Jeffrey EpsteinU.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS.
Survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have filed a lawsuit against the United States government and tech giant Google over the alleged exposure of their identities in sensitive documents released by authorities.
The suit, filed on Thursday, follows the publication of millions of files by the United States Department of Justice relating to investigations into Epstein and his connections to prominent individuals.
According to the plaintiffs, the Justice Department mistakenly revealed the identities of victims who were meant to remain anonymous.
The DOJ had released more than three million documents in January, but officials were forced to act after discovering that sensitive personal information had not been properly redacted.
The plaintiffs said the department “outed approximately 100 survivors of the convicted sexual predator, publishing their private information and identifying them to the world.”
They added that the disclosure constituted a serious violation of the victims’ rights and privacy.
The lawsuit also accused Google of continuing to make the leaked information accessible to the public.
“Even after the government acknowledged the disclosure violated the rights of the survivors and withdrew the information, online entities like Google continuously republish it, refusing victims’ pleas to take it down,” the filing stated.
According to the case, victims’ personal details still appear in search results and AI-generated content, worsening the impact of the breach.
The plaintiffs said the exposure has led to renewed emotional distress and safety concerns for survivors.
“Survivors now face renewed trauma. Strangers call them, email them, threaten their physical safety, and accuse them of conspiring with Epstein when they are, in reality, Epstein’s victims,” the suit said.
Journalists from The New York Times also reportedly discovered explicit images within the released files, including photographs that exposed individuals’ identities.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from underage girls, some as young as 14.
He later died in 2019 while in custody in a New York jail, before he could stand trial on additional sex trafficking charges.
The plaintiffs argued that the US government violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by failing to protect sensitive personal data.
They also accused Google of breaching California laws on invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and unlawful business practices.
