DOJ briefly removes Howard Lutnick photo from Epstein files

On February 27, 2026, the United States Department of Justice briefly removed a photograph from its publicly released Epstein files that appeared to show Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick standing alongside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Little St. James, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

The photograph was initially posted on the DOJ’s website at the end of January as part of a batch of millions of documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The image showed Epstein, Lutnick, and three other men standing near a seaside cliff. It was archived by independent tools such as the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and a searchable archive known as Jmail.

At some point in late February, accessing the link to the image on the DOJ site returned a “Page not found” message, suggesting the photo was temporarily removed. Later the same day, the photograph link was restored on the DOJ site and became accessible again.

A DOJ spokesperson said the image had been flagged as part of a batch of files containing nudity and was pulled for review and necessary redactions. The department stated that no files are being deleted and that images are being re‑uploaded once processed.

Lutnick, who has previously testified that he visited Epstein’s island in 2012 with his family but denied ongoing contact, has not been accused of any crimes related to Epstein. The released files also include emails between Lutnick and Epstein that span years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. The episode has prompted questions from lawmakers about transparency in the release of the documents.