A group of victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has filed a class action lawsuit against the administration of the US President Donald Trump and Google over the disclosure of their personal data in files released by the US Department of Justice.
NBC News writes about this.
“The United States, acting through the Department of Justice, made a conscious policy choice to prioritize the rapid disclosure of a large amount of information over protecting the privacy of Epstein’s victims,” the plaintiffs argue.
According to them, the Justice Department exposed approximately 100 survivors of abuse by a convicted sex offender by publishing their personal information and revealing their identities to the world.
Although the government later removed the victimsʼ personal information from the public files, the plaintiffs allege that online resources like Google continue to display it, ignoring the victimsʼ requests for removal. According to the lawsuit, the victimsʼ personal information still appears in search results and artificial intelligence-generated content.
The plaintiffs are demanding that the Department of Justice compensate each victim by at least $1 000 and that Google immediately delete their personal data.
"Victims are facing new trauma. Strangers are calling them, writing them emails, threatening their physical safety, and accusing them of colluding with Epstein, even though they are actually Epsteinʼs victims," the statement said.
The US Department of Justice and Google representatives have not yet commented, and federal prosecutors have previously stated that they are working to remove the documents.
In early February, The Wall Street Journal found out that in a new batch of released files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, the US Department of Justice did not delete the personal data of at least 43 victims. In particular, those who had not previously disclosed their identity publicly or were minors at the time of the violence.
The victims said they began to experience online bullying after that. Their lawyers then petitioned federal courts to temporarily shut down the documents site, conduct a full audit, and appoint an independent reviewer of the editing process.
The Jeffrey Epstein case
American financier Jeffrey Epstein was first arrested in 2008. He was convicted of sex with minors and organizing prostitution. After 13 months in prison, the financier made a deal with prosecutors and was released. In 2019, he was charged with new charges of human trafficking.
At the time, it was reported that the FBI had discovered thousands of names of famous people in Epsteinʼs notebook, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, “Rolling Stones” frontman Mick Jagger, and billionaire Richard Branson. This sparked a series of accusations and suspicions against famous people that they may have used Epsteinʼs services.
Epstein was arrested a second time on July 7, and on August 10, 2019, he committed suicide in prison. In December 2023, a US court ordered the release of the names of more than 170 people from Epsteinʼs inner circle.
Donald Trump has also been accused of having ties to Epstein. Trump and Epstein were allegedly friends and attended the same parties in the 1990s. However, Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against journalists who covered this information.
On December 19, 2025, the US Department of Justice released the first selection of the “Epstein files”. Among the tens of thousands of documents that were censored are many photos of famous people. Less than a day after the publication, at least 16 files related to Epstein, including a photo with Trump, disappeared from the US Department of Justice website.
The US Department of Justice published a new set of documents on January 30, 2026. They found information that Microsoft founder Bill Gates was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection after communicating with "Russian girls", and Epstein helped him purchase medication.
In late February, former US President Bill Clinton, also mentioned in the files, testified before a congressional committee about his ties to Epstein. He said he “saw nothing” and “did nothing wrong”.
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