An attorney for some of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims says his clients have been “revictimized” by the Department of Justice’s haphazard release of files related to the case — survivors’ names and contact information were left unredacted and appear more than 500 times.
Arick Fudali, who represents 11 women abused by Epstein, has been fighting for some form of justice for his clients for more than a decade. Now his clients are grappling with new publicity surrounding their cases, thanks to the DOJ, he says.
“We are actively pursuing, investigating, researching and considering all avenues of civil justice at this point,” Fudali told MS NOW’s Nick McCool, “because the criminal justice system has absolutely failed these survivors.”
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed last year to compel the DOJ to publicly release documents related to its investigation into Epstein, the department can withhold “personally identifiable information of victims.” But in these cases, the DOJ did not.
“That was really, really revictimizing, really traumatizing for the survivors,” Fudali said. “I mean, just imagine the trauma there — getting their hopes up, feeling like there’s going to be accountability, feeling like there’s going to be justice, and then it’s the exact opposite.”
Fudali detailed the emotional toll this exposure has had on his clients, some of whom live in terror of the convicted sex offender years after his death.
“Some of my survivor clients to this day still live in fear of Jeffrey, not just his circle, but still live in fear of Jeffrey Epstein,” Fudali added. “You know, they have four alarms on their houses. They see him out their window at night.”
The DOJ did, however, redact sweeping portions of material in its release of millions of documents thus far, including names, email addresses and other identifiers.
The department “did not fail to protect those around Jeffrey Epstein, the powerful men around Jeffrey Epstein,” Fudali said. “They did a fantastic job in making sure those names were redacted.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., one of the authors of the Epstein transparency act, said on the House floor Tuesday, “Who are they protecting? Why are they protecting these rich and powerful men, people I call part of the Epstein class?”
The law explicitly states that “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity” are not allowable justifications for redaction.
The DOJ made other mistakes in its redactions: The released files include photos of visibly naked people and a victim’s driver’s license.
“We’re also looking at other potential avenues of civil suits against perhaps some of his enablers that are now being revealed, his facilitators,” Fudali said. “Potential lawsuits against the Department of Justice, [U.S.] attorney’s office and other federal entities that have been responsible for this fiasco that’s lasted decades.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Nick McCool is an overnight reporter for MS NOW.
Kate Holland is a segment reporter for MS NOW