Victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein accuse the American justice system of accidentally revealing their identities in documents posted online. They are also targeting Google for continuing to distribute this information online.
More than a hundred victims of sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein filed a complaint on Thursday, March 26 against the US government and Google after the accidental revelation of their identities in documents posted online by the US Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice uploaded over three million files related to the investigation into the disgraced financier in January, including his connections with prominent figures. However, the documents included names of victims that were supposed to remain anonymous.
“The Department of Justice ‘accidentally revealed the identities of about 100 victims of the convicted sexual predator, by publishing their private information and identifying them to the world,” states the complaint filed with a court in San Francisco.
Dozens of photos with visible faces were discovered in these files, according to journalists from The New York Times. The plaintiffs condemn that even after the government acknowledged the violation of victims’ rights and removed the information, online entities like Google continue to republish the data, denying the victims’ requests to delete it.
Google is still displaying the victims’ personal information in search results and in content generated by AI, the complaint points out. The victims are now facing a “new trauma” as strangers call them, send them emails, jeopardize their physical safety, and accuse them of being accomplices of Epstein, when in reality, they were Epstein’s victims.
Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged in July 2019 for sexually exploiting minors and conspiracy. He was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial. The autopsy concluded it was a suicide.
Previously accused over a decade ago in Florida of using underage prostitutes, he was convicted in 2008 to a 13-month probation sentence as part of a secret agreement with a prosecutor, allowing him to avoid federal charges.
