Epstein-Opfer verklagen US-Regierung und Google wegen Datenlecks

Victims of Jeffrey Epstein filed a class-action lawsuit on Thursday against the U.S. government and Google, accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of exposing the personal data of approximately 100 survivors when it published more than three million documents related to the Epstein case in January 2026. The plaintiffs allege the DOJ made a deliberate policy choice, prioritizing rapid, high-volume publication over protecting victims' privacy, leaving names and, in some cases, nude photographs with recognizable faces accessible to the public. The U.S. government has since acknowledged it violated survivors' rights and withdrew the documents, but the lawsuit argues the damage is ongoing because the material remains searchable through Google. The suit seeks at least $1,000 per victim from the DOJ and punitive damages against Google, as well as a court order requiring Google to permanently remove the victims' personal information from its platforms.

DOJ admitted errors, but data stayed online The lawsuit states that the unredacted documents included names and, according to reporting by the New York Times cited in the filings, dozens of nude photographs in which faces were not made unrecognizable. The plaintiffs allege the DOJ failed to apply required redactions before publishing the files, effectively outing around 100 survivors to the entire world. Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told federal judges in early February 2026 that the department had withdrawn thousands of documents and media materials that could have mistakenly included identifying information about victims, attributing the problem to technical or human errors. Authorities stated they were continuing to review procedures to avoid similar situations in the future. However, the plaintiffs contend that withdrawal from official sources did not prevent the material from circulating online, as platforms such as Google continued to surface the content through search results and AI-generated content.

Google ignorierte wiederholte Löschersuchen, sagen die Opfer The lawsuit accuses Google of ignoring repeated requests from victims to delete the documents, with the plaintiffs stating they notified the company multiple times in February and March 2026 without result. The complaint argues that Google possesses the technological capability to remove sensitive content when presented with legal requests, and that its refusal to act in this case constitutes reckless behavior. "Online entities such as Google routinely republish them, refusing victims' requests to remove them," the action states, according to Mediafax. The consequences for survivors have been severe, according to the filing.

„Die Opfer sehen sich nun erneut mit dem Erlebten konfrontiert. Fremde rufen sie an, schreiben ihnen E-Mails, bedrohen ihre körperliche Sicherheit und werfen ihnen vor, mit Epstein konspiriert zu haben, obwohl sie in Wirklichkeit nichts weiter als seine Opfer sind.” — Epstein victims' complaint via Mediafax

The plaintiffs describe a situation in which official withdrawal of documents has proven functionally meaningless because third-party platforms continue to redistribute the material without restriction.

Epsteins Taten erstreckten sich über Jahrzehnte bis zu seinem Tod 2019 Jeffrey Epstein was convicted in 2008 of inducing a minor to engage in prostitution and, following a controversial agreement with prosecutors, served just under 13 months in prison. In July 2019, he was arrested again and charged by a federal court with abusing many more victims. He was found dead in his New York prison cell on August 10, 2019, with authorities ruling his death a suicide. According to findings by the FBI and the DOJ cited in the source articles, Epstein is said to have abused more than one thousand minors and young women, in some cases introducing victims to prominent figures.

The January 2026 document release was framed as a transparency measure, covering Epstein's ties to prominent individuals, but the filing argues it was executed without adequate safeguards for the people the justice system was supposed to protect. The lawsuit notes that while the names of perpetrators were redacted in many published files, the names of victims were left visible, a disparity the plaintiffs describe as a fundamental inversion of the protections owed to survivors. The class-action structure of the suit means additional survivors beyond the approximately 100 named in the complaint could ultimately be included in any judgment or settlement. The case adds to a series of civil proceedings connected to the Epstein scandal, including a $35 million settlement between the Epstein estate and accusers that received preliminary judicial approval in early March 2026, and a tentative settlement reached by Bank of America in a separate lawsuit in March 2026.