Manhattan prosecutors overwhelmed by review of materials in Epstein case
The leading US prosecutor's office in the Southern District of New York found itself under unprecedented pressure due to a large-scale review of materials in the Jeffrey Epstein case. According to sources and internal documents, almost all federal prosecutors in the office who are not involved in urgent court proceedings have been tasked with reviewing more than 2 million files in order to redact information about victims of sexual exploitation, Politico reports.
Not only ordinary prosecutors are involved in the work, but also department heads and top management of the office. They often work on weekends to meet the deadlines set by law. According to sources, prosecutors are literally "buried" under the volume of work, and no one can say for sure when the review will be completed. At the same time, more and more cases are being postponed or slowed down.
In internal court filings, Chief Federal Prosecutor Jay Clayton reported that more than 125 lawyers from the office, which employs a total of about 200 assistant prosecutors, are involved in the investigation. In total, more than 500 people are working on the Epstein case at the US Department of Justice, including lawyers in Florida and at the department's headquarters.
Even prosecutors handling some of the country's most high-profile cases, including the trial of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, have been partially reassigned to review Epstein's files. This has already drawn public criticism from lawyers in other cases, who claim delays in the transfer of defence materials.
The scale of the work is due to the fact that it was the Manhattan office that handled both the case against Epstein and the successful prosecution of his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Justice Department emphasises that protecting victims remains a key priority, even if it places a significant burden on the justice system. No date has been announced for the publication of the new batch of documents.
