The Epstein files might meet the legal threshold for “crimes against humanity” according to a panel of United Nations experts on human rights.
“These crimes were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption, extreme misogyny, and the commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls from different parts of the world,” the experts said.
The statement comes after the government released 3.5 million documents related to the case earlier this year. Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Epstein’s primary accomplice and former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking and is serving a 20-year sentence.
The disgraced financier had ties to prominent individuals and the publication of those documents have helped shine a light on those relationships. In several instances, people have resigned from positions, simply for having associated with Epstein.
The 2019 indictment alleged that Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money. The government alleged at the time that Epstein worked with others to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims. Maxwell was considered to be his primary accomplice.
“The ‘Epstein Files’, which are suggestive of the existence of a global criminal enterprise have shocked the conscience of humanity and raised terrifying implications of the level of impunity for such crimes. So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the UN experts stated.
The House Oversight Committee began investigating the Epstein case last year, issuing a subpoena for records related to the case on August 5. Those efforts led to Congress passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Nov. 19. Earlier this year, the Justice Department released more than 3.5 million documents related to the case, but millions more documents still have not been released.
“All the allegations contained in the ‘Epstein Files’ are egregious in nature and require independent, thorough, and impartial investigation, as well as inquiries to determine how such crimes could have taken place for so long,” the UN experts stated.
The experts also criticized how the documents were released by the government. They noted compliance failures and botched redactions that exposed sensitive victim information.
“The grave errors in the release process underscore the urgent need for victim-centered standard operating procedures for disclosure and redaction, so that no victim suffers further harm,” they said.
