Victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice and Google after their identities were wrongly published in official documents made public online. The lawsuit, filed Monday in a San Francisco court, alleges that the release in January of more than three million files related to the Epstein investigation included names and personal information of victims who should have remained anonymous.

According to the lawsuit, the Justice Department revealed the identities of nearly 100 victims of sexual abuse, exposing them publicly and violating their rights. Although authorities admitted the mistake and took steps to remove the information, the plaintiffs allege that the content continued to circulate online. Specifically, the lawsuit accuses Google of allowing the data to reappear in search results and in content generated by artificial intelligence, despite repeated requests to remove it.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that dozens of nude photographs were also found in the released documents, where the victims could be identified by their faces. Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged with sexual exploitation of minors and trafficking. He was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial, with an autopsy concluding it was a suicide.

Earlier, in 2008, Epstein had pleaded guilty to charges related to the prostitution of minors in Florida, taking advantage of a deal that allowed him a relatively light sentence of 13 months in prison.

According to the lawsuit, the release of the data has caused new trauma for the victims, who are already facing phone calls and messages from unknown persons, as well as unfair accusations linking them to Epstein's criminal activities, despite the fact that they were his victims.