Release the Epstein Files

The Epstein Files Transparency Act (Public Law 119-38) became law in November 2025 on a 427-1 House vote and Senate unanimous consent, requiring the Attorney General to publish all unclassified Department of Justice records relating to the prosecution, custody, and death of Jeffrey Epstein within thirty days. As of April 2026 the Department has released approximately 3.5 million of an identified 6 million responsive pages, and the Office of the Inspector General has opened an audit of the Department’s compliance. No federal criminal charges have been filed against any of the co-conspirators identified in the 2019 Southern District of New York investigative memorandum or in the records released since.

What Public Law 119-38 requires

Public Law 119-38 directs the Attorney General to make publicly available, in a searchable and downloadable format, all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice — including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys’ Offices — that relate to Jeffrey Epstein’s investigations, prosecutions, and custodial matters. The Act covers flight logs and travel records, individuals named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity or plea agreements, investigatory proceedings, and documentation of his detention and death.

The Act prohibits withholding, delaying, or redacting records on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including for any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary. Within thirty days of enactment the Attorney General was required to provide the House and Senate Judiciary Committees with an unredacted list of every government official and politically exposed person named in the files. The Act establishes no civil penalty for noncompliance and no private right of enforcement. Compliance is currently the subject of an Inspector General audit announced in April 2026.

The statute, executive order, and civil action

The policy uses three instruments. The Epstein Crime Victims Act (H.R. 4946, 119th Congress) is the legislative vehicle. An accompanying executive order directs publication of the remaining responsive records under Public Law 119-38. A civil action filed by the Department of Justice Civil Division in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida seeks to vacate the 2008 non-prosecution agreement between the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Jeffrey Epstein. The 2020 Office of Professional Responsibility report on the 2008 charging decision found that the prosecutors exercised poor judgment in concealing the agreement from the victims; the 2019 ruling in Doe 1 v. United States (S.D. Fla.) held that the concealment violated 18 U.S.C. § 3771.

The Epstein Crime Victims Act is a pending bill in Congress, introduced in the 119th Congress by Reps. Wasserman Schultz and Burchett. Both chambers must pass it before the President can sign it. The Act amends 18 U.S.C. § 3771 to authorize a private right of action against the United States when the government enters a plea bargain or deferred prosecution agreement without notifying the victim. It applies the Crime Victims’ Rights Act to pre-charge proceedings, in response to In re Wild (11th Cir. 2021, en banc), which held that the statute does not authorize judicial enforcement before federal charges are filed. Companion amendments to Public Law 119-38 are added in the same legislative vehicle and are itemized with the executive order and civil-action provisions below.

The provisions:

• Authorize civil actions by victims of the trafficking network, under 18 U.S.C. § 1595, against any individual identified in the released records as a participant. The statute of limitations under § 1595 is tolled from the date of records publication under Public Law 119-38.
• Authorize the Attorney General to file civil actions in the name of the United States, as parens patriae, against any individual or entity identified in the released records as a participant in the trafficking network. The Government of the United States Virgin Islands proceeded on this basis in its 2023 settlement with JPMorgan Chase.
• Provide that pre-existing federal non-prosecution agreements, plea agreements, and immunity grants do not bar civil liability of any individual identified in the released records as a participant in the trafficking network. The 2008 non-prosecution agreement and any successor agreement do not bar civil actions by victims under 18 U.S.C. § 1595 or by the United States as parens patriae.
• Establish civil penalties on the Department for failure to comply with Public Law 119-38, recoverable in district court at the suit of the Inspector General or either chamber’s Judiciary Committee.
• Direct the Attorney General, by executive order, to publish the responsive pages identified under Public Law 119-38 that remain unreleased on a fixed timeline. Each redaction is logged by statutory category, and compliance is certified to the Judiciary Committees and the Inspector General. No record may be withheld under a category beyond those enumerated in the Act.
• Vacate the 2008 non-prosecution agreement by civil action and release the named co-conspirators from its scope.

Precedent

The Crime Victims’ Rights Act of 2004 codified victim notification, attendance, and consultation rights at 18 U.S.C. § 3771. The Eleventh Circuit’s 2021 en banc decision in In re Wild restricted the Act’s reach to proceedings filed after charges, and the 2008 Epstein non-prosecution agreement remained in force. The Epstein Crime Victims Act would address the limitation identified by the Eleventh Circuit.

The federal record on official-investigation transparency includes the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, established in 1973 and dissolved in 1977. The records of the Force are held at the National Archives at Record Group 460 and have been progressively released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act and the Presidential Records Act over the subsequent four decades. The False Claims Act, enacted in 1863 and substantially amended in 1986, authorizes private parties to bring civil actions on behalf of the United States; recoveries under the qui tam provisions have totaled more than $70 billion and establish the federal precedent for civil enforcement actions brought by private parties on behalf of the United States. The parens patriae action by the Government of the United States Virgin Islands against JPMorgan Chase settled for $290 million in June 2023. The settlement recovered a portion of the proceeds of the trafficking network from the financial institution that maintained Epstein’s accounts after his 2008 conviction.

First 100 days

Day one. The President directs the Attorney General to publish all remaining responsive pages identified under Public Law 119-38, with redactions limited to the categories enumerated in the Act and each redaction logged by category in a public index. The Department certifies the count of pages released, the count withheld, and the statutory basis for each withholding to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and the Inspector General.

Day thirty. The Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York open formal review of every individual identified in the released records under the federal trafficking, conspiracy, and obstruction-of-justice statutes. The Department of Justice Civil Division files in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to vacate the 2008 non-prosecution agreement and any successor agreement entered without compliance with 18 U.S.C. § 3771. The Office of Professional Responsibility opens a renewed review of the 2008 charging decision in light of the records released since.

Day ninety. Congress passes the Epstein Crime Victims Act, and the President signs it into law. The statute authorizes crime victims to bring civil actions against the United States when a plea bargain or deferred prosecution agreement is entered without prior notification. Companion amendments to Public Law 119-38 authorize parens patriae actions by the Attorney General against private participants in the trafficking network.

Effect of disclosure and prosecution

The remaining responsive pages required by Public Law 119-38 are released within the timeframe set in the executive order. Federal charging decisions on conduct identified in those records are made on the federal charging standard. Public Law 119-38 already prohibits political sensitivity as a basis for redaction. The 2008 non-prosecution agreement is subject to civil action to vacate. Charging discretion over the named co-conspirators returns to the Department. The Crime Victims’ Rights Act is amended to provide enforcement authority before charges are filed. The amendment addresses the limitation identified by the Eleventh Circuit in In re Wild. Victims may bring private civil actions under 18 U.S.C. § 1595 against any individual identified in the released records as a participant in the trafficking network. Pre-existing federal non-prosecution agreements, plea agreements, and immunity grants do not bar those civil actions. The statute of limitations under 18 U.S.C. § 1595 is tolled from the date of records publication under Public Law 119-38. The parens patriae authorization extends the approach taken by the Government of the United States Virgin Islands in its 2023 settlement with JPMorgan Chase to the federal level. The United States may bring suit to recover proceeds and damages from individuals and entities identified as participants in the trafficking network.