The US Department of Justice said Wednesday that more than a million more documents potentially related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been discovered and are being reviewed for release.
The DOJ began releasing records last week from the investigation into Epstein, a wealthy financier who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act passed nearly unanimously by Congress last month and signed into law by President Donald Trump mandated the release of all of the Epstein files by December 19.
The Justice Department failed to meet that deadline, however, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche blaming the delay on the need to painstakingly redact the identities of Epstein's victims from the files.
The DOJ said Wednesday it would need a "few more weeks" to sort and redact the new material.
It said the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI had "uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case."
"We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible," the DOJ said on X.
"Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks."
(With AFP inputs)
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