CBS Analysis Finds Gaps in Epstein File Numbering, Including 66 Missing Check Images

Since the Justice Department began releasing its Epstein records last winter, the department has said it collected 6 million pages and released more than 3 million. A CBS News analysis published today, Oct. 28, now points to gaps in the numbering of those pages, including in Epstein's financial records.

The analysis follows our earlier report that classified material was delivered to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General in March 2025. This is a separate question: whether pages that existed in earlier collections never made it into the public release.

How the gaps were found

Every page in the release carries a sequential number beginning with EFTA, short for the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The sequence runs from EFTA00000001 through EFTA02858498, about 2.86 million numbered pages.

Many documents also carry older Bates numbers from earlier proceedings, including Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal case and other federal investigations. CBS compared those older identifiers against the public release and found sequences with holes in them. Its comparison suggests tens of thousands of pages present in earlier records are absent from the published set.

The numbers the department cites do not line up neatly. The Justice Department says it released over 3 million pages. One account of the CBS findings puts the figure near 3.5 million. The department says additional court records and previously released investigative files bring the total past 3 million.

What appears to be missing

The gaps include a series of roughly 4,500 checks tied to Epstein's accounts, where 66 check images are apparently absent. A separate analysis of preliminary processing numbers found gaps across a section of emails involving Epstein, his associates, assistant Lesley Groff and Maxwell.

Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade told CBS News: "Financial records were not a permissible category for removal."

That is McQuade's reading of what the law allows. The documents do not show who removed any given page or why.

The department's position

The Justice Department says it reviewed the 6 million pages for duplication, attorney-client privilege and relevance to Epstein before releasing the rest. Duplicate removal and processing errors could account for some of the gaps. CBS itself says there is no evidence that every missing page was improperly withheld.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has said repeatedly that nothing is being withheld on national security grounds. "There's not some tranche of super-secret documents about Jeffrey Epstein that we're withholding," he said when the releases began, when he was deputy attorney general.

The numbering analysis cannot settle whether that holds. A numbering gap shows a page is absent. It does not show whether the page was a duplicate, a privileged record, a victim-identifying document or something else.

But the department has already conceded it makes mistakes. It acknowledged temporarily removing a photograph of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick visiting Epstein's island in 2012, then restoring it.

Litigation and Congress

Journalist Katie Phang is suing the department for additional disclosures and explanations of its redactions. A federal judge has issued rulings in her favor, and the Justice Department is appealing. Congressional challenges are also pressing the department to release material it held back.

The law required publication of these records, and the department chose how to count, sort and number them. A released set whose numbering cannot be reconciled with earlier collections is a problem the department can fix by publishing an index of what was removed and under which category.

Survivors' lawyers are watching the politics. Spencer Kuvin of Goldlaw, who has represented multiple survivors, told The Guardian his concern is that "the politicians and institutions responsible for accountability will use the chaos of world events as an excuse to move on." He called for continued releases and for Congress to demand accountability.

Jennifer Freeman of Marsh Law, who also represents survivors, said she is confident the issue will "command concentration and accountability shortly again." She is pursuing a lawsuit against the U.S. government over its alleged failure to investigate and prosecute Epstein, and a class action against his estate.

Republican strategist Brittany Martinez of Principles First said voters worried about gas prices and living costs can push Epstein down their list, though she said people can care about several things at once. Political experts told The Guardian they expect Epstein to resurface when Congress returns after the midterms.

What the classified items delivered to Blanche's office in March 2025 contained, and whether they sit among the pages missing from the sequence, remains unanswered. The Justice Department's appeal in Phang's case is the next concrete test of whether a court will make it explain.