Epstein victims' lawyers demand court order DOJ to take down files website, call release 'most egregious violation of victim privacy in U.S. history'

Attorneys representing over 200 Epstein victims urgently petitioned two federal judges in New York to order the immediate takedown of the DOJ's Epstein files website due to catastrophic redaction failures. Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson characterized the situation as an 'unfolding emergency,' stating: 'For the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, every hour matters. The harm is ongoing and irreversible.' The lawyers documented that nearly 100 individual survivors reported thousands of redaction failures within 48 hours of the release, describing the January 30 release as 'the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history.' Specific failures included: FBI documents with full victim names left unredacted including minors; victims' bank information and addresses posted without redaction; one email listing 32 minor victims had only one name redacted. Edwards stated: 'It's literally thousands of mistakes.' Deputy AG Todd Blanche dismissed the errors as affecting only 'about .001% of all the materials'--a claim victims' lawyers called 'insulting' given the irreversible harm to survivors whose identities were exposed while their abusers remained protected. A group of survivors issued a statement: 'Survivors are having their names and identifying information exposed, while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected. That is outrageous.'

"The single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history" — Attorneys Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson describing the DOJ's January 30, 2026 Epstein files release in emergency court filing