DOJ sued over Jeffrey Epstein client list, ‘needs to respond to public demands,’ plaintiff says

At long last, the long-concealed grand jury records from the first case against Jeffrey Epstein were made public. Image via New York Sex Offender Registry.

America’s domestic law enforcement apparatus is the defendant in a new lawsuit over the still-delayed release of serial Palm Beach County sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.

Judicial Watch, a Washington-headquartered conservative nonprofit, sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), seeking undisclosed Epstein records, including the identities of clients associated with him.

The suit comes after the DOJ failed to adequately respond to four Freedom of Information Act requests, one of which sought records “depicting the identities of clients or associates of Jeffrey Epstein.”

Among other things, the complaint references a Feb. 24 Fox News report quoting U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as saying Epstein’s client list was “sitting on (her) desk.” Three days later, the DOJ released a trove of documents related to Epstein that revealed little new information and no major revelations or new names.

Bondi told Fox News’ Jesse Watters later that day she had other records containing “a lot of flights, a lot of names, a lot of information” that could ensnare or implicate some of the nation’s most powerful and prominent people.

The implication was that she would make info public shortly. Forty-two days and four Freedom of Information Act requests later, Judicial Watch is tired of waiting.

“Simply put, the Justice Department needs to respond to public demands for transparency under the law and release the Epstein files,” the organization’s President, Tom Fitton, said in a statement.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting and trafficking underage girls, serving just 13 months on work release in a private wing of a Palm Beach jail. New reporting on Epstein’s case in 2018 helped authorities reopen it.

He died of an apparent suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019. His accomplice and sometimes girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, was later charged and convicted of sex trafficking in 2020.

The state of Florida unsealed records from his 2008 state investigation and case against Epstein.

The transcripts have long been shielded from public perusal due to state limitations on exposing grand jury evidence. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation in February that created a narrow exemption to those limits to unseal Epstein’s records on July 1.

The transcripts can be viewed here.

Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit, Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 8. It seeks all records pertaining to Epstein’s case and client list, an order that the DOJ discontinue withholding “any and all non-exempt records” from request, attorneys fees and other litigation costs.