WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice will allow members of Congress to review unredacted files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein starting on Monday, according to a letter that was sent to lawmakers.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press says that lawmakers will be able to review unredacted versions of the more than 3 million files that the Justice Department has released to comply with a law passed by Congress last year.
To access the files, lawmakers will need to give the Justice Department 24 hours’ notice. They will be able to review the files on computers at the Department of Justice. Only lawmakers, not their staff, will have access to the files, and they will be permitted to take notes, but not make electronic copies.
The arrangement, first reported by NBC News, showed the continued demand for information on Epstein and his crimes by lawmakers, even after the Justice Department devoted large numbers of its staff to comply with the law passed by Congress last year. The Justice Department has come under criticism for delays in the release of information, failing to redact the personal information and photos of victims and not releasing the entire 6 million documents collected in relation to Epstein.
Still, lawmakers central to the push for transparency, described the concession by the Justice Department as a victory.
“When Congress pushes back, Congress can prevail,” Rep. Ro Khanna, who sponsored what's known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, posted on social media.
Khanna has pointed to several emails between Epstein and individuals whose information was redacted that appeared to refer to the sexual abuse of underage girls. The release of the case files has prompted inquiries around the world about men who cavorted with the well-connected financier. Still, lawmakers are pressing for a further reckoning over anyone who may have had knowledge of Epstein's abuse or could have helped facilitate it.
Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while he faced charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls. The case was brought more than a decade after he secretly cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of nearly identical allegations. Epstein was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.
A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, photographed Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, shows the 1953 Trust that Epstein amended on Aug. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A document with an email chain from Jeffrey Epstein illustrates the amount of redactions of personally identifiable information that the U.S. Department of Justice was required to do before release of Epstein documents, is photographed Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury has found former major league outfielder Yasiel Puig guilty of obstruction of justice and lying to federal officials investigating an illegal gambling operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.
The verdict came after a multiweek trial that featured testimony from Major League Baseball officials and Donny Kadokawa, a Hawaii baseball coach that Puig placed bets through. Puig now faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced May 26.
Puig’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Puig, 35, initially pled guilty to a felony charge of lying to federal agents investigating an illegal gambling operation. He acknowledged in an August 2022 plea agreement that he wracked up more than $280,000 in losses over a few months in 2019 while wagering on tennis, football and basketball games through a third party who worked for an illegal gambling operation run by Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player.
Nix pled guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and subscribing to a false tax return. He is still awaiting sentencing.
Authorities said Puig placed at least 900 bets through Nix-controlled betting websites and through a man who worked for Nix.
Prosecutors said that during a January 2022 interview with federal investigators, Puig denied knowing about the nature of his bets, who he was betting with, and the circumstances of paying his gambling debts.
But he changed his tune months later, announcing that he was switching his plea to not guilty because of “significant new evidence,” according to a statement from his attorneys in Los Angeles.
“I want to clear my name,” Puig said in the statement. “I never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”
The government argued that he intentionally misled the federal investigators. They played in court audio clips of Puig speaking English and brought expert witnesses to testify on Puig's cognitive abilities, the New York Times reported.
His attorneys said that Puig, who has a third-grade education, had untreated mental-health issues and did not have his own interpreter or criminal legal counsel with him during the interview with federal investigators where he purportedly lied.
Puig's former attorney Steven Gebelin testified that during the January 2022 interview, Puig tried to be helpful in answering the investigators' questions and the interpreter struggled with Puig’s Spanish language dialect, according to the New York Times.
Puig batted .277 with 132 home runs and 415 RBIs while appearing in seven major league seasons, the first six with the Dodgers, where he earned an All-Star selection in 2014.
Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully called Puig the “wild horse” for his on-field antics and talent at a young age, joining MLB at 22, a year after escaping his home country of Cuba.
He played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians in 2019 before becoming a free agent. He then played in the Mexican League and last year he signed a one-year, $1 million contact with South Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes.
FILE - Venezuela's Yasiel Puig heads to first after drawing a bases loaded walk to score Ehire Adrianza during the third inning of a Caribbean Series baseball game against Curacao, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
