Update 2/5/26, 5:20 p.m. EST: The DOJ told 404 Media that the unredacted version of the document in question contains an image of a victim’s face overlayed on the face of the Mona Lisa image.
The Department of Justice redacted the face of the Mona Lisa, a 522-year-old painting of an Italian woman who died centuries ago, as part of its release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
In a PDF of an email with the subject line “simply paris” sent on July 3, 2009, a redacted sender sent Epstein several photos of, presumably, himself and a woman sightseeing in Paris. The photos of the woman are all redacted with a black box over her face, but the man’s face is visible.
This post is for paid members only
Become a paid member for unlimited ad-free access to articles, bonus podcast content, and more.
Subscribe
Sign up for free access to this post
Free members get access to posts like this one along with an email round-up of our week's stories.
Subscribe
Already have an account? Sign in