Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

By the end of the week, the United States Department of Justice is expected to publish around 50,000 additional documents that were previously considered “missing” in the case of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of running a large-scale sexual exploitation network involving minors, AzerNEWS reports.

According to media reports, the materials—first mentioned in publications at the end of January—may have been temporarily classified or removed from public access by the agency. Some of the documents could contain unverified allegations involving high-profile figures, including the current U.S. president Donald Trump, as well as internal reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Following an investigation by The Wall Street Journal and CBS News, which revealed that 47,635 files were missing from previously released archives, the Justice Department stated that the documents had been “removed from the network for further review and technical processing” and should be ready for republication by the end of the week.

According to the analysis, the missing files include at least three FBI memoranda summarizing interviews conducted with a woman who, after Epstein’s arrest in 2019, said she had been sexually assaulted when she was a minor.

Officials previously noted that some documents in the archive contain unverified materials submitted by members of the public to the FBI, which may include inaccurate or misleading claims about various individuals, including political figures.

Earlier, CNN reported that dozens of witness interrogation transcripts in the Epstein case had not been made public. Among them, according to the network, were three interview records from a woman who claimed Epstein repeatedly abused her starting at the age of 13.

On January 30, 2026, the Justice Department completed the publication of a massive portion of the Epstein archive, including more than 3 million pages of documents, over 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images related to the investigation. The files reportedly mention dozens of prominent figures, including members of royal families, politicians, business leaders, diplomats, and scientists from various countries.

Among the well-known people who had previously been reported to have contact with Epstein were the 42nd U.S. president Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, although the nature of many of those connections has remained unclear.

The full release of Epstein-related materials was mandated by a law passed by the United States Congress in November 2025 and signed by President Trump. Lawmakers said the goal was to increase transparency around one of the most controversial criminal investigations in recent U.S. history.

Epstein’s criminal prosecution in the United States ended after he was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 in what authorities ruled a suicide. However, his death has continued to fuel speculation, public debate, and ongoing investigations into the broader network of individuals potentially connected to his activities.

Interestingly, legal experts say that even years after Epstein’s death, the continued release of documents could still lead to new civil lawsuits, reputational damage for prominent figures, and renewed scrutiny of how law enforcement handled the case.