January 15, addressed to U.S. District Judges Richard M. Berman and Paul A. Engelmayer in Manhattan, Bondi and other senior officials described a review operation involving over five hundred reviewers working through millions of pages of materials from investigations into Epstein and his convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“Due to the extent of this effort, platform operations need constant attention and technical help to fix unavoidable issues arising from the large volume of materials,” the letter stated.
This update comes as the department faces ongoing pressure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law passed by Congress in November. The law set a December deadline for releasing a broad set of records linked to Epstein and Maxwell, with necessary protections for victims’ identifying details.
Federal officials have so far released a rolling set of materials. They indicated that they must conduct careful manual reviews to remove any victim identifying details before any documents appear in the DOJ’s online Epstein Library.
Bondi’s letter mentioned that the department continues to work with victims and their lawyers to improve redaction practices. The department will respect requests from victims to remove personally identifying information, even from documents that have appeared elsewhere without redaction on public court dockets outside the two cases before the judges.
“After discussing this issue with victims and their counsel, the Department has confirmed that if any victim requests redaction of personally identifying information from a document in the DOJ Epstein Library, the Department will redact that information even if the document is or was publicly available on a court docket,” the letter said.
Khanna: There are rich and powerful people who engaged in abuse, covering it up or were on this island. Instead of holding them accountable, Pam Bondi is breaking the law pic.twitter.com/ESkhUw1Mh8
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 21, 2025
The department also highlighted a separate logistical issue related to duplicate documents. Officials reported extensive duplication across files stored in various offices and stated that the numbers they provide to the court are estimates that change as staff identify and remove duplicates and near duplicates.
The letter explained that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York has recently added resources, including approximately 80 attorneys from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division who will assist prosecutors during the review of documents likely containing victim information. It stated that leaders have daily calls, sometimes twice a day, to discuss coordination, deduplication, victim issues, and technical problems.
The correspondence was filed in the Epstein and Maxwell cases in federal court and referred to previous court orders governing protective material and certifications required before release.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges and later died in custody. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls, and she is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Lawmakers have criticized the speed and quality of the releases and some have requested court oversight, including the appointment of a special master, to monitor compliance with the act and the court-ordered redaction process.
