New York — An agreement was reached between lawyers for the victims 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 canceled a hearing scheduled for Wednesday after Florida attorney Brittany Henderson notified him that “extensive and constructive discussions” with the government had led to an agreement.
Henderson and attorney Brad Edwards had complained to Berman in a letter on Sunday that there was a need for “immediate judicial intervention” after there had been thousands of cases when The government failed to redact the names and other personal information about women who were sexually assaulted by Epstein.
Of the eight women whose comments were included in the lawyers’ letter on Sunday, one said the release of the records was a “threat to her life” while another said she had received death threats and had to close her credit cards and bank accounts after her security was compromised.
The lawyers had requested that the Ministry of Justice’s website be temporarily closed and that an independent monitor be appointed to ensure that no further errors occurred.
Henderson did not mention what government lawyers said to ensure the protection of identities in the future or the content of the agreement.
“We are confident that the deficiencies will be corrected quickly 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.
The judge wrote in an order canceling Wednesday’s 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 attributed to “technical or human error” occurred during revisions during the document’s release.
He said the Justice Department has improved its protocols for protecting victims and has removed almost all of the material identified by victims or their attorneys, as well as many other materials the government found itself.
Errors in the largest release of Epstein documents to date included nude photos showing the faces of potential victims as well as names, email addresses and other identifying information that were either unredacted or not completely redacted.
Most of the material released stems from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and his former girlfriend, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwellwho is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in December 2021 in a trial in New York.
Epstein committed suicide in a federal prison in New York in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.