MIAMI — The Miami Herald has joined an effort by The New York Times asking a judge to unseal financial records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The records — written by a court-designated special master overseeing probate of his estate — could reveal how his co-executors are distributing the sex trafficker’s fortune and, more significantly, provide insight into how Epstein acquired his money, which has long been a mystery. Epstein’s primary residence was Little St. James, his private island off St. Thomas and where for years he operated a group of shell companies that enabled him to obtain more than $300 million in tax breaks in the USVI.

A special master generally provides the court with reports that summarize the assets, liabilities, expenditures and income of the estate in order to ensure that it meets its obligations.

Lawyers for the media companies argue that the reports should not be sealed and are a matter of public record under the First Amendment. Case law has established that there is a “presumption of openness” to judicial documents under the First Amendment unless parties to the case are able to convince a judge the documents should be sealed.

The New York Times filed its letter July 30, urging the judge overseeing the estate to unseal the reports, saying they were designated as confidential without any justification for the sealing. The Herald filed a letter to the judge on Thursday.

The controversy over release of voluminous investigative records about Epstein has dogged President Donald Trump, who ran his campaign on transparency and endorsed his supporters’ calls for releasing the Epstein files. He changed his mind upon taking office and is now calling the Epstein scandal a “hoax.”

On Wednesday, dozens of Epstein survivors took their fight to Capitol Hill, calling for the release of all records and evidence involving Epstein’s crimes. The women have long been frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the case, which they believe has protected wealthy and powerful men involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking network.

In recent weeks, lawmakers in Washington have been under pressure from constituents who are also demanding accountability in the case. A bipartisan Congressional committee is seeking a House floor vote on a bill to force the Department of Justice to release its files.

On Sept. 2, roughly 33,000 pages were released by the DOJ to satisfy a House Oversight Committee’s request. On Friday, the president said that with the release, the DOJ had “done its job” and that it was “time to end” the push for more transparency.

“It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax, and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary, job that they are doing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.

Most of the pages in that tranche had been in the public domain for years. Many of the pages were duplicated over and over, upping the page count, so it appeared that the release was larger than it actually was. It produced almost no new insight into how Epstein was able to recruit, sexually abuse and traffic underage girls and young women for almost three decades.

There are still a staggering number of records that have not been made public in the case. Among them:

—Epstein’s draft 2008 indictment on sex-trafficking charges

—Search-warrant records for Epstein’s various properties in 2005 and 2019

—Evidence and statements gathered as part of the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell

—Lists of possible suspects involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking network

—Witness statements

—Unredacted FBI vault case files

—CIA files

—Autopsy and underlying investigative interviews involving Epstein’s death

—Files kept by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Homeland Security and the Treasury Department

For most federal criminal and civil cases, these kinds of records are rarely made public. But the demand for transparency in the Epstein case has taken on a life of its own, driven by the voices of survivors, social-media influencers, federal lawmakers from both parties — and the public.

Epstein, 66, died in jail on Aug. 10, 2019, awaiting trial in New York. His death was ruled a suicide. At the time of his death, his entire estate, which included homes in Palm Beach, Manhattan, New Mexico, Paris and the USVI, was valued at about $570 million. However, it has never been known how Epstein acquired his money.

The estate’s special master, Rosalie Ballentine, was assigned to keep tabs on the estate, but New York Times reporter Matthew Goldstein noted in a letter to the judge: “I do not believe it was envisioned that all of her reports would be kept confidential — certainly not in their entirety.”

Christopher Allen Kroblin, the lawyer representing Epstein’s executors, filed a letter opposing unsealing the reports, arguing that it would place a safety risk upon “innocent third parties” who have conducted transactions with the estate.

“As the Court is aware, Mr. Epstein’s conduct and the circumstances surrounding his death are currently topics of intense public interest. Professional reporters and self-styled ‘internet sleuths’ alike scrutinize even routine administrative actions by the Estate,” Kroblin wrote. “As a result, individuals and third-party vendors who may have never met Mr. Epstein but who have been identified as transacting with the Estate are subject to harassment and threats.”

Epstein was accused of running a criminal network that recruited vulnerable high school girls under the guise of asking them to give “massages” to Epstein, a wealthy benefactor who would help them financially, get them into college or give them job connections. The girls, however, were pressured to perform sex acts — and were often threatened if they tried to cut ties with him. In some cases, they were trafficked to other powerful men.

His staff and accomplices transported girls from Manhattan, Palm Beach and all over the world to his various homes from the early 1990s until his indictment in 2019. Some victims reported that upon arriving at Epstein’s homes, their passports were taken from them.

Epstein’s 2019 arrest came after The Miami Herald published an investigation, “Perversion of Justice,” which detailed how Epstein got away with his crimes through a secret plea bargain that was struck between a U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida and Epstein’s lawyers. That deal, in 2008, allowed Epstein to escape serious federal sex-trafficking charges and gave immunity to others involved in his crimes. The Herald’s investigative series led prosecutors in New York to take a look at the case. They were able to identify new evidence and victims, culminating with Epstein’s indictment on sex-trafficking charges in July 2019.

After his death, his estate paid millions of dollars to more than 200 of Epstein’s victims. In 2022, Epstein’s executors also agreed to pay $105 million to settle a civil case brought by the USVI’s attorney general. Most of the evidence gathered by USVI authorities against Epstein and his associates has not been made public. It’s also not clear whether evidence or documents that they uncovered were shared with the FBI.

Epstein had close ties to billionaires and powerful people in politics, science and academia. He was friends with former President Bill Clinton and Trump; Prince Andrew; Bill Gates and former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner.

Some suspect that he exploited those connections to continue to abuse girls and young women. Others theorize that he blackmailed people as part of his criminal operation. But in July, the FBI and DOJ released a joint memo stating there was no Epstein client list and no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.

Still, some lawmakers said they believe that Epstein’s bank records could provide a road map of Epstein’s connections to powerful people. His financial records are at the heart of uncovering who funded and enabled Epstein, they say.

The Herald has successfully filed legal actions to unseal tens of thousands of court documents pertaining to Epstein and his convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. In its letter to the USVI judge supporting the Times’ arguments to unseal, the Herald’s lawyer pointed out the importance of the records in holding government leaders and institutions accountable.

“The continued and timely release or unsealing of documents related to Mr. Epstein’s history of widespread abuse, sexual assault, and trafficking of minors (across government institutions) is necessary for the press and the public to become fully informed as to how law enforcement, the legal system, and other institutions allowed crimes of this type and magnitude to proceed unchecked for years,” the Miami Herald’s lawyer, Christine N. Walz, wrote.

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