Summary

  • Victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are compiling a list of his known associates, claiming the US government has not published everything it knows

  • Speaking at an event in Washington DC, the survivors called for the release of all Epstein files

  • Marina Lacerda, speaking publicly for the first time, says she worked for Epstein from age 14 to 17, until the disgraced financier said she was "too old"

  • Annie Farmer, now 46, says she was taken to New Mexico aged 16 - she says her sister reported the abuse, but nothing was done

  • Jess Michaels, who says she was raped by Epstein in 1991, says for years she thought "she was the only one"

  • The event was organised by US lawmakers who want more files released on Epstein, who died in a cell in 2019

  • Warning - this page contains distressing details

Watch: Epstein victim, Marina Lacerda, speaks publicly for the first time

Live Reporting

Edited by Brandon Livesay and Owen Amos - warning, this page contains distressing details

  1. Chairman who ordered documents release says 'there's nothing new' in them

    Oversight Committee chairman James ComerEPA

    Oversight Committee chairman James Comer has told NBC News there's "nothing new in the documents" he ordered to be released by the congressional panel he leads.

    "Well, number one, it wouldn't be happening if we weren't doing our discharge petition," he says, referring to the bipartisan measure aimed at forcing the justice department to release the documents themselves.

    "But number two, as far as I can see, there's nothing new in the documents," he adds.

    Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is among the Republicans welcoming the decision to release the documents, but tells reporters: "This shouldn’t have been a battle, and unfortunately, it has been one."

    Trump supporters, such as Greene, have been very critical of the administration's handling of the Epstein files.

    After initially pledging to release them all, the top official at the justice department later backtracked, and contradicted her previous statement that Epstein had an unreleased "client list".

  2. What some of the released videos and documents show

    We're going through the tranche of documents, which include several videos from 2006 showing interviews with people who say they were victims of Epstein.

    Their faces are blurred and names removed from the audio, as they talk about alleged sexual abuse while they were hired for massages.

    Other videos show bodycam footage from Palm Beach County Police officers as they search a home belonging to Epstein in Florida.

    The released documents also include legal papers and audio files, the latter relating to Epstein's "criminal conduct with respect to women".

    We're still going through the content and will update you as soon as we have more.

  3. Republican Mace hopes 'the full truth comes out'

    Nancy Mace speaking at a hearing in 2023Getty Images

    South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace, one of the Republicans who have been vocal about pushing the Trump administration to release the Epstein documents, has welcomed today's news.

    "As a survivor, I stand with victims demanding justice and full transparency," writes Mace, who has got experience as a survivor of rape and domestic abuse.

    She says she has also signed a congressional petition, aiming to force the release of the documents "to ensure the full truth comes out".

  4. Democrats have said 'only 3%' of information is new to the public

    Max Matza
    BBC News, Washington

    Democrats have said that much of the information being shared has already been released.

    "Only 3% of the documents given to the Oversight Committee are new. The rest are already in the public domain," Democrat Ro Khanna, a member of the committee, said last month.

    Congresswoman Summer Lee echoed this, saying most of the files are "largely thousands of pages of recycled content already made available to the public".

    She added that the "only new disclosure" was flight logs from US Customs and Border Protection, which show Epstein's travel to and from his private island in the US Virgin Islands.

  5. Who was Jeffrey Epstein?

    In this handout, the mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019Getty Images

    Before he became the central figure in a high-profile sex trafficking case, Jeffrey Epstein was a maths teacher and powerful financier in New York City.

    Courting the rich and famous with private jets and lavish parties in the 1980s, Epstein’s business grew to manage hundreds of millions of dollars in clients’ assets.

    Among the celebrities he socialised with were US President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

    "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York magazine in 2002.

    In 2005, the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home. He avoided federal charges and instead received an 18-month (1.5-year) prison sentence.

    Since 2008, Epstein had been listed as a level three on the New York sex offenders register. It was a lifelong designation meaning he was at a high risk of reoffending.

    In July 2019, he was arrested in New York on sex trafficking charges, accused of running "a vast network" of underage girls for sex.

    After being denied bail, he was held in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was found dead in his cell months later.

  6. Congress releases over 33,000 pages of Epstein files
    Breaking

    A US congressional committee looking into the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has released a large collection of documents linked to the federal investigation into his crimes.

    The House Oversight Committee published the files after lawmakers called for all the documents to be made public, following criticism of President Donald Trump over how his administration handled the case.

    The release, published on Tuesday, includes 33,295 pages of documents and several videos.

    Democrats had warned beforehand that the files contain little new information about the case.

    Pressure has been building from Trump’s own supporters for more transparency about what the investigations into Epstein revealed.

    On Wednesday, several of Epstein’s victims are set to hold a high-profile news conference with lawmakers.

    Stay with us as we go through the documents and bring you more updates.