Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from New York

We haven’t learned too much new information today after a series of photos from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s island home were released by congressional Democrats – but we have gained a glimpse into a world most people could have previously only imagined.

The 10 photos and four videos all featured rooms in Epstein’s sprawling property on his 90-acre Caribbean private island, Little St. James.

Many of the rooms look like they could be from any large luxury home – bedrooms with pristine white sheets, a massive pool surrounded by palm trees. But there are some unusual touches to the late financier’s property, including a room that looks like a dentist’s office fitted with tools, and masks that resemble human faces hung on the walls.

A Democratic lawmaker, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, says the photos give a “disturbing look” into Epstein’s world and have been released to “ensure public transparency”.

They are not, however, part of the larger document release that is coming as per the Epstein Files Transparency Act that was signed into law by the president last month.

Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who helped him lure underage girls to abuse, is also preparing to ask the court to release her from prison, her lawyer said in a court filing. She says thinks all the information coming out through Congress could prejudice a retrial of her case.

Democratic lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee have released 10 new photos and four new videos of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s private island home today – but we don’t have much information about why or how the pictures were released now or any context about what they show, when they were taken, who took them, or why.

There were no accompanying text documents to provide more information, and even the files’ non-descript titles don’t reveal much.

Some US media, however, have reported that the images were taken in 2020, the year after Epstein died in prison while awaiting trial.

The committee has said it will release further Epstein-related documents – records from JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank – in the coming days.

As a reminder, neither those files nor the ones released today are part of the so-called Epstein files which Congress voted last month must be released by the Department of Justice in the coming weeks.

This is not the first time we have had a look into the private residence of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In 2021 – during the trial of Epstein’s girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell – photos of Epstein’s townhouse in New York’s Upper East Side were released.

These photos, taken by the FBI in 2019, pictured numerous boxes of hard drives, Epstein’s bedroom and a massage bed.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are asking US Attorney General Pam Bondi for an update on the Epstein Files Disclosure Act.

They cite a July justice department review of the government’s documents, and the department’s November announement of an investigation into prominent Democratic figures like Bill Clinton.

In a letter, the lawmakers “request a briefing either in a classified or unclassified setting, to discuss the full contents of this new information in your possession at your convenience”, but not later than 5 December.

Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Ben Ray Lujan, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski signed the letter.

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Democratic Congressman Rho Khanna, who lead the disclosure effort in the US House of Representatives, also joined the request.

Today’s release of photos is part of a slow trickle of Epstein-related information that has been coming out over the last few months.

Thousands of documents belonging to the Epstein estate were released last month by the House Oversight Committee, mostly emails. Some mentioned President Donald Trump directly, including one where the late financier wrote, “I am the one able to take him down” and “I know how dirty donald is”.

There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by Trump and the White House has accused the Democrats of creating a “fake narrative to slander President Trump”.

An earlier release, in September, included a birthday book containing a note to Epstein bearing Trump’s name, which he has denied writing.

In February, weeks after Trump took office, the justice department and the FBI released what they described at the time as the “first phase of the declassified Epstein files”.

A group of right-wing influencers were invited to the White House, but they were left disappointed when they realised that the 341 pages handed to them were mostly material already out there.

It included flight logs from Epstein’s plane and a redacted version of his contacts book containing the names of famous people he knew.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from New York

The release of the images comes as Ghislaine Maxwell, who helped lure underage girls for Epstein to exploit, is planning to ask a judge to release her from federal prison.

In a court filing on Wednesday, Maxwell’s lawyer said the 63-year-old plans to file a habeas petition, which means she will challenge the legality of her detainment and ask to be released.

Her reasoning is that government’s plan to release the Epstein files would jeopardise a potential retrial of her case. She will also be filing the petition by herself, without a lawyer.

“Releasing the grand jury materials from her case, which containuntested and unproven allegations, would create undue prejudice so severe that itwould foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial,” the lawyer wrote.

Remember: Epstein victims say they were groomed by Maxwell, and in 2021 a court found she played a key role in identifying girls for Epstein to abuse. She was arrested in mid-2020, around a year after Epstein took his own life.

Jeffery Epstein’s island, Little St James, is a small Caribbean island southwest of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

It was privately owned for more than 25 years by the late financier, who built a sprawling property on the 90-acre island.

The photos you’re seeing on this page are from that property.

Epstein also owned the larger neighbouring Greater St James island.

US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that Epstein used the island to hide his criminal activities.

George sued Epstein’s estate after his death, and in her complaint, she alleged air traffic controllers and airport personnel saw Epstein on the island with girls who appeared to be preteens.

“Remember, he owns a whole island,” she said. “So it wasn’t a situation where a child or a young woman would be able to just break away and run down the street to the nearest police station.”

An alleged victim who spoke to CBS anonymously said Epstein raped her and held her captive on the island.

“He also trapped me in his bedroom on the island where he had a gun strapped to his bedpost. I couldn’t leave,” she said. “The only means of getting off the island was either helicopter or boat.”

In 2022, Little St James was put up for sale, and a lawyer for Epstein’s estate confirmed to the BBC that some proceeds from the sale will be used to settle outstanding lawsuits.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee – who have released the images and footage today – have described them as “a harrowing look behind Epstein’s closed doors”.

“See for yourself,” says the statement, posted on social media.

There is, however, no accompanying information to go with the 10 photos and four videos released today to provide further context.

“We won’t stop fighting until we end this cover-up and deliver justice for the survivors,” the social media post says.

Donald Trump had promised on the campaign trail to release all the Epstein files, and his delay in doing so fuelled accusations of a cover-up, both from Democrats and from some figures within the Republican Party.

Despite previous dismissals of the need to release more documents, describing the issue as a “hoax”, Trump said in November that Republicans in the House of Representatives should release the remaining files “because we have nothing to hide”.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Donald Trump signed a bill on 19 November ordering the justice department to release all its files on the Epstein case, giving them a 30-day deadline to make them available in a “searchable and downloadable format”.

That deadline would give the department until Friday, 19 December to do so.

But there are obstacles to the files being shared with the US public on that date.

For one, the bill said that the justice department can hold back any documents that “jeapordise an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary”.

That could potentially lead to delays, given that Trump has called for investigations into Epstein’s links with prominent Democrats, such as Bill Clinton and Larry Summers “to determine what was going on with them, and him [Epstein]”.

The latest bill also says Attorney General Pam Bondi can “withhold or redact” records that include victims’ names, medical files and other personal information that “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy”.

There are four video files in the new batch of files released by the House Oversight Committee.

They’re all captured on Epstein Island and show us the swimming pool, inside bedrooms and their adjoining bathrooms – where there are products still on the shelves.

We’ve put some of the key parts together in the short video below.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

The release of the new images and videos comes less than two weeks after President Trump signed a bill ordering the release of files pertaining to Epstein – which was hailed as a significant turning point in a months-long fight over the documents.

Today’s release, however, has nothing to do with that bill. The newest release stems from an 18 November letter from the Oversight Committee to the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.

Unlike previous disclosures from the committee, none of the images or videos released today appear to show any links between Trump or Epstein, who was his friend for years before they fell out in the early 2000s.

But for the US president, the release is still likely to be something of an inconvenience.

He has repeatedly sought to distance himself from the issue, and for months described calls to release the documents as a Democrat-led “hoax” to draw attention away from his achievements.

At the time the bill to release the documents was signed, some lawmakers expressed concerns that the administration could use ongoing investigations as a reason to avoid releasing the files.

The new release will again ramp up pressure on the administration. Trump may be asked about the matter directly at 14:30 (1930 GMT), when he hosts an event in the Oval Office.

A picture of words on a chalkboard – comprising what looks like a mind map – inside an office on Epstein’s island estate is leading to speculation about what the illegible and redacted words are, and what the message means.

Among the visible and legible words are: “power”, “deception”, “mirror in face”, “time”, “intellectual”, “political”, “music”, “truth”, and “appears!”

Lines also connect some of the words together.

New Epstein release provides little detail but keeps pressure on release of all filespublished at 17:38 GMT

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

There does not appear to be anything politically explosive in the just-released photographs and videos of Epstein Island. The rooms and outdoor areas are devoid of life.

What little details there are – scrawled writing on a chalkboard wall and a few names on a telephone speed dial – are either cryptic or redacted.

Congressional Democrats, who made the files public, may be hoping this latest disclosure will keep the Epstein case in the news and prompt pressure to build for the Trump administration to comply with federal law and produce whatever consists of the “Epstein files” that it possesses.

But it hardly comes close to the more explosive details that came from the tens of thousands of Epstein emails published last month.

If nothing else, this stirs the political pot – and hints at revelations to come.

Another image released as part of the Oversight Committee’s drop today shows a landline phone.

Some of the contacts are redacted, but you can see numbers for contacts including “NY Office”, “Darren Off” and “Darren Cell”.

The photos and video we’re seeing today come from the US Virgin Islands Department of Justice, according to a statement from the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

Epstein’s two private islands, Little Saint James and Great Saint James, are in the US Virgin Islands.

On 18 November 2025, the Oversight Committee sent a request to the US Virgin Islands Attorney General for information about investigations into Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.

The statement by Ranking Member Robert Garcia also says the committee has received records from J. Morgan and Deutsche Bank, and they “intend to release files to the public after review in the days ahead”.

“These new images are a disturbing look into the world of Jeffrey Epstein and his island,” Garcia says. “We are releasing these photos and videos to ensure public transparency in our investigation and to help piece together the full picture of Epstein’s horrific crimes.

“We won’t stop fighting until we deliver justice for the survivors.

“It’s time for President Trump to release all the files, now,” Garcia adds.

Another newly released photo shows a sign on Epstein’s property warning people there is no trespassing in the area.

One of the four videos released takes a short tour around a bedroom on Epstein’s island.

In a 16 second clip, the video begins in a small ensuite bathroom, before the camera moves around the bedroom.

The room is hotel-like and tidy. There’s a colourful rug on the floor, and a white chest of drawers, as well as a four poster bed, desk and chairs.

One of the video clips released by the House Oversight Committee is a shaky handheld video – taken on Epstein Island – which starts by looking out to sea, before the camera-holder walks through some hedges to the swimming pool.

We’ve seen features like the bronze statue and bright blue-roofed buildings in previous photographs from the island.

There’s no additional detail about who is filming.

One of the pictures released by the House Oversight Committee appears to show a room with bookshelves and a big chalkboard in Epstein’s island home.